Federal Reports

This letter responds to October 2020, December 2020, and February 2021 letters from Representatives Comer, Davis, and Hice requesting a review of the State of California's SKD Knickerbocker, LLC award and requesting assurance that Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act and Help America Vote Act funds were used as intended.

An Amtrak manager based in Chicago, Illinois, was issued a letter of counseling on February 9, 2022, following the issuance of our report. Our investigation found that the employee performed military duties on days when he was also scheduled to be working for the company. As a result, the employee received compensation from the military for days in which he was also paid by the company. The employee failed to remit the wages paid by the government to the company upon returning from military leave. Our investigation found no compelling evidence that the employee intended to defraud the company. The employee agreed to repay the company a total of $27,904.50.

VA must submit an annual report to Congress documenting its capacity to provide specialized treatment comparable to that available as of October 9, 1996, for veterans with spinal cord injuries and disorders, traumatic brain injury, blindness, prosthetic and sensory aids, or mental health issues. This requirement was set by Congress to ensure that the decentralization of the Veterans Health Administration’s field management structure in the late 1990s did not adversely affect VA’s ability to care for veterans with disabilities. Each year, the VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) is required to report to Congress on the accuracy of VA’s special disabilities capacity report. This OIG report identified some minor errors, data omissions, inaccuracies, and inconsistencies in the fiscal year (FY) 2020 capacity report that have persisted from the OIG’s FY 2019 review. For example, VA cannot report mental health capacity data comparable to that from 1996 as required by law because of changes in how treatment outcomes of veterans with mental illness are defined and tracked. VA issued its FY 2020 report before the OIG released its FY 2019 review and therefore couldn’t correct some of the identified issues. Congress would be better served by modernizing the reporting metrics to assess VA’s capacity to provide care for these veterans. Additionally, VA continues to not report its capacity on all required data at the national, Veterans Integrated Service Network, and medical facility levels where such services are provided.

We determined that FEMA did not ensure Puerto Rico effectively implemented the STEP Pilot Program following Hurricanes Irma and Maria in September 2017.

Our objective was to determine whether U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) complied with the National Standards on Transport, Escort, Detention, and Search (TEDS) standards.

Beginning in May 2019, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) piloted Rapid DNA technology to verify claimed parent-child relationships.

We present the status of identified environmental concerns related to the Office of Navajo and Hopi Indian Relocation’s administration of land.