Fiscal Year 2019 Compliance with Improper Payment Requirements

For our final report on fiscal year (FY) 2019 improper payment reporting, our review objective was to determine the U.S. Department of Commerce's (the Department’s) FY 2019 compliance with the Improper Payments Information Act of 2002 (IPIA), as amended. In determining compliance, we also evaluated the accuracy and completeness of the Department’s improper payment reporting in the U.S. Department of Commerce FY 2019 Agency Financial Report (FY 2019 AFR) and its performance in reducing and recapturing improper payments. Based on our review, we concluded that the Department complied with IPIA compliance criteria. Additionally, our review did not identify any significant issues regarding the accuracy or completeness of the improper payment reporting data described in the FY 2019 AFR or the Department’s performance in reducing or recapturing improper payments. However, Departmental management informed us of three items that were not included in the data presented in the FY 2019 AFR, and identified corrective actions taken to prevent this type of oversight in the future. We will review these corrective actions as part of our FY 2020 compliance review.