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Reports

Unfounded Allegations of Ethics Violations by Bureau of Indian Education Employees

Report Number
20-0691

The OIG investigated allegations that the coaching staff for a sports program at a Bureau of Indian Education school did not notify that sport’s national sanctioning body that multiple student-athletes failed their random drug tests and did not suspend those students as required by the school’s p

Investigation

Unsubstantiated Allegations of Fraud by a Tribal Transportation Consortium

Report Number
18-0625

The OIG conducted a joint investigation with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General into allegations that a tribal transportation consortium fraudulently received more than $9 million between 2012 and 2015 by collecting Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Roads Funds for tribes no longer affiliated with the consortium. We did not substantiate the allegations. We identified 24 tribes that were members of the consortium, and none of the representatives we spoke to corroborated the allegations.

Investigation
Bureau of Indian Affairs

Unfounded Allegation of Ethics Violation by a U.S. Geological Survey Employee

Report Number
19-0549

The OIG investigated allegations that a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) employee gave preferential treatment to a contractor when the employee appeared to act on the contractor’s behalf to obtain information about the statements of work on two contract solicitations.

Investigation

Alleged Misappropriation of Grant Funds by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection

Report Number
20-0118

We investigated an allegation that a program manager with the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) misused Water-Use Data and Research (WUDR) grant funds awarded by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to pay WVDEP employees who did not perform work related to the grant. Our investigation determined that from February 2018 through January 2020, the WVDEP incorrectly compensated an employee using $24,550 in WUDR grant funds. This employee unknowingly received WUDR funds toward his salary and benefits but did no work in support of the grant.

Investigation
U.S. Geological Survey

The St. Stephens Indian School Educational Association, Inc., Needs To Improve Financial Accountability for Federal Funds

Report Number
2019-FIN-058

This report presents the results of our audit of Agreement Nos. A17AV00656, A16AV00812, and A15AV00702 between the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) and St. Stephens Indian School Educational Association, Inc., which provided St. Stephens a total of $12.5 million to operate elementary and high school facilities owned by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) between July 2015 and June 2018. We conducted this audit to determine whether agreement expenses were allowable and St. Stephens complied with applicable laws and regulations, BIE and BIA guidelines, and agreement terms and conditions.

Audit
Bureau of Indian Affairs

United States

Weaknesses in a USGS System Leave Assets at Increased Risk of Attack

Report Number
2019-ITA-003

We evaluated the U.S. Department of the Interior’s (DOI’s) and the U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS’) implementation of Phase 1 of the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program for a USGS system. Our evaluation revealed control deficiencies for hardware and software asset management and configuration management. Specifically, the DOI did not require bureaus and offices to maintain accurate hardware asset inventories for information systems, which prevented them from monitoring key security metrics through the DOI’s CDM dashboard.

Inspection / Evaluation
U.S. Geological Survey

United States

The U.S. Department of the Interior Needs to Strengthen Charge Card Internal Controls When Using Disaster Relief Funds

Report Number
2020-FIN-002

We conducted this audit to determine whether the DOI and its bureaus included the required documentation for charge card transactions, properly used fiscal year (FY) 2019 disaster relief funds, and properly allocated FY 2019 disaster relief funds when using U.S. Government charge cards. We found that the Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), National Park Service (NPS), and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) had incidents of missing or insufficient documentation to support purchases.

Audit
Departmentwide