Inspectors General

Senator wants info on inspectors general office sexual harassment settlements

Grassley wrote that whistleblowers informed his office that the financial agreements required complainants to sign non-disclosure agreements.

FEMA chief calls passing over of Trump supporters isolated incident, requests wider probe

One FEMA supervisor has been fired for directing staff to skip Trump-supporting homes, but administrator says there is so far no evidence of a more widespread issue.

Oversight of contract security guards at federal buildings is lacking, OIG says

In one notable example from a recent report, a guard at a federal facility told a visitor to place their firearm in a bush to access the building.

One federal agency hasn’t ensured its employee gyms are safe and secure, OIG says

The Consumer Product Safety Commission’s inspector general sent out a management alert warning that the agency’s fitness facilities were in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, as well as multiple OPM and GSA regulations. 

Updated

OPM doesn’t have documented customer experience plans for the Postal Service’s open season, OIG says

The HR agency has developed contingencies if there is a surge of customer experience requests during the Postal Service Health Benefits System’s first open season, but a new report claims that those plans aren’t either defined or comprehensive enough for the multi-agency operation. 

OPM’s retirement backlog has fallen off the agency’s list of top management challenges

The Office of Personnel Management’s inspector general last month reported that the federal government’s dedicated HR agency faces taller tasks in the form of launching a health insurance program for postal workers and verifying enrollees’ eligibility for the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program.

Amid hiring surge, two VA agencies face employee background check deficiencies

The inspector general warned that shortcomings in the agencies’ background check programs were letting in unvetted staff.

SBA’s inspector general will serve double duty in acting Social Security role

The appointment of Small Business Administration Inspector General Hannibal “Mike” Ware to perform the same job at the Social Security Administration comes after embattled Inspector General Gail Ennis retired last summer.

36% of new IRS hires faced delays due to technical and security clearance jams

Despite hiring 64% of its new employees in fiscal 2022 and 2023 within its 80-day goal, it took the IRS an average of 124 days to employ roughly 19,000 personnel due, in part, to system limitations.

Lack of guidelines scuttled VA’s goal to expand access for substance use disorder treatment

The department’s inspector general found that despite budgeting to hire more than 1,000 substance use disorder treatment staff at its medical centers, it only netted 310 new employees in the first year. 

The Postal Service achieved most of its peak season goals in 2023, so why did performance slide?

The USPS inspector general found that despite accurately forecasting air demand and adequately staffing for its busiest period, the agency still saw some on-time delivery and inventory delays.

IRS is behind on Biden policy to not increase audits for households under $400K

TIGTA reports that the IRS has not developed a methodology to comply with a 2022 directive that bars IRA funding from being used to increase audits on households earning $400,000 or less annually.

GSA has a backlog of 36,000 open fire, safety and health risk conditions in federal buildings

After a complaint to GSA’s inspector general that the agency was violating employee health and safety regulations, auditors found a database of unresolved risk issues at federal buildings across the nation that dated back a decade. 

GOP lawmakers raise concerns over DHS report redactions, OIG cooperation 

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., pressed the Homeland Security secretary in a letter to explain why the department has redacted information in some of its reports to Congress and has allegedly restricted its inspector general’s access. 

National Park Service’s IRA hiring surge could fail ahead of funding deadline

While the legislation gave hundreds of millions to NPS for hiring, it didn’t grant new hiring flexibilities, which the Interior Department inspector general reports is hampering progress.

Lack of timeframes and follow-ups led Social Security to delay some priority disability applications 

An inspector general’s audit found that while the agency identified and processed 96% of the priority cases reviewed, a slice of applications slipped past monitoring, leading to longer wait times.