Advanced search Help
Searching for terms: EXACT: "United States. Department of Homeland Security. Office of Inspector General" in: publisher
Clear all search criteria
Only 2/3! You are seeing results from the Public Collection, not the complete Full Collection. Sign in to search everything (see eligibility).
-
FEMA Should Recover $9.9 Million of $36.6 Million Awarded to the Town of North Hempstead, New York, for Hurricane Sandy Damages
"What We Found[:] The Town did not always comply with Federal grant requirements. Of the $20.9 million we reviewed, we questioned $9.1 million composed of the following amounts: [1] $4,894,551 for contracts that did not meet Federal standards, [2] $3,229,478 for costs claimed twice, [3] $562,387 for unsupported costs, and [4] $405,158 for costs that insurance paid. In addition, we identified $791,175 in funds that FEMA should put to better use. The Town completed work in October 2013 on a project for $791,175 less than FEMA's estimate. These findings occurred, in part, because the Town was unfamiliar with Federal grant requirements. However, it was New York's responsibility as FEMA's grantee to ensure that its subgrantee, the Town, was aware of and complied with all Federal regulations and FEMA guidelines applicable to FEMA Public Assistance grants. FEMA Response[:] FEMA officials agreed with our findings and recommendations and provided written comments on July 27, 2016, which we included as appendix D."
United States. Department of Homeland Security. Office of Inspector General
2016-09-26
-
Calaveras County, California, Needs Additional State and FEMA Assistance in Managing Its $10.8 Million FEMA Grant
"About 10 months after the disaster declaration, the County still had not started Project 78, a major $8.3 million debris-removal project to clear hazardous trees. This has delayed recovery for the entire area because the County is not initiating other critical work until hazardous tree removal occurs. Therefore, delays to this project will create delays to other disaster-related work. In addition, the County's procurement policies and procedures do not fully conform to Federal procurement standards. The County's accounting system is also deficient because it cannot account for all costs on a project-by-project basis, as Federal regulations require. Finally, the County does not have policies and procedures in place to ensure that it will not receive benefits from insurance or other sources that duplicate funding it receives from FEMA. County officials told us they did not have experience with federally declared disasters and were not familiar with applicable Federal regulations and FEMA guidelines. Therefore, the County clearly needs additional, ongoing assistance from California and FEMA to ensure it properly manages its $10.8 million FEMA grant. California, as FEMA's grant recipient, is responsible for ensuring that the County is aware of and complies with Federal requirements, as well as for providing technical assistance and monitoring grant activities."
United States. Department of Homeland Security. Office of Inspector General
2016-09-22
-
City of Eureka, Missouri, Needs Additional Assistance and Monitoring to Ensure Proper Management of Its $1.5 Million FEMA Grant
"Most of the City's policies, procedures, and business practices are adequate to account for grant funds according to Federal regulations and FEMA guidelines. However, the City's procurement policies, procedures, and business practices are not adequate to meet minimum Federal standards and address key procurement elements such as -- [1] using full and open competition to minimize risk of unreasonable contract costs, fraud, waste, and abuse; [2] providing sufficient opportunities for disadvantaged firms to compete for federally funded work; and [3] protecting against conflicts of interest. At the time of our fieldwork, FEMA had not completed project worksheets to define the complete scope of disaster work. Because of these uncertainties, Missouri, as FEMA's grant recipient, should provide the City additional technical assistance and increased monitoring. Doing so should provide FEMA reasonable assurance that the City will follow Federal procurement standards in spending the estimated $1.5 million of disaster-related costs."
United States. Department of Homeland Security. Office of Inspector General
2016-09-23
-
Review of the Department of Homeland Security's Implementation of the Cybersecurity Act of 2015
"The Department has taken a number of steps to implement provisions in Title IV, Section 406 of the 'Cybersecurity Act'. As required by the Act, we examined DHS activities in four key cybersecurity areas. We determined the Department has: [1] developed enterprise-wide logical access policies and procedures for its NSS [National Security Systems] and other systems that provide access to PII [Personally Identifiable Information], in accordance with appropriate Federal standards; [2] applied its process for authorizing systems to operate to ensure logical access controls are implemented and assessed, and ensured multi-factor authentication for privileged users of unclassified systems, and some NSS ; [3] established software inventory policies, although not all DHS components used data exfiltration protection capabilities to support data loss prevention, forensics and visibility, and digital rights management; and [4] not developed policies and procedures to ensure that contractors implement data protection solutions. DHS and its Components can benefit from additional data protection capabilities and policy to help ensure sensitive PII and classified information are secure from unauthorized access, use, and disclosure. We are submitting this report for informational purposes to the appropriate Congressional oversight committees, as required by the Act. Due to a lack of specific criteria, this report contains no recommendations."
United States. Department of Homeland Security. Office of Inspector General
2016-09-26
-
USSS Faces Challenges Protecting Sensitive Case Management Systems and Data
"United States Secret Service (USSS) did not have adequate protections in place on systems to which MCI information was migrated. USSS information technology (IT) management was ineffective, including inadequate system security plans, systems with expired authorities to operate, inadequate access and audit controls, noncompliance with logical access requirements, inadequate privacy protections, and over-retention of records. These problems occurred because USSS has not consistently made IT management a priority. The USSS Chief Information Officer (CIO) lacked authority for all IT resources and was not effectively positioned to provide necessary oversight. Inadequate attention was given to updating USSS IT policies to reflect processes currently in place. High turnover and vacancies within the Office of the CIO meant a lack of leadership to ensure IT systems were properly managed. In addition, USSS personnel were not adequately trained to successfully perform their duties. USSS initiated steps in late 2015 to improve its IT program, including centralizing all IT resources under a full-time CIO and drafting plans for an improved IT governance framework. However, until these improvements are implemented and can demonstrate effectiveness, USSS systems and data will remain vulnerable to unauthorized access and disclosure, and the potential for incidents similar to what the OIG investigated in 2015 will remain. […] We are making 10 recommendations to USSS and 1 recommendation to the DHS Privacy Office to reduce the risk of future unauthorized access and disclosure of sensitive information."
United States. Department of Homeland Security. Office of Inspector General
2016-10-07
-
FEMA Should Implement Consistent Joint Field Office Guidance
"Since 2012, we have observed and reported on systemic challenges in FEMA's JFO [Joint Field Office] selection process. These challenges occurred, in part, because FEMA has not sufficiently implemented our prior audit recommendation to collaborate with the General Services Administration in selecting potential JFO sites prior to a forecasted disaster. In 2015, we identified regional implementation differences in the JFO selection process. During our 2015 Texas flood disaster Emergency Management Oversight Team (EMOT) deployment, we determined that FEMA Region VI did not implement a disaster pre-planning protocol that resulted in a more than $380,000 increase in JFO administrative costs and delayed the JFO opening by 17 days. The delayed JFO opening negatively impacted FEMA's ability to rapidly equip and deploy disaster response personnel. In contrast, during our 2015 South Carolina EMOT deployment, we determined that FEMA Region IV JFO selection was efficient and effective."
United States. Department of Homeland Security. Office of Inspector General
2016-09-27
-
FEMA Should Recover $3.4 Million of the $3.5 Million Awarded to Hope Academy for Hurricane Katrina Damages
"FEMA failed to properly validate Hope's eligibility for Federal disaster funds estimated at $3.5 million. This occurred because FEMA lacks adequate policies and guidelines to prohibit officials of an unaccredited and unlicensed nonpublic school from applying for and receiving Federal funds. Hope contends that, at the time of the disaster, it served approximately 90 students in grades K--12 in a 5,770 squarefoot building also used as a church. FEMA relied on this information in determining the size of the new facility, site work and ancillaries, and acreage that Hope needed to replace its damaged facility. However, Hope failed to provide documentation sufficient to support the number of students and grade levels it serviced. In addition, we found that-- [1] Hope failed to follow Federal procurement regulations when awarding $1.8 million in contracts for land acquisition, project management, and architectural and engineering services; [2] Hope allowed its Board president to enter into an unethical related-party transaction with his personal company for land acquisition costing $1.5 million; and [3] Hope officials allege that they lost all of their records in the storm and could not recall the names of most students; however, they did recall a 15-page list of contents the storm destroyed. They asked FEMA to pay $792,972 for the damaged contents even though they maintained insurance to cover only $17,200 in contents. Hope could not provide adequate documentation to support the number of students and grade levels it serviced or its claim for lost contents. Therefore, we question $3.4 million of the $3.5 million grant award."
United States. Department of Homeland Security. Office of Inspector General
2016-09-19
-
TSA Could Improve Its Oversight of Airport Controls Over Access Media Badges (Redacted)
"In February 2015, national news outlets reported that badges used by individuals working at airports to access nonpublic areas of the airport were missing and could pose a security threat. We sought to determine whether the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) adequately oversees selected badge controls at airports and thus mitigates the risk associated with lost, stolen, and unaccounted for badges. We made three recommendations to improve TSA's oversight of airport badge controls."
United States. Department of Homeland Security. Office of Inspector General
2016-10-14
-
Village Of Pilger, Nebraska, Took Corrective Actions to Comply with Federal Grant Award Requirements
From the highlights section within the document: "The Village of Pilger, Nebraska (Village), received a $5.6 million Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) award for damages resulting from severe storms, tornadoes, straight-line winds, and flooding in June 2014. We conducted this audit early in the grant process to identify areas where the Village may need additional technical assistance or monitoring to ensure compliance. FEMA should work with the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency (Nebraska) to improve its oversight of subgrantees to ensure they are aware of and comply with Federal requirements."
United States. Department of Homeland Security. Office of Inspector General
2016-08-02
-
FEMA Was Generally Effective in Its Initial Response to the Severe Wildfires in California
From the document: "On September 22, 2015, the President signed a major disaster declaration (DR¬ 4240-CA) to provide Federal assistance to the people and communities affected by the California wildfires. The fires burned over 146,000 acres and 2,876 structures, and resulted in the loss of 6 lives. We deployed an Office of the Inspector General (OIG) Emergency Management Oversight Team to the disaster to evaluate the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) actions just before and after the declaration. Our visibility and availability to FEMA, California, and local officials, and others affected by the disaster provide a strong deterrent to potential fraud, waste, and abuse. The report contains no recommendations."
United States. Department of Homeland Security. Office of Inspector General
2016-06-27
-
Baldwin County Commission Effectively Managed FEMA Grant Funds Awarded for Damages from Spring 2014 Storms
From the document: "At the time of our audit, FEMA had granted the Commission a $7.4 million grant for damages from severe storms, tornadoes, straight-line winds, and flooding that occurred in April and May 2014. We conducted this audit early in the grant process to identify areas where the Commission may need additional technical assistance or monitoring to ensure compliance with Federal requirements. The report contains no recommendations."
United States. Department of Homeland Security. Office of Inspector General
2016-06-30
-
FEMA Can Do More to Improve Public Assistance Grantees' and Subgrantees' Compliance with Federal Procurement Rules
Taken from the Highlights page: "FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency] grants billions of dollars each year to recipients that contract for services to help communities respond to and recover from disasters. We performed this audit to assess the extent to which FEMA has allowed contract costs we questioned for noncompliance with Federal procurement requirements. We also assessed whether FEMA has granted an exception to procurement requirements for a class of grants, rather than on a case-by-case basis. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) does not effectively enforce subgrantees' compliance with Federal procurement rules and has allowed the vast majority of procurement costs we questioned in our audits. Over a 6-year period ended September 30, 2014, our audits questioned $352.3 million in Public Assistance grant costs for noncompliance. FEMA officials subsequently ruled that $321.7 million, or 91.3 percent, of those costs were eligible. We questioned these costs because Public Assistance subgrantees (local governments and nonprofit organizations) did not follow Federal rules in awarding contracts. They often failed to conduct full and open competition with contractors to lessen the risks of fraud, waste, and abuse."
United States. Department of Homeland Security. Office of Inspector General
2016-09-02
-
Long Beach City School District in New York Generally Accounted For and Expended FEMA Public Assistance Funds Properly
Taken from the Highlights page: "The Long Beach City School District, New York (District) received a $35.5 million Public Assistance grant award from the New York Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services (New York), a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grantee , for damages from Hurricane Sandy that occurred in October 2012. The District accounted for disaster costs on a project-by-project basis as Federal regulations and FEMA guidelines require. However, the District did not comply with Federal procurement standards for $668,430 of the $17.1 million of contract costs we reviewed. Specifically, the District awarded a noncompetitive time-and-material contract totaling $8.4 million for remediation and repair work. Because this award was noncompetitive, FEMA proactively analyzed these costs and determined that the $8.4 million was reasonable for the work performed. However, one of the District's contractors marked up costs by 20 percent, totaling $668,430-$318,300 for overhead and $350,130 for profit."
United States. Department of Homeland Security. Office of Inspector General
2016-09-02
-
Potentially Ineligible Individuals Have Been Granted U.S. Citizenship Because of Incomplete Fingerprint Records
"When aliens apply for U.S. citizenship, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) obtains information about their immigration history through fingerprint records. Our objective was to determine whether USCIS uses these records effectively during the naturalization process. We are recommending that ICE [U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement] finish uploading into the digital repository the fingerprints it identified and that DHS resolve these cases of naturalized citizens who may have been ineligible."
United States. Department of Homeland Security. Office of Inspector General
2016-09-08
-
FEMA Can Enhance Readiness with Management of Its Disaster Incident Workforce
In 2012, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) transitioned its on-call workforce from Disaster Assistance Employees to Reservists. Since then, FEMA officials have expressed their frustration regarding the performance of Reservists deployed to disasters under their new FEMA Qualification System positions. We conducted this audit to gain a better understanding of the problem and identify ways FEMA can improve Reservist performance. We made four recommendations that, if implemented, should improve the knowledge, skills, performance, and morale of FEMA's Reservist workforce.
United States. Department of Homeland Security. Office of Inspector General
2016-09-02
-
USCIS Automation of Immigration Benefits Processing Remains Ineffective
"We conducted this audit to determine the effective of USCIS' [United States Citizenship and Immigration Services] efforts to automate the processing of immigration benefits. We recommended USCIS improve stakeholder involvement, implement adequate performance metrics, fully test each system release, and provide technical support to help ensure the effectiveness of its efforts to automate the processing of immigration benefits."
United States. Department of Homeland Security. Office of Inspector General
2016-03-09
-
Independent Auditors' Report on DHS' FY 2017 Financial Statements and Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
"The 'Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990' (Public Law 101-576) and the 'Department Of Homeland Security Financial Accountability Act' (Public Law 108-330) require us to conduct an annual audit of the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) consolidated financial statements and internal control over financial reporting. [...] KPMG LLP made 56 recommendations that, when implemented, would help improve the Department's internal control."
United States. Department of Homeland Security. Office of Inspector General
2017-11-15
-
Coast Guard IT Investments Risk Failure Without Required Oversight
"In 2015, the Coast Guard ceased development of an IT [information technology] system to modernize its electronic health records after the procurement experienced cost and schedule overruns. We performed this audit to determine if the Coast Guard has sufficient controls to ensure IT acquisition programs are properly identified to receive the correct level of acquisition oversight. [...] We made four recommendations that, when implemented, should strengthen the Coast Guard's identification and designation process for non-major IT acquisition programs."
United States. Department of Homeland Security. Office of Inspector General
2017-11-14
-
Management Alert - Concerns with Potential Duplicate or Ineligible FEMA Public Assistance Funding for Facilities Damaged by Back-To-Back Disasters
"This is a Department of Homeland Security, Office of Inspector General management alert regarding the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Public Assistance (PA) program. The PA program provides disaster grants to state, territorial, tribal, and local governments and certain types of private non-profit organizations for debris removal; emergency assistance to save lives and protect property; and permanent restoration of community infrastructure affected by a federally declared incident."
United States. Department of Homeland Security. Office of Inspector General
2017-11-14
-
Summary Report on Audits of Security Controls for TSA Information Technology Systems at Airports (Redacted)
"We previously reported on deficiencies regarding security controls for the Transportation Security Administration's (TSA) information technology (IT) systems at airports. This report summarizes the previous reports and analyzes the effectiveness of TSA's actions to implement improved IT security policies at these critical sites. We are making two recommendations to improve security controls for TSA's IT systems at airports."
United States. Department of Homeland Security. Office of Inspector General
2016-12-30
-
DHS OIG Inspection Cites Concerns with Detainee Treatment and Care at ICE Detention Facilities
"A new report from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) cites concerns about the treatment and care of detainees by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE). The report is based on recent unannounced OIG inspections of five ICE detention facilities. Concerns requiring immediate attention at the Theo Lacy facility in Orange, California, were previously reported by the OIG in March 2017. In their report, 'Concerns about ICE Detainee Treatment and Care at Detention Facilities,' OIG inspectors documented a number of concerns. While not every problem was present at each facility, the inspections revealed issues at four facilities, beginning with the intake process. Detainees should be housed with others of similar background and criminal history; however, facility staff misclassified some detainees with high-risk criminal convictions and housed them with low-risk detainees. One facility did not adequately staff personnel to ensure thorough intake pat downs of detainees. At another facility, personnel conducted strip searches of all incoming detainees, but failed to document them, leaving no way to ascertain whether the searches were justified based on reasonable suspicion. Despite having translation services available by phone, staff and detainees experienced language barriers which created confusion and risked elevating resolvable concerns into disciplinary issues."
United States. Department of Homeland Security. Office of Inspector General
2017-12-14
-
Covington County Commission Needs Additional Assistance in Managing a $5.4 Million FEMA Grant from Winter 2015 Storms and to Save Millions in the Future
"As of September 8, 2016, the Covington County Commission (Commission) received $5.4 million in Public Assistance grant funds from the Alabama Emergency Management Agency (Alabama), a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grantee, for damages from severe storms, tornadoes, straight-line winds, and flooding in December 2015. We conducted this audit early in the grant process to identify areas where the Commission may need additional technical assistance or monitoring to ensure compliance with Federal requirements."
United States. Department of Homeland Security. Office of Inspector General
2017-09-29
-
FEMA Should Disallow $246,294 of $3.0 Million in Public Assistance Grant Funds Awarded to Lincoln County, Missouri
"Lincoln County, Missouri (County) received a $3.0 million Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grant for damages resulting from severe storms occurring from May to July 2015. Our audit objective was to determine whether the County accounted for and expended FEMA funds according to Federal regulations and FEMA guidelines."
United States. Department of Homeland Security. Office of Inspector General
2017-09-29
-
Audit of FEMA Grant Funds Awarded to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn, New York
"The Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn (Diocese) received an $18.3 million award from the New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services (New York), a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grantee, for damages from Hurricane Sandy that occurred in October 2012."
United States. Department of Homeland Security. Office of Inspector General
2017-09-29
-
ICE Faces Challenges to Screen Aliens Who May Be Known or Suspected Terrorists (Redacted)
"We conducted this audit as a follow-up to a recommendation from a 2011 DHS OIG [Office of Inspector General] report pertaining to the screening of aliens from specially designated countries. Our audit objective was to determine whether U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) identifies and screens all aliens who may be known or suspected terrorists. We made four recommendations that, when implemented, should help ICE improve its oversight and internal controls for identifying and processing aliens who are known or suspected terrorists."
United States. Department of Homeland Security. Office of Inspector General
2018-01-05
-
Biennial Report on DHS' Implementation of the Cybersecurity Act of 2015 [November 1, 2017]
"Section 107 of the Cybersecurity Act of 2015 requires the Inspectors General from the Intelligence Community and the Departments of Commerce, Defense, Energy, Justice, Homeland Security, and Treasury to submit a joint report to the Congress on the actions the Federal Government has taken to share cybersecurity information. We evaluated the Department of Homeland Security's progress in meeting its cybersecurity information sharing requirements. [...] We recommend NPPD [National Protection and Programs Directorate] improve its information sharing capability by acquiring technologies needed for crossdomain sharing and automated analysis of cyber threat data, enhancing outreach to promote DHS' information sharing program, and implementing required security controls on selected information systems."
United States. Department of Homeland Security. Office of Inspector General
2017-11-01
-
Federal Air Marshal Service Has Sufficient Policies and Procedures for Addressing Misconduct
"The TSA [Transportation Security Adminsitration] 'Office of Inspection Accountability Act of 2015', Public Law 114-53, required us to review FAMS [Federal Air Marshal Service] personnel policies and procedures for identifying misuse of Government resources and existing code of conduct or integrity policies with respect to instances of misconduct. This report contains no recommendations."
United States. Department of Homeland Security. Office of Inspector General
2017-09-13
-
DHS Still Struggling for a Unified Approach Regarding Immigration
"In a new report released today, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) explained that almost 15 years after the creation of DHS, its component agencies still face challenges taking a unified approach to immigration enforcement and administration activities. Although DHS has established a unity of effort initiative to break silos and centralize decision making, problems remain. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services continue to face inefficiencies regarding mission allocation and expenditure comparisons, the affirmative asylum application process, and the Department's struggle to understand immigration outcomes and decisions. The audit also revealed component coordination difficulties pertaining to the availability of bed space, language services, and processing aliens."
United States. Department of Homeland Security. Office of Inspector General
2017-11-01
-
DHS Still Challenged in Safeguarding Weapons, Badges, and Other Sensitive Assets
"A new report from the Office of Inspector General (OIG), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), reveals that the nation's largest law enforcement agency continues to face challenges in safeguarding its most sensitive assets, including firearms and badges issued to employees. The new report, 'DHS' Controls over Firearms and Other Assets,' found that despite the controls the Department implemented following a 2010 OIG audit, between 2014 and 2016 Department personnel lost a total of 2,142 highly sensitive assets -- 228 firearms; 1,889 badges; and 25 secure immigration stamps."
United States. Department of Homeland Security. Office of Inspector General
2017-10-31
-
Management Alert - Unclear Rules Regarding Executive Protection Details Raise Concerns (Redacted)
From the overview: "As a result of whistleblower complaints, we examined the use of executive security and logistics details by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) component leadership. We determined that two DHS components - Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) - have created their own internal authorizations for executive protection details, staffed them, and funded them, without clear legal authority. Because these security details incur substantial monetary and personnel costs, provide transportation and logistical services not necessarily tied to any demonstrated security concern, and are often authorized by those receiving the services, these details give the appearance to some observers of being more related to executive convenience and status than protection. Since they operate without departmental guidance or written approval, and are subject to the appearance of impropriety, and have significant cost implications, we make several recommendations at the conclusion of this memorandum."
United States. Department of Homeland Security. Office of Inspector General
2017-09-14
