Waste, Fraud & Abuse
Watchdog urges OMB to prioritize implementation of anti-fraud recommendations
GAO updated the budget agency on the 172 recommendations that it has not completed.
Agencies have only completed about half of GAO’s COVID-19 recommendations
Many of the open recommendations deal with matters on GAO’s high risk list.
Transportation’s working capital fund is missing controls for cost recovery, IG warns
The watchdog’s findings include an accidental overbilling by upwards of $16,000.
Divide and conquer improper payments
COMMENTARY| Fraud prevention and detection require a different level of focus, argues one former federal CFO.
Lawmakers update proposal to cut down on billions in improper payments
Agencies would be required to include details on their anti-fraud controls and fraud risk management work in annual financial reports.
FCC fines major wireless carriers $200M for illegally selling customer location data
Two wireless providers said they plan to appeal the fine.
Taxes are due even if you object to government policies or doubt the validity of the 16th Amendment’s ratification
The IRS "has stated repeatedly that a taxpayer does not have the right to refuse to pay taxes based on religious or moral beliefs."
Using AI to fight fraud is paying off, Treasury says
The tech has helped recover over $375 million since Treasury began using it over a year ago.
The FTC is attacking drugmakers’ ‘patent thickets’
The agency says drugmakers illegitimately use the patents to prevent competitors from offering cheaper generic alternatives.
Former DHS employees sentenced for plot to steal government software, databases
The trio wanted to to build a commercial software product that would have been sold to government agencies.
Social Security clawbacks hit a million more people than the agency chief told Congress
At issue is the scope of a problem that has terrified many Social Security beneficiaries and plunged them into financial distress.
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In Congress, calls mount for Social Security to address clawbacks
The Social Security Administration routinely sends notices to beneficiaries saying they received benefits to which they weren’t entitled — and demanding they pay the government back, often within 30 days.
From payment accuracy to program integrity
COMMENTARY | The staggering level of pandemic fraud coupled with mounting concerns about the size and trajectory of the nation’s debt load should elevate program integrity as a top management focus, writes one observer.
How more than $600M in COVID relief funds awarded last year went unreported
The problem is even bigger this year, according to the Government Accountability Office. The lack of reporting makes it difficult to track fraud, waste and abuse.
Social Security overpayments draw scrutiny and outrage from members of Congress
SSA recovered $4.7 billion of overpayments during the 2022 fiscal year but ended that year with $21.6 billion of overpayments still uncollected, according to a November 2022 report by department’s inspector general.
Pandemic unemployment fraud as high as $135B, watchdog says
The Government Accountability Office's new estimate underscores the urgency of modernizing state-based unemployment insurance systems.
Want to track pandemic relief spending? Data problems make that difficult, committee says
“These challenges limit the degree of transparency into the use of pandemic relief funds,” a new report from the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee says.
How some agencies used tech to decrease improper payments
Governmentwide, improper payments are up relative to fiscal year 2020. But digital tools — alongside other management tactics — enabled some agencies to find reductions.
New Report Identifies Over $100B in Potential Government Services Savings
The government’s overlapping, fragmented and duplicative services are costing billions of dollars annually, a Government Accountability Office report claims.
ATF Misclassified Jobs. A Senator Wants the Justice Department to Dig Deeper.
Citing concerns by the whistleblowers who triggered the investigation that found that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives had systematically misclassified administrative jobs as law enforcement-related, Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, asked the Justice Department to do a more thorough investigation.
