On December 22 the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS OIG) published its Recovery Act audit entitled Summary of Inspectors General Reports on Federal Agencies’ Data-Quality Review Processes (A-09-10-01002). The Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board (Recovery Board) was established under the ARRA to provide transparency in the use of Recovery Act funds and to prevent and detect fraud, waste, and mismanagement. To help meet its mandate, the Recovery Board requested that the 29 Inspectors General (IG) of Federal agencies receiving Recovery Act funds determine whether the agencies had processes in place to perform limited data-quality reviews of recipient-reported information and to notify recipients of the need to make appropriate and timely changes. HHS OIG reports that as of November 3, 2009, 20 IGs had issued 21 reports. Because many of the IGs’ assessments were conducted before the recipients reported and corrected data, the objective of the IGs’ assessments did not include determining whether the agencies’ processes operated effectively. However, most of the 20 IGs indicated that they intend to evaluate the effectiveness of agency processes in future reviews. HHS OIG says that fifteen of the twenty IGs assessed agency processes for reviewing information reported by both grantees and contractors. The five other IGs advised the Recovery Board that they assessed agency processes only for grantees because the final OMB guidance for contractors was not available until September 30, 2009. See the November HHS OIG Report . This report, accounting for Recovery Act funding, will be updated on a regular basis. FMI: See www.oig.hhs.gov .
