Report Contents
What OIG Audited
In FY 2020, improper Federal payments Government-wide totaled approximately $206 billion. The Payment Integrity Information Act of 2019 (PIIA) requires Inspectors General to annually determine whether agencies complied with improper payment requirements and established requirements for agencies that were deemed noncompliant with improper payments requirements.
The Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted this audit to determine whether the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) complied with PIIA requirements for FY 2020. As part of this objective, OIG also evaluated USAGM’s efforts to prevent and reduce improper payments.
What OIG Recommends
Because OIG concluded that USAGM complied with improper payments requirements for FY 2020, OIG is not offering recommendations as a result of this audit. USAGM’s response to a draft of this report is reprinted in its entirety in Appendix B.
What OIG Found
For the FY 2020 reporting period, OIG found that USAGM complied with improper payments requirements, as presented in Table 1.
Table 1: Compliance with Improper Payment Criteria
Improper Payment Criteria Compliance
Published Performance and Accountability Report Yes
Conducted Risk Assessment Yes
Published Improper Payment Estimate* N/A
Published Corrective Action Plans* N/A
Published and Met Reduction Targets* N/A
Reported an Improper Payment Rate N/A
Less Than 10 Percent*
* Criteria did not apply because no program was identified in FY 2020 as being at risk for significant improper payments. Source: OIG prepared using criteria from Office of Management and Budget Circular A-123, Appendix C.
OIG found that USAGM published on its website the FY 2020 Performance and Accountability Report, which included all applicable payment integrity disclosures, as required by Office of Management and Budget Circular A136, “Financial Reporting Requirements.” In addition, USAGM complied with the requirement to perform program-specific risk assessments. Specifically, USAGM performed quantitative risk assessment testing for 4 programs as part of its 3-year rotational testing approach and performed a qualitative risk assessment for 10 programs. The programs subject to risk assessments during FY 2020 are listed in Tables 1 and 2 of the Audit Results section of this report and were all in compliance with requirements.
During OIG’s evaluation of USAGM’s efforts to prevent and reduce improper payments, OIG did not identify needed improvements in this area (including USAGM’s improper payments determination and estimation methodology, as well as actions to improve prevention and reduction).