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LEADING INSIGHTS AGA 2022 INSPECTOR GENERAL SURVEY:
SUSTAINING CHANGE

The Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC) is using new approaches, different from traditional oversight methods of the past. By breaking down traditional barriers and opening doors, PRAC leaders are applying a “best and brightest” approach, with ongoing collaboration, data analytics, resource sharing, better communication, and proactive and more concise reporting and spending transparency, all largely in a remote work environment.

AGA 2022 Inspector General Survey: Sustaining Change

In conducting this year’s AGA Inspector General (IG) Survey, AGA and Kearney & Company, P.C. (Kearney) recognized a wave of change occurring within the oversight community. During the last few years of this survey series, the Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE), the federal IG organization, encouraged greater collaboration and sharing among federal IGs. In addition, IGs shared their prior experiences in collaborating after the enactment of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), intended to deter fraud, waste and abuse in its wake. These actions helped prepare the IG community for the pandemic and oversight challenges associated with the more than $5 trillion in pandemic relief programs.

The creation of the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC) in April 2020 set collaborative efforts in motion again, and auditors increased cooperative and innovative approaches to conduct oversight. The PRAC, a component of CIGIE led by 21 IGs and an Executive Director, received a $120 million multi-year appropriation to accomplish four objectives: 1) promote transparency, 2) enhance collaboration across the IG community, 3) use data to detect fraud, waste and abuse, and 4) hold wrongdoers accountable. The challenge of a national crisis sparked innovation and problem-solving as the PRAC collaborated with the IG community, state and local audit communities, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the White House to unleash the full force of the community and its resources to oversee the unprecedented amount of pandemic relief.

Survey participants identified several significant areas of concern in the oversight of pandemic relief programs. Broadly, these areas include the lack of controls in delivering benefits, particularly early on, reliance on self-certification in lieu of program controls and, in retrospect, the unanswered questions about overall effectiveness of pandemic relief programs. Interviewees cited examples of fraud and improper payments in the Unemployment Insurance (UI) program, Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program, and the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).

The PRAC is using new approaches, different from traditional oversight methods of the past. By breaking down traditional barriers and opening doors, PRAC leaders are applying a “best and brightest” approach, with ongoing collaboration, data analytics, resource sharing, better communication, and proactive and more concise reporting and spending transparency, all largely in a remote work environment. This wave of change is forcing a shift in the practice of oversight toward more collaborative, data-driven, clearly communicated, timely and effective methods. Sustaining the momentum of this change and maintaining for the foreseeable future a capacity to deliver ongoing value in the oversight of future crisis responses is the priority of many in the oversight community.

This is an excerpt of AGA’s 2022 IG Survey, which was sponsored by Kearney. To read the survey’s full insights, visit https://www.flipsnack.com/FCAA7CF569B/aga-ig-survey-2022.