Reports

Alleged Preferential Treatment in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument Boundary Decision

The OIG investigated allegations of misuse of funds by an Alaska Native organization after the single audit found approximately $108,561 in questioned costs. The organization is funded through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. We investigated to identify any criminal misuse of funds. We confirmed the single audit findings, but we did not find criminal misuse of funds.

The OIG investigated allegations that an Office of Aviation Services (OAS) employee conducted private pilot examinations while on U.S. Government time, leased his personal aircraft to the Government, and improperly obtained clients because of his wife’s position at another Federal agency. We confirmed the employee conducted private pilot exams during time he also claimed for official duty on as many as 33 occasions. The employee said he mistakenly failed to take leave on 11 of those occasions but disputed the other 22.

The OIG investigated multiple allegations of improper hiring, noncompetitive promotions, nepotism, favoritism, and other improper personnel practices by three Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) senior officials. We found that one of the officials violated Federal regulations when he pursued a procurement action to hire an employee with whom he had a prior relationship. We also found that he directed a change to the minimum qualification language in a job solicitation to aid the same employee’s selection for Federal employment.

We completed an inspection of the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM’s) small miner (those with 10 or fewer claims) mining claims. We focused on whether the BLM monitors these claims to ensure that they are legitimate, that maintenance fees are paid, and, if these fees are waived, that the required assessment work is conducted and complies with all applicable laws and regulations. We found that the BLM does ensure that small miner claims are legitimate and that maintenance fees are paid.