VHA Can Improve Controls Over Its Use of Supplemental Funds

Audit · Department of Veterans Affairs OIG · 2023-05-09 · about Department of Veterans Affairs

Summary

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act appropriated about $17.2 billion in supplemental funds to the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) to support VA’s efforts to prevent, prepare for, and respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. The OIG conducted this audit to assess the effectiveness of VA’s controls over VHA’s use of these funds.Because VA’s financial management system does not support the direct obligation of supplemental funds for all expenses, staff used expenditure transfers to shift funds between appropriation accounts.

Recommendations (9)

#	Status	Text
01	Closed	Assess the iFAMS configuration to determine whether integration with the payroll subsystems can be accomplished to resolve some of the payroll-related issues that require the need for expenditure transfers.
02	Closed	Establish guidance that outlines the type of documentation required to support the amounts identified in the manual journal vouchers when processing expenditure transfers.
03	Closed	Require medical facility staff have documented authority, through proper delegation, to make purchases.
04	Closed	Verify that medical facility staff segregate duties so that the same person is not both authorizing and receiving goods and services.
05	Closed	Make certain the purchase card holder is not the requestor or approver for the purchase.
06	Closed	Ensure contracting officers representatives know and understand their duties and responsibilities for the certification and payment of invoices.
07	Closed	Check vendors compliance with contract terms to include the comparison of invoiced amounts with the contract line-item unit costs.esponse to the pandemic and develop appropriate action plans to integrate oversight roles, responsibilities, and clear…
08	Closed	Ensure that medical facility staff track the receipt of goods to make certain they are the correct quantity.
09	Closed	Conduct an assessment of lessons learned from the emergency response to the pandemic and develop appropriate action plans to integrate oversight roles, responsibilities, and clear guidance into the use of supplemental funds.

Status

Text

Closed

Assess the iFAMS configuration to determine whether integration with the payroll subsystems can be accomplished to resolve some of the payroll-related issues that require the need for expenditure transfers.

Closed

Establish guidance that outlines the type of documentation required to support the amounts identified in the manual journal vouchers when processing expenditure transfers.

Closed

Require medical facility staff have documented authority, through proper delegation, to make purchases.

Closed

Verify that medical facility staff segregate duties so that the same person is not both authorizing and receiving goods and services.

Closed

Make certain the purchase card holder is not the requestor or approver for the purchase.

Closed

Ensure contracting officers representatives know and understand their duties and responsibilities for the certification and payment of invoices.

Closed

Check vendors compliance with contract terms to include the comparison of invoiced amounts with the contract line-item unit costs.esponse to the pandemic and develop appropriate action plans to integrate oversight roles, responsibilities, and clear…

Closed

Ensure that medical facility staff track the receipt of goods to make certain they are the correct quantity.

Closed

Conduct an assessment of lessons learned from the emergency response to the pandemic and develop appropriate action plans to integrate oversight roles, responsibilities, and clear guidance into the use of supplemental funds.

Report

Summary

Recommendations (9)

Source