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Today, the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE) hosted the Federal Inspector General community’s 25th annual awards ceremony to recognize the outstanding accomplishments of the Inspector General workforce in combatting fraud, waste, and abuse throughout the Federal Government. Deb Haaland, the Secretary of the Interior, delivered this year’s keynote address. The Office of Management and Budget’s Deputy Director for Management and CIGIE’s Executive Chair, Jason Miller, also shared remarks and presented the prestigious Special Category Awards.
CIGIE Chairperson Allison Lerner and Vice-Chairperson Mark Lee Greenblatt presented 87 Awards for Excellence in areas such as auditing, evaluations, investigations, information technology, and law and legislation to individuals and teams from CIGIE’s 75 member agencies. These award winners were selected by panels of senior leaders from across the Inspector General community.
“The work we honored today illustrates why we should all be proud of the role that we play as members of Inspector General community,” said Chairperson Lerner, the Inspector General of the National Science Foundation. “We had the privilege of celebrating dozens of significant audits, inspections, and evaluations that have resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars saved, as well as criminal, civil, and administrative investigations that held wrongdoers accountable and returned millions of dollars in fraudulently obtained funds.”
“I am impressed and gratified by the work our community does,” said Vice-Chairperson Greenblatt, the Inspector General of the Department of the Interior. “The diversity of mission and scope of the work in the OIG community means that we collectively have a positive impact not only on the operations of the Federal Government, but on the every day lives of people across the country and around the world.”
In addition, each year the CIGIE Executive Council recognizes a limited number of individuals and teams with prestigious Special Category Awards. This year’s recipients for the Special Category Awards are:
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The Alexander Hamilton Award, CIGIE’s highest honor, was presented to the U.S. Department of Justice OIG’s investigative team that examined the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s handling of allegations of sexual abuse by former USA Gymnastics physician, Larry Nassar. The allegations of this investigation focused on the 2018 prosecution of the USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University physician Larry Nassar for sexual abuse of young USA Gymnastics athletes. The DOJ OIG found that senior officials in the FBI Indianapolis Field Office failed to respond to the allegations of sexual abuse with the urgency that they deserved. Additionally, the investigation found that the FBI made fundamental errors when it did respond to the allegations, including failing to notify the appropriate FBI field office or State or local authorities of the allegations and failing to take other steps to mitigate the ongoing threat posed by Nassar. The DOJ OIG report also stated that, when the FBI’s handling of the Nassar matter came under scrutiny from the public, Congress, the media, and FBI headquarters in 2017 and 2018, Indianapolis Field Office officials did not take responsibility for their failures but instead provided incomplete and inaccurate information to make it appear they had been diligent in responding to the sexual abuse allegations. Lastly, the DOJ OIG identified shortcomings in the FBI’s policies, including its policy regarding notification of local law enforcement agencies in child exploitation cases, that should be further assessed to ensure that the FBI can more effectively handle these types of matters in the future. A video about this award-winning investigation can be found here: https://youtu.be/vW8582fTYco.
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The Gaston L. Gianni, Jr. Better Government Award recognizes an individual or group whose efforts, accomplishments, and actions enhance the public’s confidence in government and exemplify the highest ideals of public service. This year, the award was presented to the U.S. Department of Labor OIG in recognition of the collaboration between the Office of Investigations and Office of Audits in combatting fraud, waste, and abuse in the Unemployment Insurance (UI) Program during the COVID–19 pandemic. During the pandemic, unemployment claims rose exponentially, reaching historic levels. Additionally, the infusion of billions of dollars in pandemic-related funds into the UI Program presented individuals and organized criminal groups with a high-value target to exploit. Since the pandemic started, the DOL OIG received over 144,000 UI fraud complaints from the DOJ National Center for Disaster Fraud and independently opened more than 39,000 investigative matters concerning UI fraud. This represented a 1,000 percent increase from its UI fraud work prior to the pandemic. The collaboration between the DOL OIG’s Office of Investigations and Office of Audits resulted in 537 UI fraud indictments or initial charges, 242 criminal convictions, and more than $65 million in monetary results. Additionally, the DOL OIG has referred information to the DOL and to States on nearly $17 billion of potentially fraudulent UI benefits and has referred over 7,800 matters back to the States for further action. From April 2021 to March 2022, auditors and investigators worked together to develop and publish one audit report and two alert memoranda (here and here) highlighting critical findings that compromised the integrity of the UI Program. A video about this award-winning effort can be found here: https://youtu.be/0FOvqhsU3oA.
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The Glenn/Roth Award for Exemplary Service, which honors work of significant value to Congress, was presented to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs OIG’s review teams whose work is detailed in two reports, Improvements Still Needed in Processing Military Sexual Trauma Claims and Challenges for Military Sexual Trauma Coordinators and Culture of Safety Considerations. The VA uses the term “military sexual trauma” (MST) to refer to sexual assault or repeated, unsolicited, threatening acts of sexual harassment that occurred while veterans were serving on active duty. Two of every three sexual assaults suffered during military service go unreported for a variety of reasons, meaning that evidence of trauma can be difficult to subsequently produce or validate. This creates a special challenge for the VA when veterans file benefit claims or seek services for post-traumatic stress disorder related to MST. In response to these two reports, Congress has taken legislative action to address the issued identified by the VA OIG, including requiring annual accuracy reviews for MST claims processing, studying Veterans Benefits Administration claims processor training for MST, and requiring specially trained claims raters for MST-related disability claims. The various pieces of legislation introduced in both the House and the Senate seek to improve MST survivors’ access to benefits and health care, as well as bolster MST claims processing.
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The Barry R. Snyder Joint Award honors multi-agency collaborations on matters of importance to the OIG community. This year that award was presented to the joint investigative team from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration OIG and the Small Business Administration OIG for their exceptional achievement in uncovering a 22-year scheme that defrauded NASA, the Department of Defense, and the SBA of $84 million through misrepresentation of a company’s socioeconomic status. The Federal Government has established multiple business opportunities for legitimate small businesses through the Federal procurement process to foster growth and innovation and to support economic security. In 2014, the NASA OIG received allegations that a specific company was engaging in fraudulent business activities, including misrepresenting itself as a woman-owned small business. Investigators from the NASA and SBA OIGs partnered for a joint investigation and substantiated that the company was controlled by men working at a parent company. The joint effort identified more than $84 million in contracts awarded to a company that, since 1994, fraudulently claimed to be a woman-owned small business. The contracts were critical for work performed at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center and the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
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Sonya Cerne, the Assistant Inspector General for Audits, Inspections, and Evaluations at the Farm Credit Administration OIG, received the Sentner Award for Dedication and Courage in recognition of her selfless leadership and relentless dedication to the work she performs on behalf of CIGIE’s Inspection and Evaluation Committee.
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Leslee Bollea, the Director of Strategic Communications and Outreach at the U.S. Department of Defense OIG, received the June Gibbs Brown Career Achievement Award in recognition of more than 40 years of sustained and significant contributions to the Inspector General Community and in support of the Lead Inspector General oversight mission for overseas contingency operations.
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Michelle Blank, Special Agent and COVID–19 Desk Officer at the Small Business Administration OIG, received the Award for Individual Accomplishment in recognition of her exemplary service during the SBA OIG’s response to the tremendous volume of fraud related to the SBA’s COVID–19 programs, as well as her ownership of duties, initiative, creativity, and dedication in addressing unprecedented challenges. A video about Ms. Blank’s award-winning efforts can be found here: Https://youtu.be/ozShsrk9OPA.
The complete list of awards, recipients, and citations is available at: https://www.ignet.gov/sites/default/files/files/2022_CIGIE_Awards_Ceremony.pdf
Through the dedication of this year’s recipients and the nearly 14,000 other Inspector General employees who protect taxpayers’ money, the work of this community in fiscal year 2021 resulted in significant improvements to the economy and efficiency of programs governmentwide, with potential savings totaling approximately $74.7 billion. The tireless efforts of these professionals also helped to secure thousands of criminal prosecutions and civil actions against those seeking to defraud the Government or otherwise violate the law.
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