The FCC Office of Inspector General (OIG) released their Semi-annual Report to Congress which covers their activity from April 1 through September 30th. The OIG has continued to ask for more than $20 million in order to hire more auditors, attorneys and information technology specialists to support their Universal Service oversight responsibilities. To date, the Congress has not acted on the appropriations bill tied to the FCC.
The OIG, in conjunction with USAC, contracted with public accounting firms to conduct 459 attestation audits. This covered all four Universal Service programs which includes E-rate. The OIG reported that their analysis showed that, in general, most were in compliance with the FCC regulations, however, the audits also showed that their were high "erroneous payments" that are a major concern of the OIG.
The OIG highlighted audit findings for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Grant Joint Union High (CA), Orleans Parish (LA), Rio Grande Consolidated ISD (TX) and the Kansas City School District (MO). The six month report detailed how the OIG is continuing to work closely with the FBI and Department of Justice to support several on-going investigations.
