HHS’s suspension and debarment program helped safeguard federal funding, but opportunities for improvement exist
- Collection:
- Health Policy and Services Research
- Series Title(s):
- Report in brief (United States. Department of Health and Human Services. Office of Inspector General)
- Contributor(s):
- United States. Department of Health and Human Services. Office of Inspector General. Office of Evaluation and Inspections, issuing body.
- Publication:
- Washington, D.C. : U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, January 2022
- Language(s):
- English
- Format:
- Text
- Subject(s):
- Financing, Government -- organization & administration Fraud -- prevention & control Government Regulation United States United States. Department of Health and Human Services
- Genre(s):
- Technical Report
- Abstract:
- Why OIG Did This Review. As HHS is the largest Federal grantmaking agency ($531 billion in 2019) and the fourth-largest Federal contracting agency ($39 billion in 2019), it is important for it to have a robust suspension and debarment program. If bad actors or poor performers are not prevented from receiving additional Federal awards in a timely manner, beneficiaries of public health and human services programs may suffer and taxpayer funds may be misused. What OIG Found. Key Takeaway Between fiscal years (FYs) 2015 and 2019, Most suspension and 86 percent of referrals that HHS entities debarment referrals resulted in made to ORIC resulted in suspension, actions to protect Federal debarment, or other administrative action to protect Federal programs and funds. programs and funds, but HHS Nearly one-third of debarments involving also has opportunities to grants had preceding suspensions. ORIC improve the timeliness, does not have complete guidance about efficiency, and effectiveness of the circumstances in which immediate its suspension and debarment action (i.e., suspension) may be program. appropriate while it awaits a debarment from the SDO. Most of the referrals for suspension or debarment came from HHS non-awarding entities; many HHS awarding agencies made no referrals during the 5-year period we reviewed. Suspension and debarment actions often missed ORIC’s internal timeliness goals. Delays resulted in part from ongoing criminal or appeals proceedings and challenges in obtaining necessary information about the person referred for suspension or debarment. Other factors that affected the timeliness, efficiency, and effectiveness of this program were (1) vacancies and turnover at both the staff and senior leadership levels; (2) a limited system for case management and tracking of referrals; and (3) incomplete guidance regarding the use and documentation of corrective actions for what are known as “fact-based” referrals (as distinguished from “conviction-based” referrals).
- Copyright:
- The National Library of Medicine believes this item to be in the public domain. (More information)
- Extent:
- 1 online resource (1 PDF file (37 pages))
- Illustrations:
- Illustrations
- NLM Unique ID:
- 9918383788806676 (See catalog record)
- Permanent Link:
- http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/9918383788806676