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AmeriCorps’ Compliance with the Payment Integrity Information Act of 2019 for Fiscal Year 2023

Date Issued
Report Number
OIG-AR-24-04
Report Type
Audit
Description
The Payment Integrity Information Act (PIIA) requires agencies to annually review and identify programs and activities that may be susceptible to significant improper payments, estimate the improper payment rates in agency programs, and report on their actions to reduce and recover those payments. We found that AmeriCorps implemented corrective actions that improved its compliance with PIIA reporting requirements relative to past years. For FY 2023, AmeriCorps met eight of ten PIIA compliance requirements. We made three findings relating to the two remaining requirements. We found that: (1) AmeriCorps reported an improper payment rate above the ten percent compliance threshold for one program, the Senior Companion Program (SCP); (2) AmeriCorps reported improper payment rates that were not accurate, reliable, or consistent with Office of Management and Budget guidance for AmeriCorps State and National (ASN), Foster Grandparent Program (FGP), and SCP; and (3) AmeriCorps did not publish Improper Payment and Unknown Payment Estimates for the National Service Trust (NST), which they assessed as a susceptible program. AmeriCorps concurred with the first finding and agreed to develop and implement actions to reduce improper payment rates below ten percent. AmeriCorps did not concur with our second and third findings and will not implement the related recommendations on unmatched reporting errors, payments to ineligible recipients, and publishing improper and unknown payment estimates for the NST. We will keep open the recommendations related to the three findings until AmeriCorps submits documentation to demonstrate the completion and sufficiency of the corrective actions.
Joint Report
Yes
Participating OIG
AmeriCorps Office of Inspector General
Agency Wide
Yes
Questioned Costs
$0
Funds for Better Use
$0
View report on Oversight.gov

Open Recommendations

Body

Reconcile the differences between grantees’ internal accounting records and FFRs to determine the propriety of the component payments or require grantees to perform this reconciliation. In addition, AmeriCorps should report any remaining unmatched reporting errors as improper payments to ensure accuracy, reliability, and consistency of their improper payment reporting. (Modified FY 2022 Recommendation 2.1)

Body

Assess whether FFRs were submitted by eligible organizations during the FFR data pull process, as required by OMB. If it is determined that any grant recipients were ineligible to receive the grant, AmeriCorps should include the entire amount of FFR expenses as an improper payment.

Body

Publish improper payment and unknown payment estimates for NST in the accompanying materials provided with future annual financial statements in accordance with OMB guidance. (Modified FY 2022 Recommendation 5)