{ "id": "IN10752", "type": "CRS Insight", "typeId": "INSIGHTS", "number": "IN10752", "active": false, "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "versions": [ { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 602479, "date": "2017-08-15", "retrieved": "2020-01-02T16:54:10.643077", "title": "Inspector General Community Launches Oversight.gov to Increase Accessibility to Reports", "summary": "On August 2, 2017, the Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE) launched Oversight.gov, a central repository for Office of Inspector General (OIG) reports that is intended to \u201cimprove the public\u2019s access to independent and authoritative information about the Federal Government.\u201d The website is currently being beta tested. As of August 2, 2017, 36 of 73 OIGs were participating in the beta test (Table 1). The establishment of, and participation in, the website is not statutorily required.\nOversight.gov is intended to be the first one-stop shop for OIG reports. Section 8M(b)(1) of the Inspectors General Act of 1978, as amended, requires all OIG audit, evaluation, or inspection reports to be posted on individual OIG respective websites. Several factors, however, may affect the accessibility and utility of reports on individual OIG websites. For example, OIG reports might be difficult to locate due to varied website layouts and the lack of keyword search functions. Further, it may be difficult to compare report findings and recommendations across OIGs for similar or shared issues, such as compliance with the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA).\nTable 1. OIG Participation in Oversight.gov Beta Test\nAs of August 14, 2017\nParticipating OIGs\nNon-participating OIGs\n\nAbilityOne Commission\nAgency for International Development\n\nAmtrak\nArchitect of the Capitol\n\nAppalachian Regional Commission\nBoard of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau\n\nConsumer Product Safety Commission\nCentral Intelligence Agency\n\nCorporation for National & Community Service\nCommodity Futures Trading Commission\n\nDenali Commission\nCorporation for Public Broadcasting\n\nDepartment of Defense\nDefense Intelligence Agency\n\nDepartment of Education\nDepartment of Agriculture\n\nDepartment of Energy\nDepartment of Commerce\n\nDepartment of Homeland Security\nDepartment of Health and Human Services\n\nDepartment of Housing and Urban Development\nDepartment of the Treasury\n\nDepartment of Justice\nEqual Employment Opportunity Commission\n\nDepartment of Labor\nFarm Credit Administration\n\nDepartment of State and Broadcasting Board of Governors\nFederal Communications Commission\n\nDepartment of the Interior\nFederal Election Commission\n\nDepartment of Transportation\nFederal Housing Finance Agency\n\nDepartment of Veterans Affairs\nFederal Labor Relations Authority\n\nElection Assistance Commission\nFederal Trade Commission\n\nEnvironmental Protection Agency\nGovernment Accountability Office\n\nExport-Import Bank\nGovernment Publishing Office\n\nFederal Deposit Insurance Corporation\nLegal Services Corporation\n\nFederal Maritime Commission\nLibrary of Congress\n\nGeneral Services Administration\nNational Archives and Records Administration\n\nInternational Trade Commission\nNational Endowment for the Arts\n\nNational Aeronautics and Space Administration\nNational Endowment for the Humanities\n\nNational Credit Union Administration\nNational Geospatial-Intelligence Agency\n\nNational Science Foundation\nNational Labor Relations Board\n\nNuclear Regulatory Commission\nNational Reconnaissance Office\n\nOffice of Personnel Management\nNational Security Agency\n\nPeace Corps\nOffice of the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community\n\nSmall Business Administration\nPension Benefit Guaranty Corporation\n\nSmithsonian Institution\nPostal Regulatory Commission\n\nSocial Security Administration\nU.S. Railroad Retirement Board\n\nSpecial Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction\nU.S. Securities and Exchange Commission\n\n\nSpecial Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program\n\nSource: Oversight.gov and https://www.ignet.gov/content/inspectors-general-directory. \nContent of Oversight.gov\nReports\nOversight.gov currently features a database of reports authored by participating OIGs from 2000 through the present, including audits, inspections/evaluations, investigations, semiannual reports, and other reviews. All reports are uploaded directly by the authoring OIG. A notable feature of the website is the search function\u2014users can generate a customized list of reports based on multiple data elements, such as the agency OIG, report type, or keyword (Figure 1). Customized searches are not typically available on individual OIG websites. \nOversight.gov also provides a standard data summary for each posted report that includes, among other things (1) the number of OIG recommendations; (2) \u201cQuestioned costs,\u201d or total agency costs questioned by the OIG; and (3) \u201cFunds for Better Use,\u201d or potential cost savings/avoidances anticipated upon implementing OIG recommendations. \nAggregate Data\nIn addition to reports, Oversight.gov includes graphics of aggregate data on OIG audits and investigations. Some graphics include community-wide data, whereas others include data from participating OIGs only. For example, the investigations tab depicts the total number of successful criminal prosecutions that resulted from all OIG investigations between FY2011 and FY2015 (as reported in CIGIE\u2019s Annual Report to the President). In contrast, the reports tab appears to depict the total number of participating OIG recommendations from FY2012 to FY2017.\nOIG Open Recommendations\nAt present, Oversight.gov does not include a database of open recommendations\u2014those that have not been adopted or implemented by the affiliated agency. OIG semiannual reports, which are posted on the website, are statutorily required to include information on some, but not all, open recommendations. The Department of Justice OIG uploaded to Oversight.gov a separate annual compendium of open Department of Justice OIG recommendations. Other OIGs have published similar reports, but have not uploaded them to the website (e.g., Department of Defense) or are not yet participating in the beta test (e.g., Department of Health & Human Services).\nFigure 1. Oversight.gov Search Functions for OIG Reports \nAs of August 14, 2017\n/\nSource: Oversight.gov/reports.\nRecent Congressional Actions on OIG Report Transparency\nIn recent years, Congress has taken steps to enhance the transparency and oversight of OIG reports, particularly recommendations. Most notably, Congress passed the IG Empowerment Act of 2016, which requires OIGs to, among other things, submit to Congress all documents containing recommendations and post such documents on their respective websites. Some Members of Congress have also proposed establishing repositories of open recommendations. Senator Heidi Heitkamp introduced the Inspector General Recommendation Transparency Act (S. 3109) in the 114th Congress, which proposed requiring federal IGs to post on their websites a list of recommendations \u201cthat [have] not been adopted or implemented\u201d by the affiliated agency. \nPossible Oversight Issues\nAs CIGIE continues to build out Oversight.gov, Congress might consider the following oversight issues: \n\nthe pace of CIGIE\u2019s progress in completing Oversight.gov, including the projected completion timeframe; anticipated capabilities of the final website; and incorporation of suggestions to alter the content of structure of the beta website;\nwhich of the remaining 37 OIGs will join the Oversight.com beta test, and whether legislation should require OIG participation on the finalized website;\nwhether, and in what capacity, the website will include an open recommendations database, including how it might compare to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) open recommendations database;\nthe utility of the website to Congress and its impact on oversight of OIG activities;\nthe utility of the website to OIGs, including the extent to which it could simplify or automate certain activities\u2014such as the development of semiannual reports\u2014and allow OIGs to redirect resources to other activities; and \nthe quality and accuracy of data presented, as well as the capacity of, and coordination between, CIGIE and OIGs to maintain website content.", "type": "CRS Insight", "typeId": "INSIGHTS", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "https://www.crs.gov/Reports/IN10752", "sha1": "f7210179402b40b33d64386ef6a542a3f93f892f", "filename": "files/20170815_IN10752_f7210179402b40b33d64386ef6a542a3f93f892f.html", "images": { "/products/Getimages/?directory=IN/ASPX/IN10752_files&id=/0.png": "files/20170815_IN10752_images_772cfd2241c2b768cf139a5b1db7052f3e048493.png" } }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "https://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/IN10752", "sha1": "6e65768287537f5d032d7297888fb7c1a40014d7", "filename": "files/20170815_IN10752_6e65768287537f5d032d7297888fb7c1a40014d7.pdf", "images": {} } ], "topics": [ { "source": "IBCList", "id": 4860, "name": "Oversight" } ] } ], "topics": [ "CRS Insights", "Foreign Affairs" ] }