The FCC Office of Inspector General (OIG) recently released their semi-annual report to Congress, which covers activities from April 1, 2017 through September 30, 2017. Most of the OIG’s work “…involves investigating and supporting civil and criminal investigations/prosecutions of fraud in the FCC’s federal universal service programs…”
Further details from OIG Report:
- The OIG is currently engaged in multiple “large-scale investigations involving the E-rate” and will hopefully be able to share the details soon;
- The OIG has shared recommendations to detect fraud in the E-rate program with the Commission and USAC staff;
- USAC is currently instituting OIG recommendations tied to retention of information by USAC;
- OIG has recommended the creation of an online competitive bid repository with EPC to assist OIG to detect fraud with the E-rate program
- USAC is currently instituting OIG recommendations tied to retention of information by USAC;
- The OIG has seen “…discrepancies between the reported percentage of students eligible for free/reduced lunches and that observed by members of OI’s E-Rate team at various schools where site visits were conducted, OI has undertaken an investigation into potential fraudulent reporting of National School Lunch Program (NSLP) numbers by applicants to USAC….”;
- OIG is aware of a draft suspension and debarment reform order and has additional recommendations to make to the FCC’s General Counsel surrounding this issue
The Semi-annual report can be viewed here.
