Overview of the United States
Federal Inspectors General
Community
UMBC Briefing
Tom Caulfield
Tom.Caulfield@cigie.gov
1
IG Mission
To promote
economy,
efficiency,
effectiveness, and
integrity in the
delivery of United
States Federal
agency programs.
2
Key IG Activities
 AUDIT, INSPECT, and EVALUATE agency programs and
activities
 INVESTIGATE allegations of wrongdoing
 REVIEW proposed legislation and regulations as to their
likely effect on the economy and efficiency of the host
department/agency
 INFORM agency head and Congress
 Operate a HOTLINE to receive information
3
What Does This Mean
 IGs provide Federal oversight to identify and
recommend the elimination of fraud, waste,
abuse, and mismanagement.
 IGs are a value added resource for the
Executive and Legislative branches of the
Federal government.
4
What IGs Do Not Do
 Operate Programs
 Create or Amend Program Policy
 Enforce Implementation of OIG
Recommendations
 Suspension or Debarment Contractors
 Employment Decisions Regarding Agency
Personnel
5
Hallmarks of an Effective IG
 Roles
 Oversight
 Independence
 Objectivity
 Responsibilities
 Identify Fraud, Waste, Abuse, and Mismanagement
 Dual Reporting Requirement (Department/Agency
Head and Congress)
 Be Transparent to the Media and Public
6
Public Interface
 Hotlines
 IG Websites
 List Serves
 Semi-Annual Reports to Congress
 Freedom of Information Act
7
Council of the Inspectors General on
Integrity and Efficiency
(CIGIE)
Established by Federal law:
 The Inspector General Act of 1978
 IG Act Amendments of 1988
 IG Reform Act of 2008
8
CIGIE Mission
 Address integrity, economy, and effectiveness issues
that transcend individual Government agencies; and
 Increase the professionalism and effectiveness of
personnel by developing policies, standards, and
approaches to aid in the establishment of a well-trained
and highly skilled workforce in the offices of the
Inspectors General.
9
Membership and Construct of CIGIE
 72 Federal Inspectors General (IGs)
 6 Additional Members
 IG Staff Sizes Vary
 CIGIE Officers
 Integrity Committee and 6 Standing Committees
10
Federal IG Community: Results
•
FY 2010
– 6,784 audits and inspections
– 25,589 investigations
– 440,362 hotline complaints processed
– Identified $87.2 billion in potential savings
•
FY 2011
– 7,469 audits and inspections
– 26,677 investigations
– 473,870 hotline complaints processed
– Identified $93.9 billion in potential savings
FY 2011 OIG community’s aggregate budget about $2.7 billion.
Return of about $35 in potential savings for every $1 invested in OIGs.
Our IG Profession:
Then and Now
Beginnings of the IG System in the U.S.
• 1777 – George Washington is
commander of the Continental Army
• Army (est. in 1775) is new, loosely
organized, and untrained
• Oct. 1777 – GW meets with 14 of his
officers and proposes idea of an
Inspector General
• Under GW’s proposal, IG is a
“drillmaster general”
• IG would promote tactical efficiency of
the Army, report to Commander in Chief
Beginnings of the IG System in the U.S.
• Dec 1777 – Congress authorizes IG, but modifies GW’s proposal
• Congress’ vision of an IG:
– Less of a drillmaster, more of an inspector to review the troops,
give understanding of unit’s condition
– IG would largely be an agent of Congress, reporting to Congress
Washington’s IG Report to Commander
vs.
Congress’ IG Report to Congress
The question of whom the IG should report to is not easily
answered.
Beginnings of the IG System in the U.S.
• Our Offices of Inspector General (OIGs)
today:
– Dual reporting  report to agency head,
also report to Congress
– Independence
The IG Concept Moves Into the
Civilian side of the Federal
Government
IG Concept Moves into Fed Gov’t
Let’s first define two terms:
Administrative IG: Position created within
an agency by the agency head. There is no law
requiring an OIG to exist in that agency.
Statutory IG: Position created within an
agency by Congress. Congress has passed a
law mandating (requiring) an OIG to exist in
that agency.
IG Concept Moves into Fed Gov’t –
First Administrative IG
“…established
on 1 January
1952.”
• Jan 1, 1952 – Stuart Hedden appointed IG of the CIA
• Two things clear:
– IG’s requests for info to be treated as requests from the
Director himself
– IG was responsible to Director, not other officers of the Agency
(Acting as the Director’s “eyes and ears”)
IG Concept Moves into Fed Gov’t –
First Statutory IG
• 1951 – Congress passed
Mutual Security Act
(authorized foreign aid)
• 1959 – Act amended,
created IG to oversee Int’l
Cooperation Administration
(ICA) (oversaw foreign aid
operations)
• New York Times article:
position created “for
keeping [ICA] free of waste,
inefficiency, and
corruption.”
Landmark Legislation:
Inspector General Act of 1978
(Pre) Landmark Legislation –
Billie Sol Estes Scandal
Billie Sol Estes
• 1960s – USDA began controlling
price of cotton, by specifying quotas
and acreage allotments to farmers.
• But if land had been taken by
eminent domain, farmers could
transfer their cotton allotment to
another piece of land.
• Estes persuaded farmers to transfer
their cotton allotments to land in
TX, and lease the land and
allotments to Estes.
• Estes was hoarding cotton
allotments.
(Pre) Landmark Legislation –
Billie Sol Estes Investigations
Congress launched exhaustive
investigation; brought USDA’s subsidy
programs under intense scrutiny:
• “Estes’ misrepresentations succeeded
primarily because of shortcomings in
performance of the Department of
Agriculture.”
• “Agriculture personnel displayed a
conspicuous lack of alertness.”
• “Had the federal investigations been properly coordinated, it is
almost inconceivable that Estes’ fraudulent activities could have
been continued for such a long period.”
(Pre) Landmark Legislation –
Admin OIG Created at USDA
Secretary of Agriculture Orville
Freeman administratively creates
USDA OIG in 1962.
Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz
eliminates USDA OIG in 1974.
USDA
OIG
Orville Freeman
Earl Butz
Landmark Legislation –
Inspector General Act of 1978
The Inspector General Act of 1978
Signed by President Carter
October 12, 1978
Created statutory IGs at:
Department of Agriculture
General Services Administration
Department of Housing and Urban
Development
Community Service Administration
Department of the Interior
Environmental Protection Agency
Department of Commerce
Small Business Administration
Department of Labor
Veterans Administration
Department of Transportation
National Aeronautics and Space
Administration
Landmark Legislation –
Inspector General Act of 1978
• Purposes of an OIG:
Create independent and objective units to:
√
Conduct and supervise audits and investigations
relating to programs and operations of the agencies
√
Promote economy, efficiency, and effectiveness in the
administration of these agencies, and to prevent and
detect fraud and abuse
√
Provide a means for keeping the head of the
establishment and Congress informed about
problems and deficiencies
Components of OIGs
Components of most OIGs:
•
•
•
•
•
Audit
Investigations
Inspections & Evaluations
Counsel
Mission Support
Creation of PCIE
• 1981 – President Reagan signs executive order to
create President’s Council on Integrity and
Efficiency (PCIE)
• Purpose – Forum for PAS IGs to meet together,
enhance efforts to promote integrity and
efficiency
*Side note: IG concept began to move into state and local levels of
gov’t at this time. Massachusetts created first state OIG in 1981.
1988 Amendments to IG Act
• 1988 – Congress passed significant amendments to
IG Act
• Created statutory IGs at over 30 agencies (most
smaller in size). Referred to as DFE OIGs:
DFE:
Designated Federal Entity
IG is appointed by agency head
• Only difference between PAS and DFE OIGs is the
IG appointment type. Both are still statutory and
operate independently from agency.
Criteria of Becoming an IG
According to IG Act (as amended):
• Not appointed with regard to political affiliation
• Appointed solely on basis of
-integrity
-demonstrated ability in accounting, auditing,
financial analysis, law, management analysis, public
administration, or investigations
Creation of ECIE
• 1992 – President Bush (Sr.) signs executive
order to create Executive Council on Integrity
and Efficiency (ECIE)
• Purpose – Forum for DFE IGs to meet together,
enhance efforts to promote integrity and
efficiency
PAS OIGs had PCIE - DFE OIGs had ECIE
These two will later come together to
form one Council…
Establishment of Integrity
Committee
• 1996 – President Clinton signs executive
order establishing Integrity Committee
- Has members from both Councils (PCIE and ECIE)
- Reviews allegations of wrongdoing committed by
IGs/certain sr. staff of OIGs
Statutory Law Enforcement
Authority
• 2002 – Passage of Homeland Security Act
statutorily grants exercise of law enforcement
authority to special agents of 24 OIGs.
• Prior to this, few OIGs had law enforcement
authority.
• Attorney General released guidelines (on
training, operational requirements, etc.)
applicable to these special agents.
IG Reform Act of 2008
and Creation of CIGIE
IG Reform Act of 2008
Provided tweaks to IG authorities:
•
President or agency head must provide Congress a letter
at least 30 days before removal or transfer of an IG
•
IG cannot receive a cash award/bonus
•
OIGs required to post reports (or portions) on website;
direct link to hotline must appear on website
•
Integrity Committee was statutorily established (no
longer just by executive order)
•
OIG required to obtain legal advice from its own counsel
or another OIG’s counsel
•
Established Council of Inspectors General on
Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE)
CIGIE Mission
Under the IG Reform Act of 2008, PCIE and ECIE
joined to form one Council  CIGIE
CIGIE’s mission is to:
 Address integrity, economy, and effectiveness
issues that transcend individual government
agencies
 Increase the professionalism and effectiveness of
personnel by developing policies, standards, and
approaches to aid in the establishment of a welltrained and highly skilled workforce in the offices
of the Inspectors General
CIGIE Structure
Members:
72 Federal IGs
6 non-IG members
-Controller, Office of Federal Financial Mgmt., OMB
-Senior-level official from FBI
-Director , Office of Government Ethics
-Special Counsel, Office of Special Counsel
-Deputy Director, OPM
-Deputy Director for Management, OMB
Full membership meets once per month
Leadership:
Phyllis Fong, IG USDA
CIGIE Chair
Lynne McFarland, IG FEC
CIGIE Vice-chair
CIGIE Structure, continued
7 Committees (and Current Chairs)
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Audit (DODIG IG)
Information Technology (Education IG)
Inspection and Evaluation (HHS IG & Peace Corps IG)
Investigations (Securities & Exchange Commission IG)
Legislation (Small Business Administration IG)
Professional Development (Interior Acting IG)
Integrity (Senior-level official from FBI)
Quality Standards
• CIGIE maintains/updates the following:
– Quality Standards for Investigators
– Quality Standards for Inspection and
Evaluation (aka The Blue Book)
– Quality Standards for Digital Forensics
– Quality Standards for Federal Offices of
Inspector General (aka The Silver Book)
•
Quality Standard used by CIGIE, maintained
by GAO:
– Government Auditing Standards (aka The
Yellow Book)
CIGIE = The IG Community
• OIG sizes
– Large OIGs
• DOD and HHS OIGs – about 1,700 employees each
– Small OIGs
• Denali Commission – 1 employee
– And every size in between!
• FY 2011 – approx. 14,700 employees in the
Federal OIG community
CIGIE is also a Federal Agency
• CIGIE is also its own Federal agency w/ a small
number of employees.
• Coordinate bringing the IGs together and help to
execute the community-cutting efforts
– Mark Jones – Executive Director of CIGIE
– Support staff to assist Mark (currently 3 people)
– CIGIE Training Institute staff (currently 12 people)
CIGIE Training Institute
CIGIE Mission:
 Address integrity, economy, and effectiveness issues that
transcend individual government agencies
 Increase the professionalism and effectiveness of
personnel by developing policies, standards, and
approaches to aid in the establishment of a well-trained
and highly skilled workforce in the offices of the
Inspectors General
Est. 2011 – Tom Caulfield, Executive
Director of CIGIE Training Institute
CIGIE Training Institute
CIGIE’s gateway to responsive, high quality, cost-effective, stateof-the-art, IG-specific training and professional development
1 Training Institute
Audit,
Inspection, &
Evaluation
Academy
IG Criminal
Investigator
Academy
Leadership
& Mission
Support
Academy
(AI&E)
(IGCIA)
(LMS)
3 Academies
Our Unique Profession
Unique characteristics that define our
community:
• Independence
• Dual reporting
• Preventive work
Our IG Profession: Then and Now
A network of professionals taking an independent look at
the Federal government, holding it accountable through
inquiry and oversight.
Questions?