Search the News Archive

Text of PBGC Inspector General Report: 'PBGC Processing of Terminated United Airlines Pension Plans Was Seriously Deficient' (PDF)

Serious errors and omissions plagued PBGC's determination of (1) the fair market value of plan assets and (2) the reliability of data used to calculate participants' benefits for four terminated United Airlines pension plans.

Inspector General of the PBGC: Semiannual Report to Congress (PDF)

Covers Oct. 1, 2018–Mar. 31, 2019; 49 pages. "The Corporation continues to demonstrate overall improvements in internal control, as evidenced by the results of the FY 2018 Financial Statement Audit and the relatively low number of open, or unimplemented, OIG recommendations. There were 75 open audit recommendations at the end of this reporting period. This number previously had been as high as 209 and averaged over 170 for the period FY 2011 to FY 2015."

PBGC Announces New Inspector General Appointment

"The [PBGC] announced the appointment of Nicholas J. Novak as the agency's Inspector General. In his 35-year career, Novak spent nearly 20 years holding various positions within PBGC's Office of Negotiations and Restructuring (ONR) and the agency's Office of the Inspector General. Novak's ONR portfolio included supervising aspects of the Multiemployer Pension Insurance Program. He most recently served as PBGC's Acting Inspector General since April 2020."

PBGC Inspector General Report SR-2018-14: Summary and Analysis of IT Audit Recommendations and PBGC FISMA Performance (PDF)

13 pages, June 20, 2018. "How does PBGC measure up in the area of IT security? This information-only report provides a summary and analysis of the [PBGC's] progress in remediating IT audit recommendations, as well as its [Federal Information Security Modernization Act (FISMA)] performance in general and its FISMA performance in comparison to other federal agencies. Bottom line: PBGC has made progress in IT security in the past five years. In FISMA performance, PBGC ranks as average among small agencies in one comparison and above average in another."

Text of PBGC Inspector General Report: PBGC Can Improve Effectiveness of the Missing Participants Program (PDF)

26 pages, Jan. 7, 2022. "[OIG] found that while PBGC has had success locating missing participants, the program is not as effective as it could be.... Currently, the program [1] does not have performance measures, [2] uses unreliable data management practices, and [3] MPP procedures do not reflect the actual business practices used in program administration. Without performance measures, identifying outliers in performance is difficult, and not having sound data management practices has led to a lack of quantitative data available for program evaluation. Further, the lack of [missing participant] procedures reflecting actual business practices may lead to ineffective implementation of the program and hinder continuity of operations."

Inspector General's Report: PBGC's Data Protection at Contractor-Operated Facilities (PDF)

32 pages. "We found controls relating to data protection at the contractor-operated facilities are, for the most part, suitably designed.... Controls relating to monitoring of the personnel security process and oversight by the Contracting Officer's Representatives (CORs) are not consistently executed in a manner to ensure protection of sensitive data. Vulnerabilities in the employee separation process ... require additional controls."

PBGC Inspector General Report: Evaluation of the Early Warning Program (PDF)

21 pages. "We made 3 recommendations to management: ... [1] evaluate the effectiveness of current EWP initiation communication procedures and update as necessary to ensure companies are sufficiently informed about the program, [2] implement controls to ensure close out letters are provided, and [3] update their system to accurately report EWP case inventory.... Management agreed with the recommendations and agreed to take corrective action as identified in the report."

PBGC Inspector General Semiannual Report to Congress for the Period April 1, 2020 to September 30, 2020 (PDF)

52 pages. "In this reporting period, [PBGC OIG] completed an investigation into a bribery scheme, in which the now former Procurement Director accepted cash, gifts, and the promise of a future job from a government contractor in exchange for steering professional service contracts to the company.... [OIG is] conducting an audit to determine if Procurement Department practices may have allowed contract steering and to look for indications of other contracting improprieties."

PBGC OIG Report: Top Management and Performance Challenges Facing the PBGC in Fiscal Year 2025 (PDF)

22 pages. "[The Inspector General has] identified four management and performance challenges: [1] strengthening PBGC's information technology; [2] Contracting Officers' Representatives' oversight of contracts; [3] human capital: mission critical skills; and [4] acquisition challenges. These challenges were identified based on oversight work performed for the Office of Inspector General, input from PBGC management, and knowledge of the PBGC's programs and operations."

PBGC OIG Report: Evaluation of Centenarian Participants Receiving Benefits (PDF)

12 pages. "Although the PBGC routinely performs death matches using the SSA's DMF, the Director sought to determine whether the OIG had access to additional resources that could help identify deceased individuals not captured by the DMF -- particularly participants within the old cohort aged 100 or older.... A review of the Single-Employer Program's participant data revealed that PBGC made improper pension payments to six deceased individuals that might have been prevented if it had used Treasury's DNP system as a verification tool."