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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.

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 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 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."

PBGC OIG Report: Special Financial Assistance Program’s Policies and Procedures for the Annual Statement of Compliance Need Improvement (PDF)

"PBGC's approach to reconciling SFA funds could be more comprehensive to reduce the risk of misallocation and delays in identifying issues. The current review procedures also lack specific guidelines and thresholds for identifying significant variances, which might result in potential problems going unnoticed.... PBGC's procedures for monitoring the Reinstatement of Benefits under the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act could benefit from clearer communication between PBGC, the [DOL], and the Treasury.... [PBGC] agreed with the recommendations and plans to complete all actions by September 30, 2025."

OIG Report: Evaluation of PBGC's Fiscal Year 2024 Compliance with the Payment Integrity Information Act of 2019 (PDF)

13 pages. "PBGC's efforts to prevent and reduce Improper Payments (IPs) and Unknown Payments (UPs) are adequate considering that its payment streams are not susceptible to significant improper payments and that it complied with applicable PIIA requirements."

PBGC OIG Report: Recent Court of Appeals Ruling May Increase Taxpayer Cost for SFA by $6 Billion (PDF)

"Given the Appeals Court's decision that terminated plans are eligible for SFA, there is a significant risk that a majority of the 123 terminated/insolvent plans will apply for SFA, estimated to be $6 billion, that PBGC and other government entities had not anticipated. Further, within these payments several billion dollars in taxpayer funds may be wasted on repayments [from SFA funds] to PBGC [for loans previously granted as traditional financial assistance] ... PBGC also risks approval of plans' applications by default due to the volume and time needed to properly review applications." [Bd. of Trustees of the Bakery Drivers Local 550 and Industry Pension Fund v. PBGC, No. 23-7868 (2d Cir. Apr. 29, 2025)]

OIG Management Alert to PBGC: Deceased Participants in the Central States' FSA Calculation (PDF)

16 pages. "[OIG] found 3,479 deceased participants in Central States' (Plan) SFA application because the [PBGC] did not ensure deceased participants were removed from the Plan's application.... Based on [OIG's] identification of deceased participants, Central States calculated the value attributed to deceased participants in the SFA application at approximately $127 million."