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IRA - Discrimination Financial Assistance Program

Report Information

Date Issued
Report Number:
50601-0006-23
Report Type
Audit
Description
OIG evaluated USDA’s internal controls related to consistent and accurate reviews of applications for assistance and proper disbursements of the Discrimination Financial Assistance Program. (Note: The attached report was updated March 12, 2026 to replace previously published redacted report).  
Joint Report
No
Agency Wide
Yes (agency-wide)
Questioned Costs
$11,074,892
Funds for Better Use
$0
View report on Oversight.gov

Recommendations

We recommend that USDA re-review the 3,019 applications without documented concurrence and take appropriate action. As appropriate, recover any of the $5,369,000 unsupported questioned costs awarded to the 563 flagged applicants that are determined to be unallowable.

We recommend that USDA recover $914,810 of the remaining $2 million in questioned costs disbursed to applicants that were identified as improper payments during its reconciliation review.

We recommend that USDA identify and incorporate lessons learned and best practices for future programs that may require a non-governmental entity to administer the program. This should include modifying its contracts to receive Treasury approval prior to spending $3,687,272 in questioned costs to disburse Federal program funds by a third-party bank.