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agency’s permission to do so,” says Lerner. “It’s been said that we straddle a barbed-wire fence.”

IG offices have an investigative side, staffed by special agents and law enforcement officials who conduct criminal, civil and administrative investigations into violations of laws, rules or regulations. The offices promote economy and efficiency through audits and evaluations in which auditors, analysts, evaluators and attorneys look at policies, procedures and internal controls to see if they are working as they are supposed to and helping agencies accomplish their missions.

“A lot of issues have had to be worked out in the 40-plus years we’ve been in existence, mostly to ensure IG independence,” Lerner explains. “Over time, the biggest challenges IGs have faced in doing their work revolve around these independence issues. There was a real learning curve both within the IG community and the agencies on how to thread that needle.”

She tells us that today, “IGs have their own ability to hire and to enter into contracts. They have their own budgets and their own SES [Senior Executive Service] system, if necessary. They have their own legal counsel and also have clear statutory authority to look at agency records.”

All IG offices issue a variety of written reports, including audit, investigative, and inspection and evaluation reports prepared in accordance with professional standards; semiannual reports to Congress and agency heads describing the IG’s work within the reporting period; and immediate correspondence to agency heads to disclose egregious and flagrant problems or abuses. The agency head is required to transmit this reporting, along with any comments he or she may have, to Congress within seven days. CIGIE has consolidated all public IG reports from its members in one place on its www.oversight.gov website.

“We use audits, inspections and evaluations as tools to assess how programs are working out and where risks exist,” says Lerner. “The Government Accountability Office has issued a guide, referred to as the ‘Yellow Book,’ that sets the standards for

conducting audits in the federal government, and our work has to comply with those standards.” CIGIE sets community-wide standards for inspections and evaluations.

Every three years, an IG’s audit, investigative, and inspection and evaluation offices are peerreviewed by people outside their agency to ensure their work is being done properly. “In the past decade, we’ve seen a great deal of movement in the IG community towards using data analytics in our work,” Lerner says. “If you talk to IGs, they’ll tell you there’s more work that they want to do than they can ever possibly accomplish. Analyzing data allows us to focus our limited resources on the areas that are most important.

“We’ve gone from people thinking of us as ‘junkyard dogs’ to being understood as very serious about our oversight responsibilities.” What Federal Employees Should Know

Moore’s work as director of VA’s IG hotline illuminates the principal mechanism by which federal employees, contractors and the general public can make IG offices aware of matters they believe the offices should investigate.

“When I was there,” Moore recalls, “we might have gotten 30,000 to 40,000 calls, letters and electronic forms in a year. We had to decide which calls could or should be developed further. If we get a lot of complaints from the same area—about a specific medical center, cemetery or benefits office, or about problems with a specific kind of medication—then you obviously think you’ve got an issue here.

“Almost all IG offices have hotlines people can use to provide information to them,” adds Lerner. “You can also submit information anonymously, and the IG Act requires inspectors general to protect the identity of people who come to them to the maximum extent practicable. We take that responsibility extremely seriously.

“Most IGs have a really good process for managing their hotline. And it’s essential that what comes in be examined carefully, because you never know what bombshell might find its way to you through the hotline,” says Lerner. Those interested in sharing information with an IG’s office can access their hotlines via www.oversight.gov (click the red button on the right side of the screen to find ways to report waste, fraud, abuse or retaliation). CIGIE also maintains a list of phone numbers, mailing addresses and hotline numbers for IGs at every agency on its website (www.ignet.gov).

Finally, what if you are contacted and asked to speak with an IG investigator? In December 2021, the Office of Management and Budget sent out guidance requesting that agency leaders communicate with their staffs about the statutorily required expectation that all government employees fully cooperate with their IGs.

“If people have questions about what they should do to prepare, they can ask the people who are asking to meet with them. The IG will share as much as [he or she] can ahead of the meeting,” explains Lerner. “In many cases, the most important thing to bring to the conversation is an open mind.

“We know it’s unsettling when someone gets an email saying that we’d like to talk to you. But we are people, we don’t bite, and things should go well. Do you need an attorney when you meet with the OIG? In most cases, no. If you’re in doubt, that’s a conversation to have with the people who are arranging the meeting. There will be warnings given at the start of investigative interviews that make clear whether a person is obligated to cooperate and share information. Ask questions of the people who want to talk to you, and listen to the warnings.

“The bottom line,” Lerner says, “is that we have an important job, and we’re trying to do it the best we can. Most of us recognize that the people we’re talking to have jobs they care about, and they’re trying to do their work, too. The more everyone can realize there’s just another person on the other end of the transaction, the more likely it is that both sides will get through the transaction in the best possible way.”

—EVERETT A. (EV) CHASEN, IS A WRITER AND COMMUNICATIONS CONSULTANT IN THE WASHINGTON, DC, AREA. HE IS RETIRED FROM THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AFTER 35 YEARS OF SERVICE.