GAO-24-106655: Whistleblowers: Disclosures and Retaliation Complaints to Pandemic Auditors

Summary

GAO-24-106655, Whistleblowers: Disclosures and Retaliation Complaints to Pandemic Auditors, a Government Accountability Office Q&A report to congressional committees dated February 13, 2024. It reviews whistleblower protections for contractor and grantee employees who make disclosures to the Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery (SIGPR), the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC) and the CIGIE Integrity Committee. SIGPR officials said such employees are protected against retaliation under federal law, while PRAC officials described ambiguity in section 4712 of title 41 of the U.S. Code. Officials from the three oversight bodies said they are not aware of having received any disclosures or retaliation complaints from federal contractor or grantee whistleblowers.

Summary drafted by a model from the document's text below and checked by script against that text before publication. It is a navigation aid, not a reading of what the document proves. Where AI is used

Cite this document

“GAO-24-106655: Whistleblowers: Disclosures and Retaliation Complaints to Pandemic Auditors.” Original at www.gao.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/gao-24-106655-whistleblowers-disclosures-and-retaliation-complaints-to-1e3f88fbf3/, SHA-256 81e64d1353167ebc86cda66115eae435daf20c0daf0b6fa79d694aca08c92d11.

Full text

U.S. Government Accountability Office

Whistleblowers: Disclosures and
Retaliation Complaints to
Pandemic Auditors
GAO-24-106655
Q&A Report to Congressional Committees
February 13, 2024

Why This Matters In response to the over $4.6 trillion of federal funding provided under the CARES
Act and other COVID-19 relief laws, agencies acted quickly to create new
programs and scale up existing ones, including by awarding contracts and
grants. Because of their scale and speed, pandemic relief programs have been
vulnerable to significant risk of fraudulent activities. Whistleblowers can play an
important role in identifying waste, fraud, or abuse in government operations,
including those carried out by federal contractors and grantees.

The CARES Act created two new oversight bodies for pandemic relief programs:
the Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery (SIGPR) and the
Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC). The act also assigned
existing inspectors general (IG) responsibilities for conducting audits and
investigations related to the relief programs. The Council of the Inspectors
General on Integrity and Efficiency’s (CIGIE) Integrity Committee is an oversight
body for IGs and other designated officials in Offices of Inspector General. All
three entities accept tips about potential wrongdoing and provide public contact
information for submitting such tips.

The Joint Explanatory Statement accompanying the James M. Inhofe National
Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023 includes a provision for us to
review the application of whistleblower protections to disclosures by contractor
and grantee employees to SIGPR, PRAC, and the CIGIE Integrity Committee. 1
This report provides the entities’ views on the scope of whistleblower protections
for contractor and grantee employees, the number of disclosures they have
received, and the entities’ procedures for handling such disclosures.

Key Takeaways • SIGPR officials told us that contractor and grantee employees who make
disclosures to SIGPR are protected against retaliation under federal law.
PRAC officials told us that, regarding disclosures made to them, there is
ambiguity in the protections for contractor and grantee whistleblowers in
section 4712 of title 41 of the U.S. Code. Integrity Committee officials told us
that they have not assessed whether this statutory provision applies to
disclosures made to the committee.
• Officials from the three oversight bodies told us that they are not aware of
having received any disclosures or retaliation complaints from federal
contractor or grantee whistleblowers.
• The three oversight bodies have processes in place for receiving and
referring whistleblower disclosures and retaliation complaints.

Page 1 GAO-24-106655 WHISTLEBLOWERS
Who is a In general, whistleblowers are employees who report allegations of wrongdoing—
whistleblower? such as a violation of law, abuse of authority, or gross mismanagement—
committed by their respective employers. In this report, we refer to such
allegations as whistleblower disclosures, regardless of to whom the disclosure is
made or whether the whistleblower has reported retaliation. Whistleblower
retaliation occurs when certain unfavorable action is taken or threatened against
a whistleblower for making such a disclosure. We will focus on whistleblowers
who are employees of federal contractors, subcontractors, grantees,
subgrantees, and personal services contractors. We refer to these
whistleblowers as contractor and grantee whistleblowers.

While any person—including a member of the public—can provide valuable
information about an organization’s wrongdoing, whistleblowers are a distinct
category because of the risk they face of employment-related retaliation. Certain
legal protections address this risk. Section 4712 of title 41 of the U.S. Code
(Section 4712) prohibits most federal contractors and grantees from discharging,
demoting, or otherwise discriminating against their employees as retaliation for
making whistleblower disclosures to certain persons and bodies, including IGs
and GAO. 2 An employee of a contractor or grantee who experiences such
retaliation can make a complaint to the IG of the agency involved in the contract
or grant. 3 Section 4712, however, does not explicitly name SIGPR, PRAC, or the
Integrity Committee. Courts have not addressed whether disclosures by
contractor and grantee whistleblowers to these entities are protected under
federal law. Separate whistleblower protections exist for federal employee
whistleblowers. 4

What is SIGPR’s SIGPR is responsible for conducting audits and investigations related to loans,
mission? loan guarantees, and other investments made by the Department of the Treasury
under the Coronavirus Economic Stabilization Act of 2020, part of the CARES
Act. 5 The CARES Act established SIGPR in March 2020 as a Special Inspector
General appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the
Senate. 6 According to SIGPR officials, SIGPR had 41 full-time equivalent
employees, as of October 2023. It is scheduled to cease operations on March 27,
2025. 7

How does SIGPR SIGPR operates phone and email hotlines to receive complaints of waste, fraud,
receive information and mismanagement of funds relating to CARES Act programs (see fig. 1).
from the public? According to SIGPR officials, they also receive some complaints via mail.
SIGPR’s intake procedures state that complaints received by phone, mail, and
email are to be reviewed and recorded in SIGPR’s case management system.

Page 2 GAO-24-106655 WHISTLEBLOWERS
Figure 1: Phone and Email Hotline Links on the Special Inspector General for Pandemic
Recovery’s Website

What protections exist SIGPR officials told us that contractor and grantee whistleblowers who make
for contractor and disclosures to SIGPR are protected against retaliation under federal law.
grantee whistleblowers SIGPR’s public website states that contractor and grantee whistleblowers may
who make disclosures make protected disclosures to SIGPR. SIGPR officials told us that they would
refer complaints related to other federal agencies to the office or agency that has
to SIGPR?
jurisdiction over those complaints. In contrast, officials told us they would directly
investigate complaints from any SIGPR contractor or grantee whistleblowers.
However, they stated that, as of May 2023, SIGPR had not awarded any
contracts or grants.

How many disclosures SIGPR officials told us that, from March 2020 to September 2023, they did not
and claims of receive any whistleblower disclosures or retaliation claims from individuals who
retaliation has SIGPR identified themselves as employees of federal contractors or grantees.
received from
contractor or grantee
whistleblowers?

Page 3 GAO-24-106655 WHISTLEBLOWERS
What processes does SIGPR officials who staff and manage SIGPR’s hotline told us they use the
SIGPR use to identify process shown in figure 2 to identify potential whistleblower disclosures and
potential whistleblower retaliation claims. According to SIGPR officials, most of the complaints received
disclosures and claims through the hotline relate to programs that are outside SIGPR’s jurisdiction. They
refer such complaints to the agencies with jurisdiction to investigate them.
of retaliation?

Figure 2: SIGPR’s Hotline Intake and Referral Process

SIGPR’s intake procedures state that complainants may be identified as
unknown or anonymous in the case management system, but that complainant
names should be recorded when possible. SIGPR officials told us they do not
routinely record information about complainants’ employers, including whether
the complainant works for a federal agency or contractor. However, they said
complainants sometimes provide information about their employers when
relevant to the complaint. According to the officials, SIGPR staff would refer any
complaints alleging wrongdoing at a federal agency, contractor, or grantee to
senior SIGPR officials to be processed as whistleblower disclosures.
SIGPR’s intake procedures state that SIGPR can designate complaints in its
database as sensitive when necessary. SIGPR officials told us that whistleblower
disclosures would be so designated and that access to sensitive information
about these disclosures would be limited to a small number of SIGPR staff.

Page 4 GAO-24-106655 WHISTLEBLOWERS
What is PRAC’s The CARES Act created PRAC as a committee of CIGIE in March 2020 to
mission? conduct oversight of the federal government’s pandemic response and recovery
effort. 8 According to officials, PRAC had 60 employees as of October 2023. It is
scheduled to cease operations on September 30, 2025. 9

How does PRAC PRAC accepts tips about suspected wrongdoing involving pandemic-related
receive information programs or funds through a hotline portal on its website. As shown in figure 3,
from the public? the portal includes three links:

• a link labeled “file a complaint,” for reports of known or suspected fraud,
waste, abuse, mismanagement, or violations of laws and regulations
involving funds or programs covered within pandemic-related laws;

• a link labeled “file a whistleblower complaint,” for reports of wrongdoing of an
agency or other federal entity; and

• a link labeled “file a whistleblower retaliation complaint,” for individuals who
have already reported a whistleblower complaint and feel they have
experienced retaliation.
Figure 3: Hotline Links on the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee’s Website

Page 5 GAO-24-106655 WHISTLEBLOWERS
What protections exist PRAC officials told us that statutes concerning contractor and grantee
for contractor and whistleblowers do not explicitly state that they are applicable to PRAC. They
grantee whistleblowers explained that, while the CARES Act granted PRAC many of the same
who make disclosures authorities and functions afforded IGs, PRAC is not an IG nor one of the other
bodies identified in Section 4712. As discussed above, disclosure to one of these
to PRAC?
identified bodies would grant protection against retaliation.

Therefore, they said, there is ambiguity about whether the protections against
reprisal apply when disclosures are made to PRAC.

The officials stated that, to protect whistleblowers, PRAC accepts all complaints
of potential whistleblower retaliation and refers them to the appropriate IG or
other entity for action. PRAC also provides a link on its hotline portal web page to
a page on www.oversight.gov, a CIGIE website, that explains whistleblower
protections—including those for contractor and grantee employees—and
provides information about where to report fraud, waste, abuse, or retaliation.

How many disclosures PRAC officials told us that from March 2020 to September 2023, PRAC received
and claims of three potential whistleblower disclosures through its “file a complaint” link. None
retaliation has PRAC of these three submissions appears to have been made by a contractor or
received from grantee whistleblower. The officials told us that during the same period, PRAC
did not receive any whistleblower disclosures through its whistleblower complaint
contractor or grantee
or whistleblower retaliation complaint links.
whistleblowers?
One of the three potential whistleblower disclosures was submitted by a former
employee of a federal agency providing information related to that agency. PRAC
collected additional information from the complainant via a whistleblower
questionnaire and referred the information to the Office of Inspector General of
the relevant agency.

In the other two cases, PRAC officials told us that they had sent whistleblower
questionnaires to the individuals but had not received responses as of October
2023. In their initial submissions, neither of the complainants identified
themselves as current employees of contractors or grantees, nor did they claim
retaliation. According to PRAC officials, if a complainant has not returned the
whistleblower questionnaire within 90 days, PRAC sends a follow-up email to the
complainant and will subsequently close the case if it does not receive a
response within 7 days.

What processes does Officials who manage PRAC’s hotline told us that they identify potential
PRAC use to identify whistleblower disclosures using the process shown in PRAC’s intake process
potential whistleblower flowchart (see fig. 4). People who submit tips to PRAC may remain anonymous
disclosures and claims or identify themselves by name. However, for complaints of whistleblower
retaliation, name and contact information are required fields on PRAC’s hotline
of retaliation?
form.

Page 6 GAO-24-106655 WHISTLEBLOWERS
Figure 4: PRAC Flowchart of Whistleblower Intake and Referral Process

PRAC has procedures to flag incoming whistleblower disclosures and retaliation
claims. The procedures require PRAC’s investigations agents to manually review
all tips and flag any with content that suggests the complainant is a
whistleblower. To make this determination, PRAC’s investigations agents use a
list of keywords—for example, “misconduct,” “protection,” and “violation of law.”
PRAC handles these flagged tips separately from other fraud, waste, and abuse
tips.

What is the mission of The Integrity Committee is a permanent statutory committee of CIGIE that
CIGIE’s Integrity receives, reviews, and refers for investigation allegations of wrongdoing made
Committee? against covered persons. Covered persons include IGs, designated staff
members of IGs, the Special Counsel and Deputy Special Counsel of the Office
of Special Counsel, and anyone serving in an acting or interim capacity in those
positions. 10 The Integrity Committee is composed of four IGs appointed by the
Chairperson of CIGIE to serve terms of 4 years each, a designee from the Office
of Government Ethics, and a designee from the Federal Bureau of
Investigation. 11 As of October 2023, according to CIGIE officials, three CIGIE
Page 7 GAO-24-106655 WHISTLEBLOWERS
employees were assigned to support the Integrity Committee full time and
several other CIGIE employees provided support to the Integrity Committee
through ancillary duties.

How does CIGIE’s The Integrity Committee accepts allegations of wrongdoing, including those from
Integrity Committee whistleblowers, in writing. The Integrity Committee recommends submission by
receive information email and provides a designated email address for this purpose (see fig. 5).
from the public? Figure 5: Email Hotline Link for the Integrity Committee on the Council of the Inspectors
General on Integrity and Efficiency Website.

What protections exist Integrity Committee officials told us they have not had occasion to address the
for contractor and question of whether the protections for contractor and grantee whistleblowers in
grantee whistleblowers Section 4712 apply to complaints submitted directly to the committee.
who make disclosures Specifically, the officials said they have not received any complaints subject to
the committee’s authority that relied on or otherwise referenced the protections
to CIGIE’s Integrity
afforded by Section 4712. However, according to the officials, reprisal against
Committee? anyone by a covered person for making the types of disclosures contemplated by
Section 4712 could constitute wrongdoing subject to the committee’s oversight
authority.
Guidance for Integrity Committee complainants on CIGIE’s website states that
the committee does not assist complainants with obtaining a remedy if they have
been wronged. The guidance provides links to other federal agencies with
jurisdiction over workplace discrimination, prohibited personnel practices, and
workplace conditions. 12
CIGIE policy states that the Integrity Committee attempts to protect the
confidentiality of a person who makes an allegation of, or provides information
about, wrongdoing by a covered person. The policy states that the committee will
not disclose the identity of such a person without that person’s consent, unless
the committee’s Chairperson determines such disclosure is unavoidable during
the course of the committee’s processes or is required by law.

Page 8 GAO-24-106655 WHISTLEBLOWERS
How many disclosures Integrity Committee officials told us they are not aware of having received any
and claims of disclosures from contractor or grantee whistleblowers between March 2020 and
retaliation has CIGIE’s October 2023. They said the committee does not routinely request or track
Integrity Committee information about complainants’ employers, because the committee’s primary
mission, as defined in law, is to address alleged wrongdoing by covered persons
received from
and not necessarily to obtain relief for complainants, particularly for those who
contractor or grantee are not federal employees. They said that the committee would likely not be
whistleblowers? aware of potential disclosures under Section 4712 unless a complainant or
witness referred to that provision of law.

What processes does The Integrity Committee’s intake process includes an initial review to determine
CIGIE’s Integrity whether the complaint is within the committee’s jurisdiction. Committee officials
Committee use to told us that when they receive complaints that do not make an allegation of
review and refer wrongdoing against a covered person, they respond to the complainant but take
no further action. They stated that such complainants are generally informed of
complaints?
other reporting options.
Complaints that are identified as potentially within the Integrity Committee’s
jurisdiction are sent to its Allegation Review Group, a three-member panel that
consists of designees of the Integrity Committee, the Department of Justice
(DOJ), and the Office of Special Counsel (OSC). According to Integrity
Committee officials, the group’s membership ensures that potential concerns
related to each agency’s area of responsibility are considered before matters are
referred to the Integrity Committee for review. The Integrity Committee’s policies
and procedures state that the group may refer allegations to DOJ, OSC, or the
Integrity Committee, and that for matters referred to DOJ or OSC, the Integrity
Committee may concurrently consider and investigate related allegations. The
Integrity Committee is to review each matter referred to it and determine whether
to open an investigation. Officials told us that after making this determination, the
committee would consult or coordinate with DOJ and OSC as necessary and
appropriate.

Agency Comments We provided a draft of this report to SIGPR, PRAC, and CIGIE’s Integrity
Committee for review and comment. SIGPR did not have any comments on the
report. PRAC and CIGIE provided technical comments, which we incorporated,
as appropriate.

How GAO Did This We reviewed relevant laws regarding the authorities and responsibilities of
Study SIGPR, PRAC, and the CIGIE Integrity Committee and protections for
whistleblowers. We obtained information from these entities about disclosures
and whistleblower retaliation complaints from employees of federal contractors,
subcontractors, grantees, subgrantees, and personal services contractors from
March 2020 through September or October 2023. To identify any court decisions
addressing relevant disclosures by whistleblowers to SIGPR, PRAC, and the
CIGIE Integrity Committee, we searched and reviewed content in legal
databases. To determine whether entities received disclosures or retaliation
claims from contractor or grantee employees, we reviewed the text of the three
complaints that PRAC identified as potential whistleblower disclosures for
information related to the complainants’ employment status. We also interviewed
officials from the audited entities, including attorneys and staff at each entity who
handle intake and analyze hotline tips. We examined the three entities’
procedures for processing and reviewing disclosures and whistleblower
retaliation complaints.

Page 9 GAO-24-106655 WHISTLEBLOWERS
We conducted this performance audit from February 2023 to February 2024 in
accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards. Those
standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain sufficient,
appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for our findings and
conclusions based on our audit objectives. We believe that the evidence
obtained provides a reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on
our audit objectives.

List of Addressees The Honorable Jack Reed
Chairman
The Honorable Roger Wicker
Ranking Member
Committee on Armed Services
United States Senate

The Honorable Mike Rogers
Chairman
The Honorable Adam Smith
Ranking Member
Committee on Armed Services
House of Representatives

GAO Contact For more information, contact: Yvonne D. Jones, Director, Strategic Issues, at
Information (202) 512-6806 or JonesY@gao.gov.
Chuck Young, Managing Director, Public Affairs, YoungC1@gao.gov, (202) 512-
4800
A. Nicole Clowers, Managing Director, Congressional Relations,
ClowersA@gao.gov, (202) 512-4400
Staff Acknowledgments: Shirley Hwang (Assistant Director), Theodore
Alexander (Analyst-in-Charge), Caitlin Cusati, Ann Czapiewski, Mary Diop, Rob
Gebhart, Brian Stephenson, and Clarette Yen.
Connect with GAO on Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, and YouTube. Subscribe to our
RSS Feeds or Email Updates. Listen to our Podcasts.
Visit GAO on the web at https://www.gao.gov.
This work of the United States may include copyrighted material, details at
https://www.gao.gov/copyright.

Endnotes
1168 Cong. Rec. H9466 (Dec. 8, 2022).

241 U.S.C. § 4712. A separate statutory provision protects contractor and grantee whistleblowers

who make disclosures related to Department of Defense or National Aeronautics and Space
Administration contracts or grants. 10 U.S.C. § 4701. Note that elements of the intelligence
community are not subject to these provisions, as separate statutes apply to intelligence
community whistleblowers. See GAO, Whistleblower Protection: Actions Needed to Strengthen
Selected Intelligence Community Offices of Inspector General Programs, GA0-20-699
(Washington, D.C.: Sept. 25, 2020); NASA Contractor Whistleblowers: Steps Taken to Implement
Program but Improvements to Timeliness and Guidance Needed, GAO-18-262 (Washington, D.C.:
Mar. 8, 2018); and Contractor Whistleblower Protections Pilot Program: Improvements Needed to
Ensure Effective Implementation, GAO-17-227 (Washington, D.C.: Mar. 2, 2017).
341 U.S.C. § 4712(b)(1).

4See, e.g., 5 U.S.C. § 2302(b)(8), (9); GAO, Whistleblowers: Office of Special Counsel Should

Require Information on the Probationary Status of Whistleblowers, GAO-20-436 (Washington, D.C.:
May. 28, 2020); Whistleblowers: Key Practices for Congress to Consider When Receiving and

Page 10 GAO-24-106655 WHISTLEBLOWERS
Referring Information, GAO-19-432 (Washington, D.C.: May. 7, 2019); and Office of Special
Counsel: Actions Needed to Improve Processing of Prohibited Personnel Practice and
Whistleblower Disclosure Cases, GAO-18-400 (Washington, D.C.: June 14, 2018).
5Pub. L. No. 116-136, § 4018, 134 Stat. 281, 482 (2020) (codified at 15 U.S.C. § 9053).

6Pub. L. No. 116-136, § 4018(b)(1), 134 Stat. 281, 482-83 (2020) (codified at 15 U.S.C. §

9053(b)(1)).
715 U.S.C. § 9053(h).

8Pub. L. No. 116-136, § 15010(b), 134 Stat. 281, 534 (2020).

9Pub. L. No. 116-136, § 15010(k), 134 Stat. 281, 540 (2020). In 2021, PRAC established the

Pandemic Analytics Center of Excellence. The role of the center is to help oversee the trillions of
dollars in federal pandemic-related emergency spending. In March 2022, we recommended that an
analytics center of excellence be established permanently to aid the oversight community in
identifying improper payments and fraud. See GAO, Emergency Relief Funds: Significant
Improvements Are Needed to Address Fraud and Improper Payments, GAO-23-106556
(Washington, D.C.: Feb. 1, 2023); and Emergency Relief Funds: Significant Improvements Are
Needed to Ensure Transparency and Accountability for COVID-19 and Beyond, GAO-22-105715
(Washington, D.C.: Mar. 17, 2022).
105 U.S.C. § 424(d); CIGIE, Integrity Committee Policies and Procedures 2018 at 1, available at

https://www.ignet.gov/content/manuals-guides.
115 U.S.C. § 424(d); CIGIE, Integrity Committee Policies and Procedures 2018 at 2, available at

https://www.ignet.gov/content/manuals-guides.
12See https://www.ignet.gov/content/guidance-and-faqs#complainant and

https://www.ignet.gov/content/integrity-committee-links.

Page 11 GAO-24-106655 WHISTLEBLOWERS

File and source

File: d24106655.pdf
Size: 1,706,307 bytes
SHA-256: 81e64d1353167ebc86cda66115eae435daf20c0daf0b6fa79d694aca08c92d11
Our copy: d24106655.pdf
Original: www.gao.gov