Report to Congress: April 1, 2023 through September 30, 2023

Summary

The Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC) Semiannual Report to Congress for April 1, 2023, through September 30, 2023. It says the PRAC and 20 Office of Inspector General (OIG) partners oversee more than $5 trillion in pandemic relief funds and issued five oversight reports in the period. The Pandemic Analytics Center of Excellence (PACE) is reported to have supported more than 40 federal law enforcement and OIG partners on over 630 investigations, with an estimated potential fraud loss of $1.77 billion. The largest Fraud Task Force case brought charges against 14 individuals accused of defrauding the Paycheck Protection Program and financial institutions of more than $53 million. A Do Not Pay follow-up found 3,222 Social Security Numbers belonging to deceased individuals on PPP and COVID-19 EIDL applications.

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

Full text

Report to Congress: April 1, 2023 through September 30, 2023

We're pleased to present the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee's (PRAC) Semiannual Report to Congress , which highlights our accomplishments between April 1, 2023, and September 30, 2023. It has now been more than three years since the PRAC’s creation, and we, along with our 20 Office of Inspector General (OIG) partners, remain committed to the mission of effectively overseeing more than $5 trillion in federal pandemic relief funds.

This report demonstrates the impact of our innovative approach to overseeing unprecedented levels of emergency government spending and investigating pandemic relief fraud. During the reporting period, we worked with our OIG partners to issue five oversight reports that provided valuable insights across a broad range of pandemic-related issues, such as gaps in pandemic spending data in six communities across the country and the pandemic’s impact on the federal contract and grants workforces .

Here’s a summary of our accomplishments from April 1, 2023, to September 30, 2023.

Highlights from the report

1. Updates to PandemicOversight.gov

In our continued effort to promote transparency, we have produced over 500 new visualizations on our website, including those displayed on data stories, report pages, and our new program pages .

2. Investigations Supported by the PACE

To date, the Pandemic Analytics Center of Excellence (PACE) has provided investigative support to more than 40 federal law enforcement and OIG partners on over 630 pandemic-related investigations involving nearly 7,600 subjects, with an estimated potential fraud loss of $1.77 billion.

3. Largest PRAC Fraud Task Force Case

The efforts of the Task Force resulted in federal charges brought against 14 individuals who allegedly defrauded the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program and financial institutions of more than $53 million, demonstrating the key role of the PACE and the Task Force in pandemic fraud investigations.

4. Reports Led or Coordinated by the PRAC

We have issued five reports during this time period. These reports demonstrate how data sharing can strengthen federal program integrity , identify gaps in pandemic spending data , propose a whole-of-government approach to identity fraud victim redress , highlight health care staffing shortages during the pandemic, and share key insights from federal agencies to help the government better support critical personnel during future emergencies.

5. PRAC Staff Speaking Engagements

PRAC leaders and staff participated in 16 speaking engagements and provided valuable insights and lessons learned to oversight professionals at the federal, state, local, and international level.

“The PRAC has created a blueprint for conducting effective oversight of this extraordinary amount of emergency relief spending by coordinating with our oversight partners at all levels of government and leveraging data analytics to better prevent and detect fraud. This model should be retained, replicated, and broadened to bolster oversight of future emergency and non-emergency federal expenditures."

Michael E. Horowitz, PRAC Chair

We demonstrated how using the Do Not Pay system can strengthen program integrity.

We issued a Fraud Alert Follow-Up that identified 3,222 Social Security Numbers (SSNs) used on Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan (COVID-19 EIDL) applications belonging to deceased individuals. Some of these resulted in the disbursement of $38 million in improper or fraudulent payments.

Read more about this potential fraud in the full report (pdf) .

Image

We identified gaps in pandemic spending data.

Through our review of federal pandemic spending in six communities across the United States, we identified critical data gaps that hinder oversight, transparency, and stakeholders’ ability to understand how funds were used and if they achieved the intended impact.

Read more about these data gaps in the full report (pdf) .

Image

We leveraged the insights of federal agencies.

We surveyed 29 federal agencies to assess whether contracts and grants personnel received adequate training, technology support, and other resources during the pandemic.

Read more about insights in the full report (pdf) .

Image

Previous Reports to Congress

Page last modified: 05/28/2026

File and source

File

PRAC_april-2023-september-2023_captured-2026-07-06.html

Size

86,917 bytes

SHA-256

e9df5090c6917ffb86a3fe152fb966263be903a6474ce409a2dfd16714a70232

Our copy

PRAC_april-2023-september-2023_captured-2026-07-06.html

Original

www.pandemicoversight.gov