§404. Duties and responsibilities

(a) In General.—It shall be the duty and responsibility of each Inspector General, with respect to the establishment within which the Inspector General's Office is established—

(1) to provide policy direction for and to conduct, supervise, and coordinate audits and investigations relating to the programs and operations of the establishment;

(2) to review existing and proposed legislation and regulations relating to programs and operations of the establishment and to make recommendations in the semiannual reports required by section 405(b) of this title concerning the impact of the legislation and regulations on the economy and efficiency in the administration of programs and operations administered or financed by the establishment, or the prevention and detection of fraud and abuse in the programs and operations;

(3) to recommend policies for, and to conduct, supervise, or coordinate other activities carried out or financed by, the establishment for the purpose of promoting economy and efficiency in the administration of, or preventing and detecting fraud and abuse in, its programs and operations;

(4) to recommend policies for the establishment, and to conduct, supervise, or coordinate relationships between the establishment and other Federal agencies, State and local governmental agencies, and nongovernmental entities, with respect to—

(A) all matters relating to the promotion of economy and efficiency in the administration of, or the prevention and detection of fraud and abuse in, programs and operations administered or financed by the establishment; or

(B) the identification and prosecution of participants in fraud or abuse referred to in subparagraph (A); and

(5) to keep the head of the establishment and Congress fully and currently informed, by means of the reports required by section 405 of this title and otherwise, concerning fraud and other serious problems, abuses, and deficiencies relating to the administration of programs and operations administered or financed by the establishment, to recommend corrective action concerning the problems, abuses, and deficiencies, and to report on the progress made in implementing the corrective action.

(b) Standards and Guidelines.—

(1) In general.—In carrying out the responsibilities specified in subsection (a)(1), each Inspector General shall—

(A) comply with standards established by the Comptroller General of the United States for audits of Federal establishments, organizations, programs, activities, and functions;

(B) establish guidelines for determining when it shall be appropriate to use non-Federal auditors; and

(C) take appropriate steps to ensure that any work performed by non-Federal auditors complies with the standards established by the Comptroller General as described in paragraph (1).¹

(2) Reviews performed exclusively by audit entities in federal government.—For purposes of determining compliance with paragraph (1)(A) with respect to whether internal quality controls are in place and operating and whether established audit standards, policies, and procedures are being followed by Offices of Inspector General of establishments defined under section 401 of this title, Offices of Inspector General of designated Federal entities defined under section 415(a) of this title, and any audit office established within a Federal entity defined under section 415(a) of this title, reviews shall be performed exclusively by an audit entity in the Federal Government, including the Government Accountability Office or the Office of Inspector General of each establishment defined under section 401 of this title, or the Office of Inspector General of each designated Federal entity defined under section 415(a) of this title.

(c) Effective Coordination and Cooperation.—In carrying out the duties and responsibilities established under this chapter, each Inspector General shall give particular regard to the activities of the Comptroller General of the United States with a view toward avoiding duplication and ensuring effective coordination and cooperation.

(d) Reporting Violation of Federal Criminal Law.—In carrying out the duties and responsibilities established under this chapter, each Inspector General shall report expeditiously to the Attorney General whenever the Inspector General has reasonable grounds to believe there has been a violation of Federal criminal law.

(e) Recommendations for Corrective Actions.—

(1) Submission of documents.—In carrying out the duties and responsibilities established under this chapter, whenever an Inspector General issues a recommendation for corrective action to the agency, the Inspector General—

(A) shall submit the document making a recommendation for corrective action to—

(i) the head of the establishment;

(ii) the congressional committees of jurisdiction; and

(iii) if the recommendation for corrective action was initiated upon request by an individual or entity other than the Inspector General, that individual or entity;

(B) may submit the document making a recommendation for corrective action to any Member of Congress upon request; and

(C) not later than 3 days after the recommendation for corrective action is submitted in final form to the head of the establishment, post the document making a recommendation for corrective action on the website of the Office of Inspector General.

(2) Public disclosure otherwise prohibited by law.—Nothing in this subsection shall be construed as authorizing an Inspector General to publicly disclose information otherwise prohibited from disclosure by law.

(Pub. L. 117–286, §3(b), Dec. 27, 2022, 136 Stat. 4210.)

Amendments Not Shown in Text

This section was derived from section 4 of the Inspector General Act of 1978, Pub. L. 95–452, which was set out in the former Appendix to this title, and as it existed as of Oct. 19, 2021. Section 4 of Pub. L. 95–452 was amended by Pub. L. 117–263, div. E, title LII, §5273(1), Dec. 23, 2022, 136 Stat. 3241, prior to being repealed and reenacted as this section by Pub. L. 117–286, §§3(b), 7, Dec. 27, 2022, 136 Stat. 4210, 4361. For applicability of those amendments to this section, see section 5(b) of Pub. L. 117–286, set out in a Transitional and Savings Provisions note preceding section 101 of this title. Section 4 of Pub. L. 95–452 was amended in subsection (a)(2) as follows:

(1) by inserting ", including" after "to make recommendations"; and

(2) by inserting a comma after "section 5(a)".

The phrase "section 5(a)" did not appear in the text of subsection (a)(2) as enacted by Pub. L. 117–286 but was changed to "section 405(b) of this title".

In subsection (a)(4) (matter before subparagraph (A)), the words "the establishment" are inserted after "to recommend policies for" and a comma is inserted after "and nongovernmental entities" for clarity.

In subsection (b)(1)(C), the word "ensure" is substituted for "assure" for clarity.

In subsection (c), the word "ensuring" is substituted for "insuring" for clarity.

Editorial Notes

References in Text

Paragraph (1), referred to in subsec. (b)(1)(C), means par. (1) of subsec. (b) of this section, but probably should be a reference to subpar. (A) of subsec. (b)(1) of this section. Prior to repeal and restatement as this section, subsec. (b)(1) of the source section had been redesignated as subsec. (b)(1)(A) by Pub. L. 100–504, title I, §109(1), (2), Oct. 18, 1988, 102 Stat. 2529, with no conforming amendment to the reference, and the restated text carried over such reference without change.

¹ See References in Text note below.