OIG 2017 Reports and Recommendations

At the completion of an investigation, review, or other project, the Office may issue a letter or report detailing findings, identifying corrective actions, and outlining recommendations to prevent future problems. 

After issuing a report, the Office may maintain an oversight role to ensure that the agency or municipality implements a suitable corrective action plan and takes any other measures called for in the report. The Office also reports suspected criminal activity to the appropriate authorities, including the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office and the U.S. Attorney’s Office.  In addition, the Inspector General meets regularly with the Inspector General Council to discuss the Office’s activities.

2017 Reports and Recommendations

• Sick Leave Abuse at the Essex County Sheriff’s Department: 2009 to 2016 (pdf)
• Bill Increasing Penalties for Fraud or Misuse of Disabled Persons’ Parking Placards Signed Into Law, December 2017
• Court Awards OIG Whistleblower Over $523,000, Including Attorney Fees, Under State Whistleblower Law, December 2017
• OIG Letter Regarding Cotuit Fire District Firefighter Vacation Accruals, October 2017 (pdf)
• OIG Recommends Changes to Rules Governing Sick and Vacation Leave to Address the Commonwealth’s $558 Million Liability, October 2017 (pdf)
• Former Treasurer of South Royalston Nonprofit Indicted, September 2017
• Westport Trash Hauler Sentenced for Defrauding Fall River Landfill, September 2017
• Additional Indictments Brought in Case Against Former MBTA Procurement Official, June 2017 (pdf)
• OIG Letter to Conference Committee on FY18 Budget Sections Related to the Film Tax Credit, June 2017 (pdf)
• OIG Letter to Conference Committee on FY18 Budget Sections Related to MassDOT Real Property, June 2017 (pdf)
• Inspector General Testimony on House 14 - An Act Relative to Disability Placards, June 13, 2017 (pdf)
  • On June 13, 2017, Inspector General Glenn A. Cunha testified at the Joint Committee on Transportation hearing on proposed legislation to combat disability placard abuse. OIG investigations have found that many drivers use placards that do not belong to them or that they inappropriately obtained to park at meters all day, for free. The legislation would significantly reduce placard abuse by preventing ineligible individuals from obtaining placards in the first place and by increasing the penalties for misusing placards.
• OIG Letter to State Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack Related to the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway Conservancy's Use of State Funds, May 2017 (pdf)
• OIG Letter to Committee on Municipalities and Regional Government Regarding Chapter 30B Real Property Dispositions, May 1, 2017 (pdf)
• OIG Joint Investigation Results in Westport Trash Hauler’s Fraud Conviction, April 2017 (pdf)
• Inspector General Letter Regarding the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's Billboard Contract, April 2017 (pdf)
  • The Office’s Internal Special Audit Unit (“ISAU”) reviewed certain aspects of the MBTA's contract with Clear Channel Outdoor, Inc. (“Clear Channel”) for billboard advertising. The ISAU evaluated whether the MBTA appropriately amended the contract in order to convert eighteen billboards to a digital format. The ISAU also analyzed whether the MBTA was required to hold a public meeting before Clear Channel constructed a billboard on MBTA property in Dorchester. The ISAU found that the MBTA was not required to conduct a new procurement for the digital billboard conversions and the ISAU found no statute, regulation or rule requiring the MBTA to hold a public meeting before allowing a vendor to install a billboard on its property. The ISAU also concluded that while digital billboards should bring in more revenue for the MBTA, a shorter extension for the eighteen digital billboards may have been more favorable to the MBTA.
• Inspector General Testimony on House 13 - An Act Relative to Chapter 30B, April 2017 (pdf)
• Inspector General Testimony on House 16 - An Act Relative to Chapter 30B Notification, April 2017 (pdf)
• OIG Joint Investigation Leads to Indictments of MBTA Procurement Official and Construction Contractor, March 2017 (pdf)
• Internal Special Audit Unit's 2016 Annual Report, March 2017 (pdf)
• Program Interventions To Address Substance Use Disorder And Save Public Healthcare Funds, March 2017 (pdf)

  • The Office has examined 12 programs from across the country – public and private health insurers, a worker’s compensation program, a hospital-based program, and a health system – that have implemented an array of interventions to address substance use disorder.  The goal of the Office’s review was to identify promising practices that MassHealth might replicate and that could lead to public healthcare cost-savings.  To the extent possible, this examination included the health outcomes of these practices in an effort to determine what interventions have the potential to prevent substance misuse and abuse in the first instance.  Effective prevention would, in turn, save public healthcare funds by, for example, reducing the need to treat substance use disorder; reducing the overall healthcare costs for people with substance use disorder; and lessening fraud, waste, and abuse in healthcare spending.

• Hotline Call to OIG Results in Assembly Square Station Contractors Paying More Than $420,000 for Submitting False Claims to the MBTA, February 2017 (pdf)
• IG Letter regarding MassDOT's Payments for Emergency Services on the Massachusetts Turnpike, January 2017 (pdf)
• OIG Joint Investigation Results in Charges Against Former Blandford Tax Collector, January 2017 (pdf)