A follow-up to a previous report examines best practices for businesses to avoid problems during record infrastructure spending
WASHINGTON — As Amtrak handles historic amounts of funding for infrastructure projects, data analytics can help avoid fraud in the procurement process, Amtrak's Office of Inspector General says in a new report.
The report, published on Wednesday, April 17, follows last year's report in which the company identified procurement and contracting as one of the four areas with the highest risk of fraud. [see “Amtrak Inspector General warns of fraud risk …,” Trains News Wire, May 19, 2023]. The latest report notes that the Office of the Inspector General investigated 110 fraud-related cases from 2017 to September 2023 and helped recover $269 million in compensation and forfeitures. . The department also issued 25 audit reports identifying areas of vulnerability at the time.
The new report also says best practices indicate that organizations collect data in a format that helps recognize potential fraud. For example, patterns of wins and losses by the same group of bidders. A single entity creates multiple identities to create the appearance of competition. Sudden increases in spending or numerous change orders from vendors. This report includes an appendix detailing forms of contract and procurement fraud and how to identify them in your data.
The full report can be viewed here.