WASHINGTON — Record funding for large-scale infrastructure spending will make Amtrak more vulnerable to fraud, the passenger operator’s Office of Inspector General says in a report released this week, identifying four areas in which the company will be particularly at risk.
“Industry research estimates that 10% of infrastructure investments could be lost to fraud,” Inspector General Kevin H. Winters writes in the report, “and if history is any indicator, [the Infastructure Investment and Jobs Act] — like other large spending bills — will be targeted by criminals through a variety of unlawful fraudulent schemes.”
The high risk areas, the report says, are contracts and procurement, health care, employee wrongdoing, and cybercrime. It outlines examples of each. In the first area, for example, it notes various forms of bid fixing; billing schemes; use of substandard materials or work that does not meet specifications; or fraudulent use of disadvantaged/minored owned businesses, which are required on projects. It also describes ways that Amtrak can watch for such practices.
At the same time, the report credits the company for development of its Integrated Risk and Compliance Program, designed to monitor potential fraud and identify fraudulent activity. And the Office of Inspector General says it “remains committed to continuing our oversight mission, which includes actively investigating and prosecuting fraud cases.”
The full report is available here.
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