The U.S. Education Department’s inspector general released a report on Friday that criticized the Federal Student Aid office’s oversight of aid contractors. The report, based on an audit, found that the aid office did not follow established regulations in nine of the 10 contracts under review. The report concluded that the oversight was not adequate to ensure that the outside suppliers adhered to contract requirements, or to ensure that the FSA office received what it paid for.

“As a result,” the report said, “FSA lacks assurance that payments are proper and its interests are protected. Contract actions by unauthorized personnel may compromise efforts to enforce contract requirements.”

The report recommended steps to ensure proper approval of contract invoices, enhance communication among staff members in the office, and certify that appointment letters for contractors were signed and returned in a timely manner. The office concurred with the recommendations.

The report mostly faulted the office’s invoices on the 10 contracts audited, which totaled more than $557-million in payments to contractors. In one $234-million contract, auditors found that incentive payments were not verified by appropriate members of the FSA staff, but the report gave no specific details of inappropriate payments. —JJ Hermes