OIG provides insights to help detect Amtrak contract and procurement fraud risks

Amtrak's Office of Inspector General (OIG) has issued a report that provides insights on how to collect and analyze contract and procurement data to monitor for fraud risks.

According to the report, historic levels of federal funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act provides significant opportunities for improving rail infrastructure, but also provides criminals with a lucrative target for fraud.

For example, from 2017 through late 2023, the OIG investigated 110 fraud-related cases that impacted Amtrak and helped recover $269 million in restitution, forfeitures and other recoveries.

During the same period, the office issued 25 audit reports identifying weak controls that would-be criminals could exploit, OIG officials said in a news release.

This is the second fraud report the OIG has issued in the past 12 months. The previous report identified four high-risk fraud areas Amtrak faces: contracts and procurements, health care, employee wrongdoing and cybercrime, OIG officials said.

That report included examples of how such fraud manifests and potential fraud mitigations for Amtrak’s consideration. This most recent report drills deeper into ways organizations can detect and mitigate contract and procurement fraud schemes using data analytics, OIG officials said.