The IRS agreed with recommendations for ongoing reviews to identify contractors designated as active are not assigned to an ongoing contract, and to better track separations and take the required off-boarding steps. Image: YuryKara/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffAn inspector general report has called on the IRS to tighten controls over steps it takes when contractor employees separate from their assignments there, saying it found instances of continued access to agency facilities and systems that increase “the risk of former contractor employees improperly accessing IRS systems and sensitive taxpayer information.”
A report said that some 26,000 contractor employees currently are working on IRS projects and that in 2023 more than 6,800 stopped working on such contracts. “However, the IRS did not always remove contractor employees’ access to IRS facilities, systems, and equipment when the contractor employees were no longer assigned to an ongoing contract,” it said.
In reviewing records of some 18,000 individuals listed as currently working under contract to the IRS in early 2023, the IG found that a tenth had been separated. While the IRS then made an effort to clean up those records, auditors found that only half of them later were listed as separated.
Of the former employees, 63 had not returned their assigned identification media allowing access to an IRS facility, including 13 with active IRS network access, while 17 had not returned their assigned IRS computer hardware, it said. “In addition, the IRS did not always document contractor separation actions as required,” in part because it relied on manual entries into the tracking system, it said.
It said management agreed with recommendations to conduct ongoing reviews to identify contractor employees designated as active are not assigned to an ongoing contract, and to better track separations and take the required offboarding steps.
The IG office at the National Archives and Records Administration issued a report earlier this year raising similar concerns regarding both agency and contractor employees who have separated, as did the IG of DHS regarding its employees. Reports issued last year raised the same issue regarding the Postal Service and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
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