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Policy Watchtower/Watchdog report

OIG: IHS Navajo Area missed controls on $269.8M in tribal water/sewer projects

Indian Health ServiceHHS Office of Inspector GeneralWatchdog reportSep 10, 2026

Check: The HHS Office of Inspector General found that the Navajo Area Indian Health Service did not consistently follow its own controls for awarding, monitoring and reporting Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) sanitation projects for the Navajo Nation, and the agency agreed to all four recommendations.

Read the original

What it does

The audit covered 187 Sanitation Facilities Construction (SFC) projects totaling $269,758,412, the highest IIJA funding awarded to any Tribe. Findings include 105 cost estimates with no reviewer entry, 38 project summaries unsigned by the Project Manager, invoices paid without documented review on seven of 16 projects in Construction or , and seven Memorandums of Agreement (MOAs) not amended after scope changes. Navajo Area IHS reports it has taken or plans corrective steps, including a contractor to standardize project workflows and updated 2026 local guidance. Tribes and tribal construction enterprises working under IHS MOAs can expect closer IHS review of invoices, MOA amendments and cost tracking.

Why it matters for tribal funding

Directly tribal. The document is about tribes, tribal programs or Native organizations specifically.

Who it covers: Tribal governments, Tribal enterprises.

What to do next

  1. Check that each MOA's scope, funding amounts and separate construction and design (architect and engineering) cost limits match current project conditions, and request an amendment from IHS where they do not.
  2. Confirm that invoices separate construction costs from design costs and name the correct project and funding source before they are submitted to IHS.
  3. Ask the Navajo Area IHS SFC office how its corrective actions on cost estimates, invoice review and milestone updates will change documentation requests to tribal partners.

Sources

Every signal is built from public records. The highlighted words appear in the source exactly as shown.

  • Health and Human Services OIG: reports (IHS)oig_reportSep 10, 2026

    The IHS Navajo Area Office’s Internal Controls for Awarding, Monitoring, and Reporting Sanitation Facilities Construction Projects Could Be Improved

    • Quoted from the source: “Although the NAIHS had internal controls for awarding, monitoring, and reporting SFC Program projects funded under the IIJA, it did not consistently follow those controls or its established procedures.”
    • Quoted from the source: “We found that these projects had a combined total of 42 expired milestones and 192 missing milestones.”
    Read the originalU.S. government record, public domain.

Terms with a dotted underline open a plain-language definition. This is guidance, not legal advice: the official text always controls. A free public service from GrantsPath, a Native-owned business.