PRAC Is Showing We Need To Keep Up the PACE

To expand on the old saying, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” let’s go a step further and emphasize that, “If it’s working well, don’t get rid of it.” In this case, we’re talking about the Pandemic Analytics Center of Excellence (PACE) under the management of the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC).

The PRAC recently issued its seventh semiannual report to Congress highlighting its accomplishments during the April 1, 2023, to Sept. 30, 2023, reporting period. The PRAC is coordinating federal oversight efforts of funding provided in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Within the report, the PRAC emphasized that the PACE “remains critical to our oversight efforts to improve program integrity across government.”

For example, the PACE in May identified 3,222 SSNs used on Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan (COVID-19 EIDL) applications belonging to deceased individuals. Some of these resulted in the disbursement of $38 million in improper or fraudulent payments. These additional payments were identified through the Department of Treasury’s Do Not Pay system, which uses a limited access Death Master File from the Social Security Administration (SSA). However, if Treasury’s Do Not Pay System had access to the full Death Master File from SSA, the PRAC may have been able to confirm additional identities of deceased individuals used on PPP and COVID-19 EIDL applications. “Our insights reinforced findings from other oversight entities on the value of expanding data sharing agreements to better support benefits delivery programs in detecting and preventing fraud to protect the American public and taxpayer dollars,” the PRAC stated in the report.

To date, the PACE’s efforts have supported more than 630 investigations involving nearly 7,600 subjects. PRAC officials state that the PACE’s ability to connect and share data sets from across federal programs and the analytical capabilities it possesses “provides a significant value for the broader oversight community beyond just pandemic-related insights.”

However, the PRAC (along with the PACE) is currently scheduled to sunset on Sept. 30, 2025. PRAC and other officials, including those with the Government Accountability Office, have urged Congress to maintain funding for the PACE to enable it to continue its work after the sunset date. “The PRAC is committed to finding opportunities to ensure that the PACE can continue to serve the federal oversight community beyond our Sept. 30, 2025, sunset,” according to the semiannual report.

We applaud the work done by the PACE and its ability to notice fraudulent activity related to these important funds. The PACE’s work is similar to that of the Recovery Operations Center (ROC) that was created under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The ROC also proved successful in rooting out mismanagement of funds until it sunset several years ago. The results of these data analytics centers are worth their costs by helping to uncover fraud and other mismanagement of funds.

We agree with the PRAC that efforts must be taken to allow the PACE’s work to continue after September 2025. Don’t let this good thing slip away!