Evaluation of the Early Warning Program (EVAL-2019-05/PA-17-122), issued January 17, 2019

We found the program could be more effective in promoting the continuation and maintenance of plans through improved transparency with plan sponsors and improved accountability to measure results. We found procedures to communicate case initiation are not adequate, and procedures to communicate case closures have not been effective. Additionally, while internally reporting the results of the program, the Corporate Finance and Restructuring Department has been unintentionally overstating the universe of Early Warning Program cases for about 10 years due to a systems error and, therefore, cannot fully measure the impact of the program. We issued three recommendations to management to evaluate the effectiveness of case initiation communications, designing and implementing additional close-out controls, and ensuring TeamConnect business rules accurately report Early Warning case inventory. PBGC agreed with the three recommendations and plans to complete corrective action by October 31, 2019.

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