Day in the Life of an RMA Compliance Investigator

Posted by: Brenda Wills, Public Affairs Specialist, Kansas City

Brenda Wills recently shadowed RMA compliance investigator Jeff Bingham in the field. Bingham is an investigator for the Central Regional Compliance Office in Kansas City. As the case mentioned in the story is an active case, the information is general.

Early one morning in May, we drove to Northwest Missouri. It is a calm region with low rolling hills surrounded with farm land. The insurance agent we were there to interview welcomed us into his quiet office.

To begin, Bingham asked the agent, “Tell me a little bit about your background and what types of insurance products you sell.” The agent then went on to explain his history as an insurance agent and mentioned the types of training he takes, including online classes of Livestock Revenue Protection and Livestock Gross Margin for continuing education.

Farmers and ranchers across the country participate in the Federal crop insurance program, which is administered by the Risk Management Agency (RMA). RMA serves America’s agricultural producers through effective, market-based risk management tools to strengthen the economic stability of agricultural producers and rural communities. The program had more than $104 billion in crop insurance liabilities for 2017. With such a large program comes vulnerability, fraud, and program abuse. That’s where Bingham comes in.

Bingham was visiting the agent because of an allegation that the agent had committed a violation of the Federal Crop Insurance act of 1980, regulations, or program rules. Bingham interviewed the agent thoroughly, and examined his book of business to analyze his recent history of business transactions.

Following the interview, we drove out to one of the fields to see what was being insured. A visit from an investigator like Bingham takes place if there is a concern about good farming practices or insurability of the land. The grass was well maintained with little-to-no weeds and good fencing. Wind turbines could be seen in the distance.

Wind turbines

We then stopped at the producer’s place of business to see if their story correlated with the insurance agent’s. The producer, a veterinarian, was out on a call. When I asked, “Now what will you do?” Bingham relayed, “I will contact him by phone.”

I was curious about what information Bingham compiled before venturing out for interviews. “I try to do as much research as possible before an interview to help tailor my questions and to help me know whether the interviewee is being honest in their answers,” Bingham said.

Bingham maps out any property in question, studies how to get to the interviewee’s location so as not to be late, rents a car, draws up legwork questions, and performs computer research before going out.

He uses a lot of software programs, too. For example, he uses HyDRA, which is a versatile tool used for locating a producer’s farming operation, viewing satellite imagery of the operation, pulling an agent’s book of business, and viewing the loss history of a crop in a particular county, to name a few. He also uses a Global Positioning System (GPS) camera to capture photographs of insured fields using GPS coordinates that can later be mapped and added to the photographs to document the exact location the photograph was taken. PRISM is another tool he uses to determine weather conditions for a range of time at a particular location. This is used by loss adjusters when adjusting claims and used by RMA to aid in determining if claims were appropriately paid due to adverse weather conditions.

Bingham will take the next several weeks to review the information he gathered and to conclude interviews. As a compliance investigator, Bingham investigates complex, high-profile cases of alleged fraud, waste, and abuse as it pertains to the Farm Bill and RMA programs. If a case of fraud is substantiated, he will work closely with the Office of Inspector General in investigating the case and preparing the case for referral for criminal prosecution through the United States Attorney’s Office.

Bingham’s work in support of the Federal crop insurance program is important in protecting the program’s integrity. RMA Compliance Offices are located across the country and have the best interest of the insured and American taxpayer by assuring compliance with contract/agreement and crop policy terms and approved procedures; assessing program vulnerability, fraud, and program abuse; investigating alleged/indicated instances or fraud and abuse; and recommending changes in policies, loss adjustment, and farm service-related procedures, specific agreements, and contract services.

We worked hard to reduce the improper payment rate, from 5.58% in 2014, to 1.96% in 2017, a 65% decline! We are off of the Office of Management and Budget’s improper payment high-priority program list.

For more information about RMA Compliance Offices, visit www.rma.usda.gov/aboutrma/fields/cfos.html.

Contact Information

For more information, contact RMA Public Affairs.