The most frequent obstacle to telework I've seen in Government is basically "If I can't work from home, you can't either!" from managers.

I can't help but think that this case is more of the same.

If the work isn't getting done or it is of poor quality - make that the point.

Unfortunately, enforcing accountability for that sort of failure is non-existent in Government whether the workers are in their cubicles or in their pajamas.

If the only verification of work you're doing is something that could handled with grep, you don't really get to complain.