Audit of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ Risk-Based Inspection Selection Processes and Administrative Actions Issued to Federal Firearms Licensees

Submitting OIG:

Department of Justice OIG

Date Issued:

Thursday, April 20, 2023

Agency Reviewed / Investigated:

Department of Justice

Submitting OIG-Specific Report Number:

23-062

Component, if applicable:

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

Location(s):

Agency-Wide

Type of Report:

Audit

Questioned Costs:

Funds for Better Use:

Number of Recommendations:

View Document:

Attachment	Size
23-062.pdf	3.03 MB

Recommendation Number	Recommendation Status	Significant Recommendation	Additional Details
1	Open	No	https://oig.justice.gov/reports
Examine its domain assessment process - including the Top 100 Initiative and recall inspection activities - and refine its strategies for identifying and tracking risks, deploying resources, and accomplishing goals.
2	Open	No	https://oig.justice.gov/reports
Refine the CGIC performance review process to include sufficient information to allow for an assessment of the outcomes and effectiveness of the CGIC intelligence that is shared with Industry Operations.
3	Open	No	https://oig.justice.gov/reports
Memorialize in policy and procedures how CGIA can and should be used for its Industry Operations activities, including providing guidance and examples for how CGIA can be used by IOIs to prepare for an inspection.
4	Open	No	https://oig.justice.gov/reports
Establish a recurring process to assess the risk indicators that contribute to the selection of FFLs for inspection and evaluate the results of the inspections to ensure that field divisions are effectively identifying high-risk FFLs.
5	Open	No	https://oig.justice.gov/reports
Assess the potential information gaps it faces associated with changes to the eligibility of FFL responsible persons and consider policy or process solutions or other actions to reduce those gaps.
6	Open	No	https://oig.justice.gov/reports
Strengthen its controls to ensure a robust evaluation of the resolution of individual inspections outcomes, particularly for those that identify repeat violations of revocable violations and ensure FFLs that willfully violate the Gun Control Act are held accountable for relevant history of non-compliance.
7	Open	No	https://oig.justice.gov/reports
Assess—at an appropriate time—its implementation of the 2021 White House Strategy’s “zero-tolerance” requirements to ensure ATF’s updated policy is being properly executed.
8	Open	No	https://oig.justice.gov/reports
Develop a process to track all settlement agreements and monitor whether the settlement agreement terms are satisfied.
9	Open	No	https://oig.justice.gov/reports
Develop a policy and procedure for addressing FFLs that do not comply with the terms of their settlement agreement.
10	Open	No	https://oig.justice.gov/reports
Assess the prioritization of its resources with respect to the development of analytics tools within Spartan to ensure that the priority assigned to such developments fully takes into account the issues we have identified, including the value of more strategic use of the system in ATF’s FFL oversight, and particularly the impact of these developments on reporting for external entities.

Recommendation Number

Recommendation Status

Significant Recommendation

Additional Details

Open

https://oig.justice.gov/reports

Examine its domain assessment process - including the Top 100 Initiative and recall inspection activities - and refine its strategies for identifying and tracking risks, deploying resources, and accomplishing goals.

Open

https://oig.justice.gov/reports

Refine the CGIC performance review process to include sufficient information to allow for an assessment of the outcomes and effectiveness of the CGIC intelligence that is shared with Industry Operations.

Open

https://oig.justice.gov/reports