Audit of the Railroad Retirement Board's Organizational Structure and Field Service Operations

Submitting OIG:

Railroad Retirement Board OIG

Date Issued:

Thursday, February 8, 2024

Agency Reviewed / Investigated:

Railroad Retirement Board

Submitting OIG-Specific Report Number:

24-03

Location(s):

Agency-Wide

Type of Report:

Audit

Questioned Costs:

Funds for Better Use:

Number of Recommendations:

Report updated under NDAA 5274:

View Document:

Attachment	Size
Audit-Report-24-03.pdf	2.83 MB

Recommendation Number	Recommendation Status	Significant Recommendation
1	Open	No
The Office of Administration should work with the Bureau of Field Service to create an agency wide capital planning report for fiscal years 2024-2028 that includes all field offices (in addition to headquarters) and addresses all considerations required by the Office of Management and Budget's latest Memorandum M-22-14.
2	Open	No
The Office of Administration should adequately document exemptions of the Office of Management and Budget's memorandums related to agencywide capital planning requirement.
3	Open	No
The Bureau of Field Service should implement and document a review process to verify the completeness, accuracy, and validity of the telecommunications data and analysis used to support telecommunications reports and Budget Justifications.
4	Open	No
The Office of Programs should create a communication improvement plan describing inter-unit communication flows between Railroad Retirement Board's Bureau of the Actuary and Research and other bureaus whose changes may impact the Bureau of the Actuary and Research's analysis.
5	Open	No
The Office of Programs should create a communication improvement plan describing inter-unit communication flows between the Railroad Retirement Board's Office of Programs and the Bureau of Field Service.
6	Open	No
The Office of Programs should create a set of policies and/or procedures for how the Railroad Retirement Board's primary units should communicate with one another to ensure compliance with Section OV3.04 of the Green Book.
7	Open	No
The Bureau of Field Service should document its lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic.
8	Open	No
The Bureau of Field Service should distribute its documented lessons learned to all applicable Railroad Retirement Board units to help improve the efficiency and effectiveness of Railroad Retirement Board operations.
9	Open	No
The Bureau of Field Service should determine the number of field offices that continued to accept faxed or emailed sickness benefit applications as of June 2023, and assess the impact of such actions.
10	Open	No
The Bureau of Field Service should determine if an official policy change should be made regarding the submission of sickness and unemployment benefit applications and claims, based on COVID-19 pandemic lessons learned and an assessment of the impact of the relaxed COVID-19 pandemic policy.

Recommendation Number

Recommendation Status

Significant Recommendation

Additional Details

Open

The Office of Administration should work with the Bureau of Field Service to create an agency wide capital planning report for fiscal years 2024-2028 that includes all field offices (in addition to headquarters) and addresses all considerations required by the Office of Management and Budget's latest Memorandum M-22-14.

Open

The Office of Administration should adequately document exemptions of the Office of Management and Budget's memorandums related to agencywide capital planning requirement.

Open

The Bureau of Field Service should implement and document a review process to verify the completeness, accuracy, and validity of the telecommunications data and analysis used to support telecommunications reports and Budget Justifications.

Open

The Office of Programs should create a communication improvement plan describing inter-unit communication flows between Railroad Retirement Board's Bureau of the Actuary and Research and other bureaus whose changes may impact the Bureau of the Actuary and Research's analysis.