25-04 - Recommendation 1

The Office of Administration should: 1. Develop and document a complete set of guidance to ensure that Railroad Retirement Board’s Interagency Agreements are executed, monitored, managed, and closed out in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations. Procedures should specifically include the following:
a. The acceptable agreement formats and the agreement elements that must be contained in an agreement format other than the standard Interagency Agreements format (Form 7600A and Form 7600B) and a process for designating the office(s) responsible for ensuring that the proper elements are captured for such agreements.
b. Clarification on any processing differences between Voluntary Interagency Agreements and Directed Order Interagency Agreements.
c. Procedures for executing Interagency Agreements issued under the Economy Act or as assisted acquisition Interagency Agreements.
d. Procedures followed to establish a catalogue of buy/sell agreements.
e. Procedures establishing Unfilled Customer Order amounts for agreements where the Railroad Retirement Board provides services, including a sign-off process to ensure Unfilled Customer Order amounts align with signed agreements (See Finding #5).
f. Establishment of a control procedure to ensure general obligation amounts agree to Interagency Agreement amounts or explain differences (See Finding #3).
g. Procedures followed when an Interagency Agreements agreement is modified.
h. Procedures for the acceptance of goods and services under Interagency Agreements, including guidance on reviewing Intra-Governmental Payment and Collection/Servicing Agency invoices, managing advance funding authorizations, and tracking charges against obligating documents (See also Finding #4).
i. Establish a control to ensure that charges are applied against the correct obligating document (See Finding #4).
j. Procedures for the close-out of all Interagency Agreements listed in the Buy/Sell catalog (See also Finding #4).
k. Procedures establishing the documentation collected for each Interagency Agreement during the Interagency Agreement life cycle. These should specifically address: (1) Documentation collected to evidence Agreement execution; (2) Documentation collected to evidence Agreement acceptance (See Finding #7).
l. Documentation collected to evidence the close-out of agreements (See Finding #7).