Federal Reports

The CSB has not consistently implemented its information security program’s policies, procedures, and strategies.

The CSB has not consistently implemented its information security program’s policies, procedures, and strategies.

We investigated allegations that U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) or National Park Service (NPS) officials may have improperly influenced two hiring actions. The first hiring action resulted in the promotion of an NPS employee from a GS-9 to a GS-11 supervisory position in 2018, and the second action resulted in the promotion of the same employee to a GS-12 supervisory position in 2020. We also investigated an allegation that an NPS official who was related to the employee may have influenced both hiring actions.We did not find evidence substantiating the allegations of impropriety related to the 2018 hiring action. We also did not find evidence substantiating the allegation that the employee’s relative influenced either hiring action. Further, we did not find evidence that any other DOI or NPS management officials improperly influenced the promotion of the employee or that management instructed the human resources (HR) officials to grant an advantage to the employee. We did not investigate the employee’s actual eligibility or qualifications for a promotion.We did find, however, that NPS HR officials involved in the 2020 hiring action intentionally recommended a hiring process that granted an improper preference or advantage to the employee in violation of 5 U.S.C. § 2302(b)(6) and that the HR officials’ actions did not follow merit system principles and the NPS Merit Promotion Plan. Specifically, HR officials advertised the position competitively but intentionally restricted it in a way that granted an advantage to the employee because doing so was perceived as easier and faster than promoting the employee noncompetitively based on an accretion-of-duties promotion, which was themethod that NPS management originally proposed.

What OIG Evaluated: 

We evaluated the Office of the Chief Information Officer’s  plan for the Library’s Informational Technology  modernization efforts. Specifically, whether the Library’s IT  modernization plans provide a logical and measurable methodology to ensure its  progress towards a modern IT  infrastructure. 

What OIG Found: 

- Office of the Chief Information Officer does not have an implementation plan for IT Modernization.
- Most key project management artifacts were developed, but 25% lacked essential information or had not been developed.
- Ineffective management of cost estimation and budget
- Inefficient project schedule management 
- Lack of verifiable goals and success criterion
- Inadequate variance tracking methods

What OIG Recommends:

- Office of the Chief Information Officer should make a dedicated effort to develop an IT implementation plan for the modernization effort. 
- The Office of the Chief Information Officer should perform a gap analysis to determine the PMBOK and Government accountability Office cost and schedule assessment principles and practices the Library still needs to implement. 
- The Office of the Chief Information Officer should implement specific guidelines that all IT projects must follow to meet PMBOK and Government accountability Office standards.
- The Office of the Chief Information Officer should develop a monitoring and quality assurance process to ensure that each IT project complies with PMBOK and Government accountability Office cost and scheduling guidelines, as adopted by the Library. 
- Develop a formal checklist that contains the Government accountability Office Cost Estimating Assessment Guide’s best practices for Project Managers to follow when developing, executing and maintaining project costs. 
- Office of the Chief Information Officer should undertake a dedicated effort to develop tactical project schedule management processes that align with the best practices for project schedule management as outlined in the PMBOK Knowledge Area – Project Time Management, and the Government accountability Office Schedule Assessment Guide to determine if the IT modernization project schedules provided sufficient detail to accurately track and manage performance.  
- The Project Management Office should analyze and collectively manage the IT modernization projects with an integrated master schedule consisting of all IT modernization project efforts. 
- Office of the Chief Information Officer IT modernization goals and success criterion should be developed to align with the OCIO’s business goals and objectives to ensure the IT modernization effort achieves OCIO’s stated objectives.
- Financial Services Directorate, working with OCIO, should track project cost variance in a manner that meets business objectives.