Open Recommendations

We recommend that the FWS require the Department to implement policies and procedures to ensure that leave paid to employees is properly allocated to a grant code and does not exceed the value of leave earned on that grant.

We recommend that the FWS require the Department to develop policies and procedures to identify and evaluate potential sources of program income on grants.

We recommend that the FWS require the Department to resolve damage to real property due to trespassing cattle.

We recommend that the FWS require the Department to implement a mechanism to enforce existing policies that ensure compliance, where applicable, with the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act requirements and Federal regulations for the proper reporting of subawards.

We recommend that the Director of the Local, Faith, and Transformative Partnerships Hub take the following actions: Conduct an assessment of the utility of the sub-award indicator, given underlying data reliability issues, and consider alternative indicators to measure progress toward New Partnerships Initiative goals.

We recommend that the Director of the Local, Faith, and Transformative Partnerships Hub take the following actions: Update guidance on the New Partnerships Initiative to clarify performance measurement requirements, including the frequency and method of communicating results from the missions to the responsible office in Washington, DC, and the intended use of the data at the Agency level

Update NMSS informal guidance, as needed, with up-to-date examples for staff to consistently determine the severity level of Part 37 violations.

Update the Enforcement Policy and Enforcement Manual to specifically reference Title 10 C.F.R. Part 37 requirements; include in these updated documents any necessary references to the newly updated informal guidance; and, disseminate the updated documents for staff consideration when determining the severity level of Part 37 violations.

EXIM’s Office of Human Capital, in coordination with the Office of General Counsel, should revise the Conduct, Performance, and Discipline Policy to either define the standards of conduct or cite EXIM’s Code of Business Conduct and Ethics as well as clarify policy language to ensure that all EXIM employees are held to the same standards of conduct, regardless of the employee's appointment status.

Coordinate with the Office of the Chief Financial Officer to ensure its methodology to develop Field Office staffing requirements meets OMBrequirements.

Evaluate its method of determining Regional staffing levels and consider whether a method that evaluates the level of work associated with thecases in addition to the case intake is more appropriate and what, if any, impact the ratios of R cases to C cases may affect the level of work.

Develop an internal control process to address the findings at Appendix A and related NxGen data issues.

The Chief Ethics Officer, in coordination with other EXIM senior officials, should conduct an analysis to determine whether EXIM’s practice of soliciting sponsorship fees sufficiently mitigates the appearance of favoritism towards any potential conference sponsor.

The Chief Ethics Officer, in coordination with other EXIM senior officials, should consider developing updated criteria for reviewing sponsorship applications to mitigate potential favoritism concerns.

The Chief Ethics Officer, in coordination with other EXIM senior officials, should update its procedures to include steps for documenting the decision to accept or reject each potential sponsor.

The Chief Ethics Officer, in coordination with other EXIM senior officials, should develop and implement a process to ensure that the office’s involvement in matters pertaining to conference sponsorship is consistent with its role as described in the EXIM Charter.

We recommend that the Office of Wildland Fire develop and ensure implementation of a Departmentwide policy to standardize inspection and preparedness review requirements for wildland fire vehicles, which should include, at a minimum, inspection intervals and documentation requirements.

We recommend that the Office of Wildland Fire develop and implement a Departmentwide oversight plan, including compliance monitoring and specific corrective actions, to ensure vehicle inspections are completed in accordance with the policy created in Recommendation 1.

We recommend that the BIA conduct inspections of all active wildland fire vehicles and complete preparedness reviews in accordance with policy.

We recommend that the NPS conduct inspections of all active wildland fire vehicles and complete preparedness reviews in accordance with policy.

The Under Secretary for Health evaluates minimum scheduling effort requirements for mental health appointments and takes action to ensure the implementation of standardized policy and procedures in the best interest of patient care.

The Deputy Secretary ensures mitigation of the high-risk pharmacy-related patient safety issues identified during the May 2021 National Center for Patient Safety visit.

The Deputy Secretary ensures the resolution of pharmacy-related usability issues identified in this report.

The Under Secretary for Health determines the need for and implements a comprehensive strategy to review patients affected by inaccurate medication data transmitted to the Health Data Repository to evaluate whether harm occurred, the need for patients to undergo testing or treatment, and the appropriateness of institutional disclosures.

The Under Secretary for Health ensures legacy site providers are aware of mitigations needed for patients previously treated at a new electronic health record site and monitors compliance.