Open Recommendations

Strengthen controls to ensure proper authorization signatures on all contracts and amendments that require bi-lateral signatures for the proper execution of the award.

Develop and implement its Accounts Payable (AP) accrual methodology and perform tests of design and effectiveness over its UDO and AP accrual process.

Verify and validate the underlying input data to the TOLM.

After the verification and validation, reassess its assumptions and consider expanding the subjective elements of the calculation (i.e., those based on changes to the economy and the job market) to include changes in the way awards are utilized.

Establish a requirement for the Office of Grant Administration (OGA) or an appropriate AmeriCorps official to prepare a summary report, as part of the closeout process, verifying all required grantee information has been received and accepted, and the recovery amount reconciles to the underlying support (e.g., Notice of Grant Award for de-obligation, Final Federal Financial Report, Payment Management Services, etc.).

Develop and implement financial reporting internal controls to analyze and address the root causes of the reconciliation errors.

Revamp the grant accrual processes to include internal controls such as reconciliations, calculation documentation, quality control reviews, and basis for the accrual methodologies to mitigate the risk of error. (Modified Repeat)

Provide training to all personnel involved in the grant processing to ensure proper classification of funds in the Oracle system and ensure timely resolution of the variances between identified between the Momentum, Oracle, and PMS systems.

Develop standard operating procedures to ensure all balances recorded in the Reimbursable Analysis are supported by underlying source documentation (e.g., invoices).

Assess the training necessary to ensure advance liquidations are properly maintained, documented, and are readily available for examination.

Require each department head to be responsible and accountable for timely developing and implementing CAPs and require each department’s staff to test the design and effectiveness of each CAP as implemented to ensure that it achieves the desired results.

Develop and implement effective controls, including a quality assurance process, necessary to ensure that: (a) accounting and reporting are in accordance with U.S. GAAP and financial information is presented in compliance with OMB A-136. (b) account balances are accurate as of and through the reporting period. (c) the proper validation, review, and approval over financial reporting and the AMR compilation.

Develop, identify and make available the training necessary to ensure that staff obtain and update the skills necessary to ensure compliance with: (a) FASAB concept and accounting standards. (b) OMB A-123. (c) OMB A-136. (d) GAO Disclosure checklist. (e) Treasury’s U.S. Standard General Ledger annual update. (f) the correct use of the Business Event Transaction Codes (BETC) when submitting transactions to Treasury.

Complete a detailed performance diagnostic and gap analysis on AmeriCorps’ financial management personnel, processes, and systems, including a root cause analysis, and then develop, design, and implement a plan toward short- and long-term goals.

Perform intermediate assessments of the effectiveness of its executed plans and final evaluations of its financial management operations to ensure desired results are achieved.

Develop and implement financial reporting internal controls to analyze and address the root causes of the need for journal entries and the corrective actions in financial management systems to reduce the necessity of future journal entries.

Verify and validate the underlying input data to the TOLM.

After the verification and validation, reassess its assumptions and consider expanding the subjective elements of the calculation (i.e., those based on changes to the economy and the job market) to include changes in the way awards are utilized.

We recommend that the Puerto Rico Department of Health remediate the vulnerabilities related to the five security control findings identified by properly implementing and regularly assessing the associated NIST SP 800-53 controls

We recommend that the Puerto Rico Department of Health assess and adjust, if necessary, at least annually, the cryptographic configurations of public servers.

We recommend that Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island refund to the Federal Government the $4,894,595 of estimated net overpayments.

We recommend that Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island identify, for the high-risk diagnoses included in this report, similar instances of noncompliance that occurred before or after our audit period and refund any resulting overpayments to the Federal Government.

We recommend that Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island continue its examination of existing compliance procedures to identify areas where improvements can be made to ensure that diagnosis codes that are at high risk for being miscoded comply with Federal requirements (when submitted to CMS for use in CMS's risk adjustment program) and take the necessary steps to enhance those procedures.

Fulfill the requirements of 31 USC §1517(b) by reporting the FY 2019 and FY 2020 violations to the President, Congress, and the Comptroller General of the United States.

The Railroad Retirement Board Bureau of Information Services should design and implement the necessary information technology controls in the following five areas: 1. Security Management, 2. Access Controls, 3. Configuration Management, 4. Segregation of Duties, and 5. Contingency Planning.