Open Recommendations

We recommend the Under Secretary for Strategy, Policy, and Plans coordinate with USCIS and ICE to develop guidelines for consideration of factors such as derogatory information and prior decisions on benefit requests during the re-parole and extension of parole processes.

We recommend that USAID's Office of Acquisition and Assistance, Cost, Audit and Support Division determine the allowability of the $744,195 direct questioned costs ($2,713 ineligible and $741,482 unsupported) on pages 32, 44, 55, and 63 of the audit report and recover any unallowable amount.

We recommend that USAID's Office of Acquisition and Assistance, Cost, Audit and Support Division verify that the African Institute for Development Policy corrects the six instances of material noncompliance detailed in the audit report.

We recommend the Director for the Office of Labor-Management Standards outline requirements needed to strengthen enforcement authority to align with the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959’s intentions to protect workers’ rights and interests to unionize by recommending rule changes or legislative changes to increase employer and consultant compliance.

We recommend the Director for the Office of Labor-Management Standards develop an online system to intake, track, and monitor tips from receipt to completion, including anonymity protection.

We recommend the Director for the Office of Labor-Management Standards increase awareness of the tip line through enhanced publicity, such as posting it on DOL’s complaint webpage.

USAID/Afghanistan determine the allowability of the $79,488 of ineligible questioned costs as reported on page 13 and detailed on pages 20-25 of the audit report and recover any amount that is unallowable.

USAID/Afghanistan verify that TMT corrects the five instances of material noncompliance detailed on pages 20-30 of the audit report.

We recommend that the PBS Commissioner ensure that PBS contracting officials emphasize the evaluation of O&M contractors’ proposed staffing and communicate with onsite PBS staff prior to contract award to ensure contract terms and conditions can be fully met.

We recommend that the PBS Commissioner ensure that PBS contracting officials confirm and enforce O&M contractor compliance with contractual requirements governing: “Personnel” and “Contractor Key Personnel”; and contingency plans for “Loss of the Contractor’s onsite personnel.”

We recommend that the PBS Commissioner ensure that PBS contracting officials ensure that the O&M contract language clearly specifies the time requirements for routine service request completion and that the requirements are communicated to O&M contractors.

We recommend that the PBS Commissioner ensure that PBS contracting officials thoroughly review and understand the O&M contracts’ QCP inspection requirements.

We recommend that the PBS Commissioner ensure that PBS contracting officials improve oversight of O&M contractors’ compliance with the terms and conditions of their GSA contracts.

Ensure Healing Action establishes and implements grant financial management policies and procedures to help ensure adequate administration of federal grant funds and that all relevant personnel are aware of these policies and procedures. In particular, these policies should cover, at a minimum: (1) improving internal controls over its debit card access; (2) complying with DOJ Grants Financial Guide consultant requirements, including prior approval and justification for exceeding the established daily or hourly consultant rate and adequate time and effort reports as well as ensuring its staff understand and adhere to the policies and procedures; (3) allocating costs properly to awards…

Ensure Healing Action reminds staff of its policy to obtain bids for consultant services, when necessary.

Remedy the $2,548 in unsupported expenditures related to staff cell phones, monthly bus passes, staff continuing education, and case management software costs.

Establish a process to take future projects’ constructability into account when assessing track outage and force account needs.

Establish a process to identify the company’s unique information requirements related to its role on future capital projects and communicate these requirements to its partners.

Ensure the root cause of Orion heat shield char liberation is well understood prior to launch of the Artemis II mission.

Conduct analysis of Orion separation bolts using updated models that account for char loss, design modifications, and operational changes to Orion prior to launch of the Artemis II mission.

Require EGS conduct additional verification and validation for launch imagery equipment prior to launch attempts should launch conditions change.

Reexamine procedures to better ensure recovery of Orion jettisoned hardware for the Artemis II mission.

Develop a corrective action plan to mitigate or prevent the recurrence of uninterpretable Orion telemetry data for the Artemis II mission.

Establish a course of action and timeline for individual Artemis system design changes before beginning integrated system assembly stacking operations.

The VA New Mexico Health Care System Director ensures Sterile Processing Service has a formal process in place to sustain daily quality assurance reviews and monitors compliance.