Open Recommendations

OIG recommends that the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration develop and incorporate output and outcome performance indicators into its monitoring plan to assess progress against the established objectives of its voluntary contributions awarded to public international organizations for the humanitarian assistance response to Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine as appropriate following implementation of Recommendation 1.

Issue guidance that clearly defines responsibilities and outlines expectations for those serving in Examiner Commissioning Program support roles, including (a) mentors on their support during an examiner’s acting examiner in charge assignment; (b) regional training leads on their support during rotations; and (c) field managers on providing support, identifying examinations, and selecting acting examiner in charge assignments for examiners pursuing commissioning.

Develop a standardized process for Supervision Learning and Development and the regions to collaborate when providing supplemental Examiner Commissioning Program support to examiners who are preparing for the Examiner Commissioning Program.

Assess the current examiner in charge case study assessment feedback process and determine how to enhance the feedback provided to examiners while safeguarding the content of the examiner in charge case study assessment. Based on the results of the assessment, update guidance to clearly outline expectations for delivering specific, actionable examiner in charge case study assessment feedback and develop and implement training on those expectations.

Continue to provide training and collaborate with program office staff to ensure the timely and complete reconciliation of the population of transactions used for estimating improper payments to the general ledger is performed, as needed.

Proactively seek and obtain guidance from OMB in the first year of a new program’s implementation and develop a plan to ensure compliance with PIIA reporting requirements, as needed.

Enhance existing procedures using the framework in the Government Accountability Office’s Green Book to design and implement robust internal and quality control processes to ensure complete and accurate reporting of annual improper payment results and formalized risk assessment processes to ensure all programs and activities are considered sufficiently to meet PIIA reporting objectives.

Design and implement enforceable actions and controls to hold lenders accountable for not providing all documentation requested for loan samples in a timely manner.

Formally document and implement additional preventative and monitoring controls to determine the eligibility of loans prior to loan approval and payments and loan guaranty purchases.

Collaborate with the responsible staff involved in the payment integrity reporting process to ensure timely and complete reconciliations are performed on the populations subject to sampling for improper payment reviews.

Exercise effective management review controls over the statistician’s work product by verifying that the documentation of the sampling and estimation methodology plans comprehensively outlines the details of the implemented sampling and extrapolation methodology, while maintaining statistical validity.

Design and implement effective communication and review processes with responsible staff involved in the payment integrity reporting process to ensure compliance for the reporting of new programs and activities.

Design and document adequate review procedures to ensure that the results of the sample meet the PIIA objectives.

Design and implement a formal review process to ensure corrective actions plans developed, implemented, and published are adequately addressing the true root causes of improper and unknown payments.

EXIM's Office of the Chair should designate a lead office or officials responsible for coordinating development, oversight, and implementation of a sub-Saharan Africa specific strategy to address the Sub-Saharan Africa Mandate (hereafter referred to as the "Lead Office or Officials"). The Lead Office or Officials should have an explicit responsibility and authority to coordinate and guide the mandate's implementation across all relevant EXIM offices, liaise with external stakeholders, including but not limited to the Sub-Saharan Africa Advisory Committee (SAAC) and other U.S. Government agencies and between sub-Saharan Africa importers and U.S. exporters to rebuild relationships, establish and monitor key performance…

The Lead Office or Officials should develop a sub-Saharan Africa specific strategy to address the Sub-Saharan Africa Mandate. This strategy should provide a unified direction and shared vision of EXIM offices and staff and communicate EXIM’s commitments and strategy to interagency partners in the U.S. Government and other stakeholders with a focus to promote the expansion of EXIM’s financial commitments in sub-Saharan Africa.

EXIM’s Office of the Chair should integrate the Sub-Saharan Africa Mandate strategy within the broader EXIM Strategic Plan to re-enforce that the Sub-Saharan Africa Mandate is central to EXIM’s overall strategic planning.

The Lead Office or Officials should develop an actionable plan to enhance collaborative efforts with the Department of Commerce, the Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee (TPCC), and other relevant government agencies, such that EXIM could play a more prominent role in trade discussions and initiatives concerning sub-Saharan Africa.

EXIM’s Office of Board Authorized Finance and Office of General Counsel should conduct a comprehensive review of the post-authorization process to identify the primary factors within the documentation phase that contribute to the lag between authorization and disbursements and devise strategies to remedy these shortcomings.

EXIM’s Office of Global Business Development should devise a detailed plan to directly engage importers in sub-Saharan Africa that are not already engaging with EXIM’s sub-Saharan Africa programs. The office must ensure that the plan is incorporated as an integral part of the overarching strategy devised by the Lead Office or Officials.

The Lead Office or Officials should devise a plan to directly engage U.S. businesses that are not already engaging with EXIM’s sub-Saharan Africa programs.

EXIM’s Office of Policy Analysis and International Relations should conduct an analysis of the potential impacts of lowering the mandated domestic content policy for EXIM programs targeted to sub-Saharan Africa on U.S. jobs and present its findings to EXIM’s Board of Directors.

Allocate all unassigned software licenses to the CSRs working on the TAC Appointment Telephone Line so they can assist taxpayers with existing appointments without the need to transfer them to a different CSR.

(U) Rec. 1.a: The DoD OIG recommended that the Air Force Chief of Safety, in coordination with the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center Commander, update Air Force Manual 91-119 to include detail and clarity of independent verification and validation requirements. Specifically, Air Force Manual 91-119 should be updated to include procedures to select an independent verification organization team.

(U) Rec 1.b: The DoD OIG recommended that the Air Force Chief of Safety, in coordination with the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center Commander, update Air Force Manual 91-119 to include detail and clarity of independent verification and validation requirements. Specifically, Air Force Manual 91-119 should be updated to include procedures to document the independent verification organization team's independence with the Air Force Safety Center; define technical, managerial, and financial independence; and comply with these levels of independence during an independent verification and validation.