Open Recommendations

Develop and implement a process to identify and provide oversight of real property to active recipients with new grants that do not receive a triennial or State management review.

Update FTA's Contractors Manual to require contractors to request a current and complete real property inventory that complies with FTA Circular 5010.1E reporting requirements and require contractors to review and verify that the real property inventory complies with FTA reporting requirements.

Establish and implement a process to verify that FTA's financial interest in real property dispositions is managed in accordance with FTA Circular 5010.1E. Implementing this recommendation could put up to $996,877 in funds to better use.

1. We recommend that the Director of the CHIPS Program Office and the Acting Director of the CHIPS Research and Development Office collaborate with the Director of the NIST Office of Human Resources Management to develop a comprehensive workforce plan that includes a skills assessment, vacancy analysis, and risk assessment.

Reconcile the differences between grantees’ internal accounting records and FFRs to determine the propriety of the component payments or require grantees to perform this reconciliation. In addition, AmeriCorps should report any remaining unmatched reporting errors as improper payments to ensure accuracy, reliability, and consistency of their improper payment reporting. (Modified FY 2022 Recommendation 2.1)

Assess whether FFRs were submitted by eligible organizations during the FFR data pull process, as required by OMB. If it is determined that any grant recipients were ineligible to receive the grant, AmeriCorps should include the entire amount of FFR expenses as an improper payment.

Publish improper payment and unknown payment estimates for NST in the accompanying materials provided with future annual financial statements in accordance with OMB guidance. (Modified FY 2022 Recommendation 5)

Develop goals specific to wait times for customers in the office and time customers wait for scheduled appointments.

Develop the 35 sample cases where Illinois or Texas workers’ compensation benefit payment data were not reflected in beneficiaries’ payment records and establish overpayments, as appropriate.

Establish a process to assess and analyze Management Operating Data system review results.

Update Handbook M-32, Management Operating Data System (MODS) policy and coordinate with Vice President, Engineering Systems, to update the MODS Coordinator Guidebook to identify current roles and responsibilities and clarify the frequency of Management Operation Data system reviews to ensure consistency.

OIG recommends that the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration develop and implement criteria for incorporating specific, measurable objectives and performance indicators into the award terms and conditions for voluntary contributions to enable measurement of the success of voluntary contributions awarded to public international organizations.

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.