Open Recommendations

The Veterans Integrated Service Network Director, in conjunction with facility directors, ensures facility community care staff create and use the Community Care–Care Coordination Plan note for documenting all care coordination activities for consults with an assigned level of care other than basic.

The Veterans Integrated Service Network Director, in conjunction with facility directors, ensures facility community care staff schedule patients for community care appointments within the required time frames.

Ensure that the Illinois Court of Claims develops a conflict of interest policy.

Work with the Illinois Court of Claims to ensure its Fiscal Year (FY) 2020, FY 2021, and FY 2022 Crime Victim State Certification Forms accurately reflect all activity and payments and take necessary steps to recover any excess awarded funds as appropriate.

Ensure that the Illinois Court of Claims incorporates its informal procedure for completing state certification forms into the Illinois Court of Claims' official accounting procedures and that this procedure instructs the use of actual expenditures, rather than drawdown amounts, when computing the total amount of Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) victim compensation formula grant funds used to pay compensation claims.

Ensure that the Illinois Court of Claims updates its policies and procedures to reflect the current method for tracking performance information and that the Illinois Court of Claims follows its existing policy of conducting a secondary review of performance data prior to its entry into the performance report.

Ensure that the Illinois Court of Claims examines its existing financial management activities and establishes enhanced controls to help mitigate the risk associated with manual data entry. As part of this effort, the Illinois Court of Claims should consider the use of an electronic financial management system with inherent controls.

Ensure that the Illinois Court of Claims assesses its grant administration needs and identifies how best to use the administrative expenditure allowance in carrying out its grant administration activities, including considering its need for improvements to its program infrastructure and the prudence of utilizing grant funds to pay the full compensation of a commissioner for periods in which no work is performed.

Remedy the $123,965 in unsupported costs associated with victim compensation claims.

Remedy the $1,200 in unallowable costs relating to the fitness equipment.

Ensure that the Illinois Court of Claims aligns its policies and procedures with the DOJ Grants Financial Guide's record retention requirements.

Ensure that the Illinois Court of Claims enhances it policies and procedures to include the daily loss of earnings computation methodology and the use of the templated spreadsheet.

Ensure that the Illinois Court of Claims updates its drawdown policy to ensure that federal cash on hand is the minimum needed for reimbursements or disbursements made immediately or within 10 days.

Revise regulations to require documents that can be verified to ensure firms complied with 13 CFR § 126.200(d)(3), that a legacy employee resided in a HUBZone for at least 180 days following the most recent certification (or recertification).

Update and implement standard operating procedures to request documents, as permitted under 13 CFR 126.304(b)(1), to verify during program examinations that firms meet size standards in the North American Industry Classification System code in which they perform on HUBZone contracts.

Improve the HCTS system notification module to ensure recertification notifications are sent timely and consistently to all HUBZone firms.

In the interim, establish procedures to verify completion of annual recertifications by defining parameters, timing, and other requirements as needed, including expected OCIO response times when the HUBZone program office requires manual HCTS processing.

Develop a plan that includes a timeline within which a preservation review will be performed of all NARA owned or leased records storage facilities to mitigate potential risks and ensure the long-term preservation and accessibility of valuable records;

Update policies and procedures to include established frequency ofreviews

Develop contingency plans for assigning responsibilities if a key role inthe entity is vacated. In addition, contingency plans should include implementation ofalternative procedures for preservation reviews when on-site visit is not possible or curtailedin the future. As an alternative, consider performing part of the preservation reviews remotewhere possible (i.e. review of preservation plans, inquiries of facility personnel, etc.)

Develop and implement a comprehensive SOP that can help mitigatethe above effects by providing clear guidelines, promoting consistency, and ensuringpreservation activities are conducted effectively, uniformly, and systematically across theorganization

Develop a prioritization method for preservation actions. BudgetRequests should be submitted for any additional resources necessary to complete prioritizedpreservation actions

Review all NARA facilities’ Plans annually to ensure they include allrequired minimum elements and that the Plans are reviewed annually by their respectivefacility director/administrator and Records Emergency Management Team (REMT)

Implement consistent controls across all facilities to maintain evidenceof annual review of the Plans by the facility director/administrator and REMT

Finalize and implement any remaining risk matrices for vulnerableaudio and video formats