Open Recommendations

We recommend that the FWS require the Department to train subrecipients on their responsibilities under Federal awards.

We recommend that the FWS require the Department to develop policies and procedures to better identify and evaluate potential sources of program income on grants.

We recommend that the FWS require the Department to train all personnel responsible for conducting physical inventories on the frequencies required by the State regulations (e.g., annual, biennial, etc.).

The executive director of VA’s Office of Construction and Facilities Management should confirm seismic evaluations are done for all critical and essential buildings in high and very high seismic zones immediately to ensure they meet life, safety, and occupancy performance standards.

We recommend that the National Institutes of Health develop policies and procedures to issue timely management decision letters for foreign grant recipient audit reports, with audit findings, within 6 months of the date HHS accepts the audit report package.

We recommend that the National Institutes of Health follow up with the foreign grant recipients to confirm the 81 outstanding audits were completed, obtain the outstanding audit reports, and issue management decision letters where appropriate.

We recommend that the National Institutes of Health issue management decision letters for the two audit reports that indicated a need for increased monitoring.

We recommend that the National Institutes of Health work with HHS ARD officials to identify foreign grant recipients required to submit annual audit reports and address audit report submission delinquencies by NIH foreign grant recipients.

NIH should ensure that the 6-month requirement for issuing MDLs for all single audits is met.

NIH should ensure that relevant single audit data are available and used by NIH staff to inform decisions about new and ongoing awards.

NIH should use risk to prioritize the issuance of MDLs.

NIH should track the effectiveness of single audit processes and single audits' use.

Establish a process to regularly validate the accuracy, completeness, and consistency of the data it uses to assess the timeliness of the hiring process.

Implement tools to centrally analyze and routinely report detailed and accurate timeline data, including phase-specific hiring goals and metrics to monitor hiring efficiency over time.

Update FAA advisory circulars on long-term aviation infrastructure as necessary to address resiliency and climate change effects in airport infrastructure projects.

Develop and implement a strategy to ensure that any new dialysis service contracts follow the John S. McCain III, Daniel K. Akaka, and Samuel R. Johnson VA Maintaining Internal Systems and Strengthening Integrated Outside Networks Act of 2018 payment rate requirements.

Ensure the Denver Logistics Center staff complete reports of survey for adjustments to inventory in accordance with VA logistics management policy, and communicate such information to the National Acquisition Center.

In collaboration with the Office of Information and Technology, establish information system controls for user access, segregation of duties designations, permission access, and privilege access for the inventory management systems and data.

Establish and perform routine reviews of the access levels for users with direct access to the inventory management systems and ensure that access is limited to those who have a defined business purpose.

In collaboration with the Office of Information and Technology, ensure the Denver Logistics Center meets physical access, security, and contingency planning requirements for its information management systems.

Establish a connection for Denver Logistics Center inventory data to VA’s Corporate Data Warehouse.

Ensure the Denver Logistics Center develops and maintains comprehensive documentation of the information system to support operations and train information resource management staff.

Ensure security documentation accurately supports the proper controls are implemented, tested, and representative of the system security.

Determine whether a secure enclosure in which an inmate's movement is significantly restricted due to its size is considered a restraint and, if so, update its policies to make this clear.

Amend its policies to address secure enclosures, including the appropriate use(s) of a secure enclosure, the physical dimensions of an appropriate secure enclosure, the approvals required for using secure enclosures as temporary holding cells, how inmates should be monitored and treated while confined in secure enclosures, and how long an inmate may be kept in a secure enclosure.