Open Recommendations

The Bureau of Consular Affairs should implement a process to store the Passport Services Directorate’s archived advisory opinions, so they are easily searchable and retrievable in accordance with Department standards.

Take steps to ensure that all convictions and adverse actions are reported to Federal partners within the appropriate timeframes

Revise the Unit's MOU with the State Medicaid agency to establish procedures by which the Unit will receive referrals of potential fraud from managed care organizations

The Bureau of Fiscal Operations should develop and maintain comprehensive set of policies and procedures for the Debt Recovery Section, Financial Systems Section, and Treasury Section, using in-house personnel with adequate relevant expertise and experience, or outsource the task to an entity with the relevant expertise and experience.

The Bureau of Fiscal Operations should assess the work effort required and hire adequate personnel to perform Financial Systems Section functions.

The Bureau of Fiscal Operations should ensure that the development and maintenance of policies and procedures for the Debt Recovery Section, Financial Systems Section, and Treasury Section are performed by personnel with appropriate expertise.

The Bureau of Fiscal Operations should maintain documentary evidence of adequate periodic review of control activities performed.

The Bureau of Fiscal Operations should ensure that the Debt Recovery Section’s policies and procedures include guidance and process for developing and modifying thresholds, including those related to waivers and write-offs.

The Bureau of Fiscal Operations should maintain documentary evidence of adequate supervisory review of control activities around recording of transactions and reconciliations for the Debt Recovery Section.

The Bureau of Fiscal Operations should develop and maintain a comprehensive set of policies and procedures for outsourcing the Financial Systems Section functions.

The Bureau of Fiscal Operations should develop an oversight framework for overseeing the Financial Systems Section’s contractors, and ensure that the framework is reviewed and updated periodically.

The Bureau of Fiscal Operations should require Service Level Agreements or equivalent documentation that clearly defines the roles and responsibilities of the Railroad Retirement Board and Conseillers en gestion et informatique (a shared service provider within the federal industry) and ensure that the documentation is reviewed and updated periodically.

The Bureau of Fiscal Operations should perform an assessment to determine adequate staffing required to perform Financial System Service’s functions.

The Bureau of Fiscal Operations should hire adequate personnel to perform its functions.

The Bureau of Fiscal Operations should develop a written succession plan for the Financial Systems Section, including a framework for ensuring that human capital risk is assessed, to address key person dependency risk, including training personnel and documenting processes and procedures defining the scope of responsibilities required for achieving the section’s objectives.

The Bureau of Fiscal Operations should develop and implement policies and procedures requiring the periodic review of the Cost Accounting Code by Individual data, to assess the reasonableness of personnel roles and responsibilities, resources expended (hours and amounts), and resulting deliverables or output.

The Bureau of Fiscal Operations should develop a written communication framework or process that ensures that effective “two-way” communication occurs between the Office of Programs and the Debt Recovery Section (DRS) on providing and receiving feedback on the status of unapplied cash, including follow up from DRS.

The Bureau of Fiscal Operations should design and implement process and procedures around the processing of unapplied cash, including follow-ups from the Debt Recovery Section to the Office of Programs (OP), to ensure that timely feedback is received from OP regarding the timely and accurate application of unapplied cash.

The Bureau of Fiscal Operations should develop policies and procedures and incorporate the review and reconciliation of Employer Contribution and Collections System-generated discrepancies as part of its validation of employer DC-1 processing.

The Bureau of Fiscal Operations should perform the Employer Contribution and Collection System (ECCS)-identified discrepancies reconciliation as part of the Treasury Section’s validation of employer DC-1 processing to ensure that ECCS is updated accurately and timely, instead of using the current annual or 3-year timeframe.

Determine the allowability of the questioned transactions and recover $32,153,264, if applicable.

Establish review and monitoring standards for loans and report the results of those activities.

Review, update, and implement revised policies and procedures related to the loan program including, NARA 1572, Preventing Theft and Vandalism of NARA Holdings in NARA Facilities, NARA 1611, Loans of Archival Holdings to Federal Originators, NARA 1611 Supplement, Procedures for Loans to Originators, NARA 1612, Exhibition Loans and Traveling Exhibits, NARA 1612 Supplement 1, Procedures for Exhibition Loans, and NARA 1702, Transporting Holdings in NARA's Physical and Legal Custody, to ensure they are reflective of current practices and the organizational structure.

Ensure current Research Services and Legislative Archives, Presidential Libraries, and Museum Services employees are familiar with and properly trained on the updated loan program.

Ensure NARA coordinates with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Central Imagery Office, and United States Geological Survey, to review, cancel, update, or create a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), Declassified Imagery Transition, or other appropriate instrument, which is equal with NARA’s current operations for fulfilling loan requests.