Open Recommendations

To address weaknesses identified in Premier Group's report, we recommend that USAID's Director, Office of Acquisition & Assistance:
Require Chemonics to implement a routine process for reviewing and reconciling transaction documentation with the general ledger. This should include periodic checks to identify and resolve any discrepancies in a timely manner.

We recommend that USAID/Bureau for Management/Office of Acquisition & Assistance determine the allowability of $32,438.89 in questioned costs on page 23 of 27 of the audit report and recover any amount that is unallowable.

Require PACT to update their internal controls to mitigate the risk of assigning funds from one project to another by developing a process to document how to input project expenses into the financial management system.

We recommend that USAID/Bureau for Management/Office of Acquisition & Assistance require PACT to establish and implement policies and procedures that requires a two-person review and signatures indicating that funds are accurate and solely being used for their authorized purposes.

(U) Rec. 1.a: The DoD OIG recommended that the Secretary of the Navy direct the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Energy, Installations, and Environment, in coordination with the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Shore Readiness Division; Commander, Navy Installations Command; Naval Facilities Engineering Command; and other Department of the Navy organizations as appropriate develop and implement processes that establish control system ownership and clearly define responsibilities for managing the risk associated with control system cybersecurity vulnerabilities in accordance with DoD and Navy.

(U) Rec. 1.c: The DoD OIG recommended that the Secretary of the Navy direct the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Energy, Installations, and Environment, in coordination with the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Shore Readiness Division; Commander, Navy Installations Command; Naval Facilities Engineering Command; and other Department of the Navy organizations as appropriate establish expectations for mitigating the unmitigated cybersecurity vulnerabilities identified during the Section 1650 assessments, require the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations to develop and document corrective action plans for unmitigated cybersecurity vulnerabilities, and hold the Commander, Navy Installations Command, Naval Facilities Engineering…

(U) Rec. 1.c: The DoD OIG recommended that the Secretary of the Navy direct the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Energy, Installations, and Environment, in coordination with the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Shore Readiness Division; Commander, Navy Installations Command; Naval Facilities Engineering Command; and other Department of the Navy organizations as appropriate develop and implement processes with periodic reporting requirements to track the status of the cybersecurity vulnerabilities identified during the Section 1650 assessments.

(U) Rec. 1.d: The DoD OIG recommended that the Secretary of the Navy direct the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Energy, Installations, and Environment, in coordination with the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Shore Readiness Division; Commander, Navy Installations Command; Naval Facilities Engineering Command; and other Department of the Navy organizations as appropriate develop and implement processes for documenting corrective actions and retaining documentation of corrective actions to mitigate cybersecurity vulnerabilities identified during the Section 1650 assessments.

We recommend the Commandant of the Coast Guard develop and implement a drug interdiction contingency plan to prioritize the availability of cutters for drug interdiction missions and to mitigate the risk of cutters being unavailable.

We recommend the Commandant of the Coast Guard update the Marine Information for Safety and Law Enforcement system to require commanding officer and district-level reviews to ensure data accuracy within the system.

We recommend the Commandant of the Coast Guard conduct a needs assessment for the Digital Evidence Search and Seizure program, including the number of kits and trained personnel needed to ensure the program’s success in gathering intelligence while at sea.

We recommend the Commandant of the Coast Guard identify and implement a centralized database to capture, analyze, and report on information related to the Coast Guard’s Digital Evidence Search and Seizure program’s success.

The OIG recommended the under secretary for health make sure the Office of Integrated Veteran Care develops contract language and/or maximum allowable rates to limit reimbursements that do not have a Medicare or VA fee schedule rate for Community Care Network claims.

The OIG recommended the under secretary for health ensure the Office of Integrated Veteran Care improves oversight of healthcare claim payments to prevent, identify, and recover overpayments in a more timely manner.

The OIG recommended the under secretary for health, in conjunction with the chief acquisition officer and principal executive director for the Office of Acquisition, Logistics, and Construction, ensure the Office of Integrated Veteran Care and the Office of Acquisition, Logistics, and Construction, collaborate to extend the contracting officers representatives designated responsibilities to include monitoring of healthcare invoices.

The OIG recommended the under secretary for health make sure the Office of Integrated Veteran Care considers including dental contract reimbursement language in the current and/or future contracts that is consistent with other contract healthcare reimbursement methodology to limit dental contract reimbursements, not to exceed the amount the third-party administrators pay the providers.

The OIG recommended the chief acquisition officer and principal executive director for the Office of Acquisition, Logistics, and Construction make certain the Office of Procurement, Acquisition, and Logistics develops sufficient oversight and internal controls over the contract modification process to prevent program overpayments.

The OIG recommended the under secretary for health, in conjunction with the chief acquisition officer and principal executive director for the Office of Acquisition, Logistics, and Construction, require the Office of Veteran Integrated Care and the Office of Acquisition, Logistics, and Construction to collaborate to explore potential recovery of dental payments to Optum.

The OIG recommended the under secretary for health, in conjunction with the chief acquisition officer and principal executive director for the Office of Acquisition, Logistics, and
Construction, ensure the Office of Integrated Veteran Care and the Office of Acquisition, Logistics, and Construction collaborate to establish oversight and internal controls for dental services provided through Community Care Network to prevent excessive reimbursements.

We recommend that USAID/Kenya and East Africa determine the allowability of $167,463 in ineligible questioned costs on page 28 of the audit report and recover any amount that is unallowable.

We recommend that USAID/Kenya and East Africa verify that Mission for Essential Drugs and Supplies corrects the one material weakness in internal control detailed on page 32 of the audit report.

We recommend that USAID/Kenya and East Africa verify that Mission for Essential Drugs and Supplies corrects the four instances of material noncompliance detailed on pages 34 to 39 of the audit report.

We recommend that USAID/Southern Africa determine the allowability of $112,456 in questioned costs ($104,385 ineligible, $8,071 unsupported) on pages 15 and 21 of the audit report and recover any amount that is unallowable.

We recommend that USAID/Southern Africa verify that Young Heroes corrects the three material weaknesses in internal control detailed on pages 24 to 27 of the audit report.

CMS should Assist MACs in obtaining more complete and timely utilization data with which to make coverage determinations.