Open Recommendations

We recommend that USAID's Office of Acquisition and Assistance Cost, Audit and Support Division/Contract Audit Management BranchVerify that Chemonics International, Inc. corrects the material
weaknesses in internal control detailed on pages 11 to 12 of the audit report.

We recommend that National Government Services, Inc. develop and deliver additional education to auditors and audit supervisors regarding applicable criteria and review requirements.

We recommend that National Government Services, Inc. develop and implement enhanced procedures so that supervisors are better qualified to detect incorrect audit adjustments.

We recommend that Novitas develop and implement enhanced procedures so that supervisors are better qualified to detect incorrect audit adjustments.

(U) Rec. 1.a: The DoD OIG recommended that the Commander of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center direct the C'17 System Program Manager to develop controls to ensure the accuracy of Chief Financial Officer reports.

(U) Rec. 1.b: The DoD OIG recommended that the Commander of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center direct the C-17 contracting officer to require Boeing to notify the contracting officer of price increases of 25 percent or higher than the proposed price.

(U) Rec. 1.c: The DoD OIG recommended that the Commander of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center require that the C'17 contracting officer reviews spare parts prices throughout the execution of the C'17 performance'based logistics contract, determine whether price increases of 25 percent or above occurred, and obtain justification of the price increase from Boeing.

(U) Rec. 1.e: The DoD OIG recommended that the Commander of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center direct the C-17 contracting officer to assess and determine whether overpayments were made on the 12 spare parts we determined not to have fair and reasonable prices and implement available options to seek recovery, including voluntary refunds of at least $992,856, in accordance with Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement 242.71.

(U) Rec. 2: The DoD OIG recommended that the Director of the Defense Contract Management Agency review Service Parts Management to validate the accuracy of the forecasting demands for spare parts and if accuracy issues are identified during the review, require that corrective actions are taken.

(U) Rec. 3.a: The DoD OIG recommended that the Principal Director of Defense Pricing, Contracting, and Acquisition Policy instruct the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council to initiate changes to the Federal Acquisition Regulation to clarify requirements for the contracting officer to require a technical analysis on the bill of materials or the forecasting system that generated the types and quantities of materials used for proposals in Federal Acquisition Regulation 15.404 1(e).

(U) Rec. 3.b: The DoD OIG recommended that the Principal Director of Defense Pricing, Contracting, and Acquisition Policy instruct the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council to initiate changes to the Federal Acquisition Regulation to clarify requirements for the contracting officer to review or delegate the review of invoices to ensure that prices are allowable and reasonable before payment in Federal Acquisition Regulation 52.216-7.

The Under Secretary for Health ensures that consideration to reactivate the heart transplant program at the Richmond VA Medical Center includes a comprehensive analysis of transplant referral volume, leadership competency, and transplant team proficiency.

The Under Secretary for Health ensures that VA Mid-Atlantic Health Care Network and Richmond VA Medical Center leaders conduct a rigorous surveillance of quality measures if the heart transplant program is reactivated and emphasize safely meeting program target volumes to maintain clinical experience.

3. We recommend the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office direct the Commissioner for Trademarks to set targets for the trademark pendency-related KPIs in the 2022-2026 Strategic Plan.

5. We recommend that the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office direct the Commissioner for Trademarks to formalize a methodology for estimating and validating efficiency gains in the trademark production model.

6. We recommend the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office direct the Commissioner for Trademarks to develop and implement a Trademarks workforce action plan that includes strategies to address challenges in recruitment and retention, milestones, roles of key organization components, measures of success, and a process to continuously assess and revise the plan.

We recommend that the Massachusetts Department of Public Health follow up with the two ICF/IIDs to verify that they have taken corrective actions on the life safety and emergency preparedness deficiencies identified during the audit.

We recommend that the Massachusetts Department of Public Health work with CMS to develop standardized life safety training for ICF/IID staff.

We recommend that the California Department of Aging refund the estimated $1,087,459 of CARES Act funds that were not in compliance with Federal and State requirements.

We recommend that the California Department of Aging work with ACL to determine the allowability of the estimated $2,484,631 in local service provider expenses and refund any amount determined to be unallowable.

We recommend that the California Department of Aging clarify in the Standard Agreement that AAAs review local service provider expenses to ensure they are documented and supported.

We recommend that the California Department of Aging update procedures to include approving advanced payments as close as administratively feasible to when the AAAs will expend the funds.

Update and formalize the Agency's standard operating procedures for collecting, processing, and disseminating airline on-time performance data and make sure that these procedures are disseminated internally and available to all relevant staff.

Conduct an assessment of whether the BTS Data Administrator position and any other position should be designated as mission critical.

Develop succession plans for any mission-critical positions.