Open Recommendations

Complete the installation of grounding measures for all telecommunications closets to protect information technology equipment against electromagnetic pulse attack or electrostatic discharge. Ensure the work completed by contractors adheres to the requirements as defined in the work order.

Enforce the requirement for unit management to monitor fuel card purchases, including annotating all high-risk fuel transactions with an appropriate comment.

Reevaluate FAA's Business Staffing Rules so that workload, fleet count based on make/model/series, and aircraft models and series with separate maintenance review board reports are considered in the staffing algorithm for each inspector position.

Require that an independent workplace survey of the FAA United CMO be conducted to determine how inspector fleet assignments and workload distribution are impacting office culture. This should include implementing an action plan to address these needs.

Establish and implement an action plan to address FAA's documented staffing shortages and provide continuous resources to the United CMO that addresses retirement trends, average training time, and staffing turnover for a period longer than 3 years to ensure sufficient oversight.

Develop a strategic plan to provide outreach and education to the entire inspector work force on the protections of Safety Management System (SMS) data once the designation of protection is published in the Federal Registry. This should include education on inspectors' ability to request and review an air carrier's SMS data and records when conducting surveillance and addressing non-compliances.

Develop and implement a policy for FAA personnel to determine when an inspection should be postponed based on the percentage and/or type of questions that cannot be answered. This should include a management control so that FAA personnel with authority to assign inspections use "resources not available" when this threshold is met.

Provide analytical support from FAA's Safety Analysis Branch to CMOs to gather, analyze, and trend data for questions that have been answered "not observable" to support risk-based decision making.

Implement a plan with the Office of Acquisition and Logistics Project Management Office to ensure system access is more granular and the intent of the principle of least privilege is met.

Ensure all roles and accesses, including those provided by default access, are reviewed and certified periodically as required.

Implement a permanent solution to provide supervisors and information owners with visibility of all roles and accesses, including those provided by default access, granted to users.

OIG recommends the deputy assistant secretary for the FMBT Service implement a plan with the Office of Acquisition and Logistics Project Management Office to ensure system access is more granular and the intent of the principle of least privilege is met.

OIG recommends the deputy assistant secretary for the FMBT Service ensure all roles and accesses, including those provided by default access, are reviewed and certified periodically as required.

OIG recommends the deputy assistant secretary for the FMBT Service implement a permanent solution to provide supervisors and information owners with visibility of all roles and accesses, including those provided by default access, granted to users.

FHFA's Chief Financial Officer should seek recovery of $5,208 in overpayments questioned in this report, as appropriate.

FHFA's Chief Financial Officer should update FHFA’s invoice review policies and procedures to require CORs and Invoice Approvers to perform a documented review of invoice billing rates (e.g., confirmation against contract or task order tables) prior to payment approval.

FHFA's Chief Financial Officer should update FHFA’s invoice review training materials for CORs and Invoice Approvers to include clear step-by-step instructions on how to verify billing rates against contract terms and document verification.

FHFA's Chief Financial Officer should ensure that all staff with invoice approval authority complete the updated training.

FHFA's Chief Financial Officer should update procedures to set timeframes for OCFO personnel to request (a) a written statement on why an invoice was paid late; and (b) written corrective actions to be taken to prevent any future late payment issues.

FHFA's Chief Financial Officer should assign back-ups for OCFO personnel on leave to ensure that the control procedure to obtain written statements explaining why late payments occurred and corrective actions to be taken to prevent any future late payments is performed timely.

The Director of FinCEN should conduct and document an assessment of FinCEN’s decision to offer bulk data access, including the potential risks and how those risks are being mitigated.

The Director of FinCEN should update FinCEN’s bulk data access SOP to specify how to conduct and document reviews of requests and periodic reevaluations of agencies’ need for bulk data access, including which personnel are responsible for conducting these reviews and approving access.

The Director of FinCEN should conduct and document a reevaluation of the basis for granting each agency access to bulk data, in accordance with the bulk data SOP, to determine whether the overall benefits of continuing to provide such access outweigh the potential downsides and whether those downsides can be mitigated effectively.

The Director of FinCEN should review and update the BSA data SORN to ensure it identifies all routine uses and specifically and clearly describes the purpose of bulk data and how external agencies will use the data. Also, ensure FinCEN accurately details its administrative practices.

The Director of FinCEN should ensure that FinCEN, going forward, complies with SORN requirements in the Privacy Act, Treasury regulations, OMB guidance, and Treasury’s Handbook.