Open Recommendations

Establish an improper payment council within HUD that consists of senior accountable officials from across the Department with a role in the effort that would work to identify risks and challenges to compliance and identify solutions as a collaborative group.

We recommend that Retirement Services develop and implement additional cost-effectivecorrective actions, aimed at the root causes of improper payments, to further reduce theimproper payments rate.

Second Consecutive Year of Non-Compliance:a. FSA should propose to the director of OMB in its next budget submission additional program integrity proposals for ECP that would help the program come into compliance. This process will unfold as part of the annual development of the President’s budget. In the budget submission, the agency should describe how each proposal would help the program come into compliance.b. If the director of OMB determines that additional funding would help the program become compliant, the agency should obligate an amount of additional funding determined by the director of OMB to intensify compliance efforts. When providing…

Rec. 1.b: The DoD OIG recommended that the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer, DoD, submit for the Civilian Pay, Commercial Pay, DoD Travel Pay, Military Health Benefits-Healthcare, Military Pay-Army, Military Pay-Navy, Military Pay-Air Force, Military Pay-Marine Corps, and Military Retirement programs a proposal to the Director of the Office Management and Budget in its next Budget submission, additional program integrity proposals that would help the program come into compliance, in accordance with Office of Management and Budget Circular No. A-123, Appendix C requirements.

Rec. 2.a: The DoD OIG recommended that the Director, Defense Finance and Accounting Service for the Hawaii water contamination evacuation travel payments comply with the Office of Management and Budget Circular No. A 123, Appendix C by reclassifying the payments in question as Unknown Payments. Once the Army in coordination with the U.S. Army Audit Agency determines the propriety of the payments, include the results in future-year improper payment reporting.

Rec. 2.b: The DoD OIG recommended that the Director, Defense Finance and Accounting Service develop and implement additional controls to identify and review high risk payments, and to make certain that the post pay reviews are adequately identifying improper payment amounts.

Create a detailed plan for how each TXS capability will be implemented and develop benchmarks, performance measures, and milestones.

Establish a process to track and regularly report on the performance results of taxpayer experience improvements described in the TXS.

The Office of Programs should update the Railroad Retirement Board and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' Memorandum of Understanding dated August 31, 2022 to ensure the Railroad Medicare payment integrity information complies with the Payment Integrity Information Act of 2019 and the enterprise risk management framework.

The Office of Programs should request that the Department of Health and Human Services provide a footnote in the Payment Integrity Information Act of 2019 reporting section of either the Department of Health and Human Services' or Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' Agency Financial Report to provide the Railroad Medicare program improper payment rate and estimated improper payments in their future years reporting. If the Department of Health and Human Services does not agree, the Railroad Retirement Board should include the improper payment rate and amount from the Comprehensive Error Rate Testing report for the Railroad Medicare program in…

The Office of Programs should update the Railroad Retirement Board and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' Memorandum of Understanding dated August 31, 2022 to ensure the sampling and estimation methodology of the Railroad Medicare program complies with the requirements of Office of Management and Budget Circular A-123, Appendix C and the Payment Integrity Act of 2019.

The Office of Programs should coordinate with the Railroad Retirement Board's audit follow-up official to develop a plan to address Railroad Medicare payment integrity outstanding audit recommendations to ensure resolution and prompt corrective action in accordance with the requirements of Office of Management and Budget Circular A-123, Management's Responsibility for Enterprise Risk Management and Internal Control, the Government Accountability Office's Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government, and Office of Management and Budget Circular A-50, Audit Follow Up.

The Office of Programs should update the Railroad Retirement Board and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' Memorandum of Understanding dated August 31, 2022 to ensure past and future Railroad Retirement Board Office of Inspector General audit recommendations regarding Railroad Medicare payment integrity will be appropriately handled in accordance with the requirements of Office of Management and Budget Circular A-123, Managment's Responsibility for Enterprise Risk Management and Internal Control, the Government Accountability Office Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government, and Office of Management and Budget Circular A-50 Audit Follow Up.

(U) Rec. 1: The DoD OIG recommended that the Director, Defense Security Cooperation Agency, in coordination with the Tri-Service Committee member representatives, review, analyze, and update the list of defense articles currently designated as requiring Enhanced End-Use Monitoring.

(U) Rec. 2.a: The DoD OIG recommended that the Director, Defense Security Cooperation Agency, update the Security Assistance Management Manual to develop and implement a process for which defense articles no longer requiring Enhanced End-Use Monitoring be removed from the list, similar to the process currently in place for adding a defense article for Enhanced End-Use Monitoring, via "Designating Defense Articles for Enhanced, End-Use Monitoring (EEUM)," Figure C8.F1.

(U) Rec. 2.b: The DoD OIG recommended that the Director, Defense Security Cooperation Agency, update the Security Assistance Management Manual to add a recurring requirement to review and update the list of all defense articles provided to foreign nations to ensure designation of those requiring Enhanced End-Use Monitoring.

The U.S. Agency for Global Media, in coordination with Voice of America, should systematically track and review the metrics on all stages in Voice of America’s federal hiring processes to gather actionable analytics for possible adjustments to these processes.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty should systematically track and review the metrics on all stages in its hiring processes to gather actionable analytics for possible adjustments to these processes.

Voice of America should implement practices to ensure adherence to editorial review standards by the Russian Language Service prior to content dissemination.

The U.S. Agency for Global Media should improve and disseminate procedural guidance for grantee organizations covering distribution and receipt of Ukraine Supplemental Appropriations Act funding.

We recommend that the Health Resources and Services Administration require the 10 health centers identified in our report as having charged unallowable COVID-19 supplemental grant funding costs to refund $787,152 (less any amounts health centers voluntarily refunded as a result of our audit) to the Federal Government.

We recommend that the Health Resources and Services Administration work with the 13 health centers identified in our report that may not have properly allocated COVID-19 supplemental grant funding costs to determine what portion of the $15,056,835 is allocable to their COVID-19 supplemental grant funding and require the health centers to refund the improperly allocated funds to the Federal Government.

We recommend that the Health Resources and Services Administration assist the 17 health centers identified in our report as having charged unallowable costs or potentially improperly allocated costs to implement HRSA's guidance for developing and maintaining financial management systems and internal controls that ensure that only allowable, allocable, and documented costs are charged to their HRSA supplemental grant funding.

Rec. 1.a: The DoD OIG recommended that the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer, DoD, establish policy to use Advana or an equivalent DoD single enterprise data and analytics solution to capture and accurately report the cost of operations or other supplemental funding.

Rec. 1.b: The DoD OIG recommended that the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer, DoD, develop and implement policy requiring DoD Components providing operational support to create standard operating procedures including specific steps and necessary documentation for the compilation, support, and submission of reports for future operations or other supplemental funding.