Open Recommendations

We recommend that the Director of the U.S. Census Bureau update policies and procedures to include controls to ensure that FRs make personal visits to HUs when required, know when to contact a recommended contact and know what information should be included in an interview note.

We recommend that the Director of the U.S. Census Bureau Update policies and procedures and implement controls to ensure that field supervisors review interview notes for vacant HU interviews and request FRs to reclassify interviews and obtain additional information to support the vacant status for HUs, when necessary.

We recommend that the Director of the U.S. Census Bureau update policies and procedures and implement controls to monitor supervisory reviews of noninterview cases and ensure that notes include sufficient information and follow-up actions when Type A cases are submitted.

We recommend that the Director of the U.S. Census Bureau reevaluate and update timelines and training for supervisory review of noninterviews to ensure that all noninterview procedures are implemented and cases are reviewed by supervisors before closeout.

We recommend that the Director of the U.S. Census Bureau develop and implement procedures to track and monitor supervisory review within ROSCO to ensure that approval of noninterview procedures were followed before closing out a case for supervisory review in ROSCO.

We recommend that the Director of the U.S. Census Bureau develop and implement recurring testing of system controls in ROSCO to ensure that noninterview cases are reviewed by a supervisor before being closed out.

We recommend that the Director of the U.S. Census Bureau reevaluate and update the design of the reinterview operation to meet the bureau’s goal of detecting and deterring falsification, considering (1) staffing and funding constraints, (2) FR behavior and experience, and (3) respondents’ reluctance to respond to reinterviews.

We recommend that the Director of the U.S. Census Bureau evaluate and determine the extent to which FR data falsification occurs during resident-level GQ interviews and revise the reinterview operation to include GQ residents, as appropriate.

We recommend that the Director of the U.S. Census Bureau develop and implement controls to ensure that reinterviews are conducted for remote Alaska cases in a timely manner.

We recommend that the Director of the U.S. Census Bureau develop and implement FR Data Tool policies and procedures that require supervisors to respond within 2 weeks of the initial inquiry.

We recommend that the Director of the U.S. Census Bureau update policies and procedures to ensure that field supervisors and regional survey managers are notified of response deadlines for inquiries developed through the FR Data Tool and implement controls to ensure that they respond within 2 weeks.

Resolve the $25,036 in questioned travel, fringe benefit, long-term visa, participant
payment, and summer salary expenses for which Cornell has not agreed to
reimburse NSF and direct Cornell to repay or otherwise remove the sustained
questioned costs from its NSF awards. Additionally, based on Cornell’s formal response to the audit report, we alsosuggest that NSF consider whether Cornell appropriately tracked and used all
funds awarded for participant support when resolving the $809 in questioned costs for REDACTED.

Direct Cornell to provide documentation supporting that it has repaid or otherwise
credited the $39,608 in questioned publication, travel, fringe benefit, and
promotional material expenses for which it has agreed to reimburse NSF

Direct Cornell to strengthen its procedures for ensuring that it only charges
allowable costs to NSF awards. Cornell’s updated procedures should:
Require Cornell to verify that research publications acknowledge the NSF
funding source(s) to be charged before charging the publication expenses to the
NSF award(s). Address how to properly review travel, participant, and promotional material
expenses to identify unallowable costs

Direct Cornell to update its policies to no longer permit personnel to charge
unallowable costs to NSF awards. These updated policies should not permit Cornell
to: Apply fringe benefits to stipend payments when paying stipends to Cornell
employees. Charge H-1B long-term immigration visa costs to NSF awards. Charge summer salaries at amounts that exceed the employee’s IBS at the time
the employee earned the summer salary

Resolve the $24,584 in questioned inadequately supported service, participant,
health insurance, travel, and salary expenses and direct Cornell to repay or
otherwise remove the sustained questioned costs from its NSF awards

Direct Cornell to provide documentation supporting that it has repaid or otherwise
credited the $7,544 in questioned service and participant expenses for which it has
agreed to reimburse NSF.

Direct Cornell to strengthen its procedures or other internal controls for obtaining
and maintaining documentation to support costs charged to NSF awards. The
updated procedures or controls should ensure:
Vendors submit service invoices that contain sufficient detail to support that the
costs invoiced are: (i) allowable per applicable federal, NSF, and Cornell policies;
and (ii) consistent with the approved quotation or purchase order.

Principal Investigators, or other appropriate personnel, capture all participant
payment information required per the Human Research Participant Payment
policy in Cornell’s Buying Manual.

Travelers submit airfare receipts that identify the airfare class purchased.
Charges for salary paid…

Resolve the $17,330 in questioned inappropriately allocated publication expenses
for which Cornell has not agreed to reimburse NSF and direct Cornell to repay or
otherwise remove the sustained questioned costs from its NSF awards.

Direct Cornell to provide documentation supporting that it has repaid or otherwise
credited the $4,991 in questioned publication, travel, and recruitment expenses for
which it has agreed to reimburse NSF

Direct Cornell to strengthen its policies and procedures and internal controls
related to allocating expenses to sponsored projects. The updated procedures
should ensure Cornell allocates:
Publication expenses to NSF awards consistent with the benefits received by the
acknowledged funding and appropriately documents its allocation methodology.

Travel that benefits multiple projects in a manner that is consistent with agreed upon allocation methodologies.

Recruitment expenses to NSF awards in a manner that is consistent with
recruited employees’ certified effort reports

Resolve the $593 in questioned indirect costs for which Cornell has not agreed to
reimburse NSF and direct Cornell to repay or otherwise remove the sustained
questioned costs from its NSF awards.

Direct Cornell to provide documentation supporting that it has repaid or otherwise
credited the $2,295 in questioned indirect costs for which it has agreed to
reimburse NSF.

Direct Cornell to strengthen its policies, procedures, and internal control processes
for applying its indirect cost rates to ensure it applies appropriate indirect cost
rates, including rates established in NSF budgets, to only those direct costs that it
should include in its Modified Total Direct Cost base per its applicable Negotiated
Indirect Cost Rate Agreement(s).

Direct Cornell to implement additional procedures to ensure that it performs—and
appropriately documents its performance of—risk assessments in compliance with
federal requirements for pass-through entities and Cornell’s internal policies