Open Recommendations

OIG recommends that Embassy Cairo, Egypt, discontinue the practice of using carryover funds for make-ready projects, and that it accounts for supplies, tools, and equipment used in support of its make-ready projects under the make-ready sub-cost center, consistent with the guidance outlined in 6 Foreign Affairs Handbook-5 H-341.15-11(B), "Residential Make-Ready - Budgeted Costs."

OIG recommends that senior leaders in the Management Section at U.S. Embassy Cairo, Egypt, work with U.S. direct-hire supervisors to (1) take additional steps to foster constructive relationships in accordance with 3 Foreign Affairs Manual 1214, “Leadership and Management Principles for Department Employees” by messaging the importance of teamwork, community, and open dialogue, and (2) remind employees of the Department prohibition against retaliation for disclosing wrongdoing in accordance with 3 Foreign Affairs Manual 4329, “Limitations on Use of Disciplinary Action.”

OIG recommends that U.S. Embassy Cairo, Egypt, collaborate with the Foreign Service Institute to identify additional resources and support to address issues impacting collaboration, morale, and interpersonal relationships in the Management Section at post.

(U) Rec. 1: The DoD OIG recommended that the Director of the Critical Technology Protection Directorate, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security, update DoD Manual 5220.32, Volume 1, "National Industrial Security Program: Industrial Security Procedures for Government Activities," effective August 1, 2018, to reflect Federal Acquisition Regulation Subpart 4.4, "Safeguarding Classified Information Within Industry," requiring the use of the National Industrial Security Program Contract Classification System.

Develop requirements for acquiring the necessary staff and technology resources for managing records scheduling, disposition, access, and storage

Embassy Luxembourg should update its public-private partnership with the University of Luxembourg.

Embassy Luxembourg, in coordination with the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations, should bring its fire protection program into compliance with Department standards.

OIG recommends that the Global Engagement Center review all active cooperative agreements and grants to verify whether the award provisions comply with Office of Management and Budget Policy Letter 11-01 requirements regarding inherently Governmental functions and U.S. Federal employee decision-making authority over all programmatic aspects of the awards and, for those that do not, revise the award provisions to comply with those requirements.

OIG recommends that the Global Engagement Center review the assigned roles, authorities, and responsibilities of its award management team members (Federal employees and third-party contractors) to determine (a) authorities and responsibilities that are inherently Governmental functions and (b) whether those authorities and responsibilities are assigned to or performed by team members who are not Federal employees or Personal Service Contractors, as appropriate.

OIG recommends that the Global Engagement Center transfer to Federal employees or Personal Service Contractors, as appropriate, those authorities and responsibilities found to be inherently Governmental functions that are currently assigned to third-party contractors (as determined by the review in Recommendation 3).

OIG recommends that the Global Engagement Center develop and implement a process to verify that inherently Governmental functions are only assigned to and performed by Federal employees or Personal Service Contractors, as appropriate.

OIG recommends that the Global Engagement Center (GEC) develop and implement a process to formally notify GEC award management personnel and award recipients of all roles, authorities, and responsibilities that are inherently Governmental and are only to be assigned to and performed by Federal employees and Personal Services Contractors, as appropriate. The notification process should highlight all revisions to previous guidance and practice, beginning with the revisions to GEC’s Policies and Procedures Manual (Version 1.6, December 2020) following the implementation of Recommendations 1 through 6.

OIG recommends that the Global Engagement Center design and implement controls, rather than relying only on the State Assistance Management System, to ensure that Grants Officers designate a Grants Officer Representative prior to awarding cooperative agreements or grants and throughout the award’s period of performance.

OIG recommends that Global Engagement Center (GEC) Grants Officers implement controls to comply with GEC’s Policies and Procedures Manual (Version 1.6, December 2020), “Post-Award: Changes,” requirements to notify award recipients about changes to Grants Officer Representative (GOR) assignments and furnish award recipients with fully-executed copies of GOR designation memoranda.

Develop a standard operating procedure that instructs program offices and regions on tracking and documenting grant flexibilities and exceptions, and their impacts, due to unanticipated events in order toassure consistency in the information needed to manage grants.

Develop a plan to implement, by December 2022, a uniform electronic record-keeping system for grants to meet the Office of Management and Budget direction in M-19-21, Transition to Electronic Records, that all federal records must be created, retained, and managed in electronicformats with appropriate metadata.

Direct program offices and regions to use a uniform official electronic file system that would allow consistency in agencywide access and storage of electronic grant files.

We recommend that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services do the following, which could have saved Medicare an estimated $47.8 million during our audit period:   -Educate hospitals on the NCD requirements for bariatric surgeries if the NCD has been updated in response to our first recommendation.

(U) Rec. 3.b: The DoD OIG recommended that the Commander of the Naval Sea Systems Command direct contracting officers to verify that Contractor B enforces multifactor authentication; disables user accounts after extended periods of inactivity; implements technical security controls to protect controlled unclassified information stored on removable media; and implements physical security controls.

(U) Rec. 3.c: The DoD OIG recommended that the Commander of the Naval Sea Systems Command direct contracting officers to verify that Contractor C enforces multifactor authentication; encrypts controlled unclassified information stored on workstations; and implements technical security controls to protect controlled unclassified information stored on removable media.

The Under Secretary for Health, in conjunction with Veterans Integrated Service Network directors and facility senior leaders, ensures that employees complete initial suicide risk and intervention training within 90 days of hire and annual suicide prevention refresher training.

The Bureau of Fiscal Operations funding for conducting employer audits should be put to better use by redirecting the focus of the Audit and Compliance Section's FTEs to accomplish their mission and provide adequate Class I and non-Class I railroad audit coverage. Additionally, the Bureau of Fiscal Operations should establish a group solely responsible for completing railroad employer audits.

The Bureau of Fiscal Operations should acquire a team outside of and independent of the Audit Compliance Section (ACS) to conduct an external peer review as soon as possible, and at least every three years thereafter. The Bureau of Fiscal Operations should disclose ACS' lack of peer reviews to auditee organizations whose engagements were initiated after the three-year timeframe following ACS' last external peer review.

The Bureau of Fiscal Operations should update the Audit Compliance Section's Audit Guide and Audit Procedures Manual to reflect the most recent guidance.

The Bureau of Fiscal Operations should provide at least 80 hours of CPE accredited training for Audit Compliance Section employees in each 2-year cycle.