Open Recommendations

Work with the Department of Agriculture to ensure Puerto Rico Department of the Family implements internal controls over its financial reporting responsibilities for Federal funds.

FHFA's DHMG Deputy Director should review and update, as necessary, the design of all scoring templates to reflect current practices and provide clarity regarding what fields require completion.

FHFA's DHMG Deputy Director should develop and implement written review and reconciliation procedures to ensure that all scoring template evaluations are complete, accurate, and correspond to the final qualitative impact scores used to rate the Enterprises’ annual Duty to Serve performance.

FHFA's DHMG Deputy Director should revise internal written guidance for the oversight of the Enterprises’ compliance with Duty to Serve requirements to incorporate up-to-date practices that include the following:
a. Review and approval procedures for assigning and documenting scores and ratings for evaluation of the Enterprises’ Plans and performance;
b. Review and approval procedures to ensure that DHMG accurately calculates annual evaluation scores and ratings;
c. Procedures for the practice and frequency of conducting routine meetings with the Enterprises and documenting and communicating results to relevant FHFA stakeholders; and
d. Procedures for the documentation and submission of quarterly monitoring reviews…

Develop and implement an official policy and procedures for the management and implementation of the strategic partnership process.

Develop and implement a policy and procedures for storing, safeguarding, and reporting
accurate partnership information such as memorandums of understanding and progress
reports to comply with the partnership process.

Develop guidance for evaluating potential partnerships based on strategic need and opportunity.

Develop and implement a contingency planning process in the event that not all pledged funding from a partner is received.

Develop and provide training on the policy and procedures for the strategic partnership process.

Update the USADF Manual System to clarify conflicting guidance for grant administration and grantee reporting and project development requirements for grants awarded under partnerships.

Develop a policy and procedures for the use of the Grants Information System for Evaluation and Learning that is aligned with USADF's Manual System, Federal requirements, and USADF's strategic partnership management.

Develop and provide recurring training to officials on the revised USADF Manual System and Grants Information System for Evaluation and Learning policy.

Develop a process for periodically reviewing and evaluating policies to ensure their relevance and effectiveness to current practices in USADF's grant administration.

We recommend that the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of USPTO direct the Commissioner for Patents to update agency-wide policies and procedures explicitly requiring SPEs to (1) take necessary actions to correct OPQA-identified quality errors and (2) coach patent examiners on the errors.

We recommend that the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of USPTO direct the Commissioner for Patents to develop requirements for TCs to monitor (1) actions taken by SPEs to correct OPQA-identified quality errors and (2) coaching that SPEs provide to patent examiners on the errors.

We recommend that the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of USPTO direct the Commissioner for Patents to develop policy that requires supervisory reviews of compliant OPQA quality findings and that the results of these reviews be documented and evaluated to ensure compliant findings are accurate.

We recommend that the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of USPTO direct the Commissioner for Patents to develop and document a methodology for OPQA consistency audits that ensures quality reviewers with low levels of noncompliant findings are identified and evaluated.

We recommend that the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of USPTO direct the Commissioner for Patents to ensure results of OPQA’s random and robust quality reviews, including double patenting errors, are included in USPTO’s annual performance reports.

We recommend that the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of USPTO direct the Commissioner for Patents to regularly evaluate OPQA quality review results to ensure pertinent patent examination quality information is included in USPTO’s annual performance reports.

Establish and use agreements with other VA medical facilities to help identify and schedule direct care when services are unavailable at a veteran’s local VA facility.

At least annually, emphasize to schedulers the proper methods (including the use of codes) to document when veterans opt out of community care.

Require medical facility directors in Veterans Integrated Service Network 12 to review and process consults initiated in the first quarter of fiscal year 2024 that remain in a pending, active, or scheduled status.

Reiterate policies to ensure refunds and voids are warranted and unit management is reviewing the Postal Service Form 1412 and supporting documentation.

Update to ensure the Retail Systems Software receipts used to support the amount of voided postage include the dollar amount of the postage that was voided.

Verify and ensure retail unit management is properly performing the monthly arrow key certification.