Open Recommendations

Deobligate the 101 program obligations totaling $1,967,991.45 identified for deobligation
during the fiscal year 2024 OOR that had not been deobligated as of February 28, 2025.

The Under Secretary for Health clarifies Veterans Integrated Service Network staffing requirements, including mandatory and discretionary positions.

The Under Secretary for Health ensures the use of the standardized Veterans Integrated Service Network core organizational chart to promote clarity of the Chief Mental Health Officer position and reporting structure.

The Under Secretary for Health ensures the alignment of the Veterans Integrated Service Network Chief Mental Health Officer performance plan with the functional statement.

Assess the benefits of the implemented Retention and Mentor Pilot programs and develop strategies to improve annual retention rates for all pre-career crafts.

The Office of Administration should: 1. Develop and document a complete set of guidance to ensure that Railroad Retirement Board’s Interagency Agreements are executed, monitored, managed, and closed out in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations. Procedures should specifically include the following:
a. The acceptable agreement formats and the agreement elements that must be contained in an agreement format other than the standard Interagency Agreements format (Form 7600A and Form 7600B) and a process for designating the office(s) responsible for ensuring that the proper elements are captured for such agreements.
b. Clarification on any processing differences between Voluntary Interagency…

Office of Administration should Incorporates updated requirements contained in Treasury Financial Manual 4700 Appendix 8 and other federal best practice guidance, such as the Department of Treasury Interagency Agreements Process Guide, into Railroad Retirement Board’s procedures.

Office of Administration should Identify key internal controls within the guidance developed to resolve
Recommendation #1 and includes those controls as part of the inventory of management controls considered
for testing as part of its Office of Management and Budget Circular A-123 or similar compliance process
(See Findings #2, #3, #4, and #5).

Office of Administration should Establishes and maintains a catalog of Buy/Sell agreements that complies
with Treasury Financial Manual Appendix 8 guidance.

Office of Administration should Use the implementation of G-invoicing to shift the interagency Agreements format
to the standard interagency Agreements format for agreements where the RRB represents the requesting agency.

Office of Administration should Use the implementation of G-invoicing to shift the interagency Agreements
agreement format to the standard interagency Agreements format for agreements where the Railroad Retirement
Board represents the servicing agency. As the servicing agency with responsibility for initiating the agreement,
the Railroad Retirement Board can specify use of the standard interagency Agreements format.

Bureau of Fiscal Operations should Establish documentation requirements to evidence the agreements/contracts
and amounts considered by offices when evaluating whether year-end accruals are required as a result of
exceeding the aggregate materiality level established by RRB accrual guidance.

Bureau of Fiscal Operations should Identifies key internal controls within the procedures developed to perform
year-end accruals and includes those controls as part of the inventory of management controls considered for
testing as part of its Office of Management and Budget Circular A-123 or similar compliance process.

The CPSC adopt accurate language in the tentative offer of employment letters to applicants about the type of background investigation the applicant must pass.

The CPSC use appropriate tools and provide adequate training and supervision of its staff in the use of written policies and procedures for the prescreen waiver determination process.

The CPSC develop and maintain adequate documentation of EXHR’s determinations regarding applicants who did not pass the prescreen waiver process.

We recommend that the Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education require OESE to review the work of program officers to ensure that for future SBMH grant competitions they screen all grant applications for all application requirements before entering them into the peer review process and ensure that review of requirements checklists are completed before making new awards.

We recommend that the Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education require OESE to review the work of program officers to ensure that for future SBMH grant competitions they consult with their program attorney, create a written justification, and obtain the principal officer’s approval before deviating from or changing the ATRP.

We recommend that the Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education require OESE to review the work of program officers to ensure that for future SBMH grant competitions they consistently follow records retention policies for official grant files as described in the Handbook.

We recommend that the Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education verify that OESE developed, finalized, and implemented a program monitoring plan for the fiscal year 2022 SBMH Grant Program cohort. The plan should consider the use of desk reviews for a sample of grantees.

We recommend that the Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education verify that OESE retains records of all SBMH Grant Program monitoring activities, including but not limited to email and telephone communications, grantee performance-related calls, and reviews of drawdown reports and APRs, in official grant files.

We recommend that the Assistant Secretary require OESE to develop, finalize, and implement procedures for reviewing grantees’ APRs and documenting the reviews of those APRs. At a minimum, the review procedures should cover (a) the quality of Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 data, (b) how to assess a grantee’s progress toward achieving approved goals, and (c) follow up with grantees when the information they provide is inaccurate or incomplete.

We recommend that the Assistant Secretary require OESE to implement the risk mitigation strategies as designed in the grant funding slates for new SBMH Grant Program awards and noncompeting continuation awards.

(U) Rec. A.1: This recommendation is Controlled Unclassified Information

(U) Rec. A.3: This recommendation is Controlled Unclassified Information