Open Recommendations

We recommend CPB add a requirement to CPB’s production grant proposal requirements that the use of rate cards must be approved in advance by CPB, the rate card methodology must be documented and shared with CPB as part of its budget documentation, and the various rates for manpower services, facilities, and equipment must be traceable to the grantee’s official accounting records to supports its actual costs.

We recommend that CPB require NewsHour to submit the required ancillary revenue reports to CPB.

We recommend that CPB require NewsHour to identify its corrective actions to ensure future compliance with ancillary revenues reporting requirements.

We recommend that CPB require NewsHour to provide the required reports directly to CPB.

We recommend that CPB require NewsHour to identify the corrective actions it will take to ensure future compliance with final financial reporting requirements.

Ensure timely dental care for advanced procedures is provided to detainees.

Ensure that all detainee grievances receive responses within the required 5 days and the grievances log is accurate.

Ensure detainee detention files include all submitted requests.

Ensure ICE personnel provide frequent opportunities for informal contact with detainees by adhering to the weekly visitation schedule posted in the housing units and by recording their visits in the appropriate logs.

Ensure the posting of all required information, including:

Ensure compliance with standards for kitchen cleanliness and inventory control, including that: • kitchen workers with facial hair wear beard guards when working in the food preparation or serving areas, • inventory control processes are in place to discard spoiled or expired food, and • a standard operating procedure exists for clearly labeling food expiration dates.

Ensure the Caroline facility medical staff are using the most current treatment guidance for chronic illnesses.

Determine whether SSA made inaccurate Workers' Compensation and Public Disability Benefits' (WC/PDB) offset determinations and improperly paid 13,033 beneficiaries with inaccurate WC/PDB information in its records.

Negotiate with the states to establish data matches to obtain WC/PDB information to help ensure SSA correctly applies WC/PDB offsets.

Establish system controls to identify cases likely to have incorrect WC/PDB offsets and/or reverse offset determinations.

Update policy to require that employees process Modernized Development Worksheet (MDW) requests within set timeframes.

Implement controls to ensure employees take all actions requested before they close MDWs.

Create system alerts to notify employees when multiple MDW requests are created for the same issue for the same beneficiary.

OIG recommends that the Bureau of Administration, in coordination with the Bureau of the Comptroller and Global Financial Services, develop and implement a process that can be used in response to an emergency situation at an overseas post to identify contracts that require termination or other contract administration actions.

OIG recommends that the Bureau of Administration develop and implement a contingency action plan that could be enacted to optimize Contracting Officers' workload management during challenging periods, such as when a surge of contracts need to be terminated, suspended, or closed out.

OIG recommends that the Bureau of Administration develop and implement an effective tool to track the status of contracts from termination through closeout. At a minimum, the tool should identify the steps remaining to be completed in the termination and closeout process, including identifying overdue steps, and the time elapsed between key steps.

OIG recommends that the Bureau of Administration develop a plan to assess and take action to ensure Contracting Officers' compliance with Department of State requirements regarding maintaining contract administration file documentation in eFiling.

OIG recommends that the Bureau of Administration conduct a survey among Contracting Officers and Contracting Officer's Representatives to identify issues related to the use of the mandated eFiling module and suggested improvements to the module, specifically pertaining to maintaining contract administration documentation.

Following implementation of Recommendation 5, OIG recommends that the Bureau of Administration (a) analyze the results of the survey to identify the factors hindering the use of eFiling to maintain contract administration documentation, including technical issues that need to be addressed and (b) develop and implement, if appropriate, a corrective action plan to increase the use of the mandated eFiling module.

OIG recommends that the Bureau of Administration update the Foreign Affairs Manual, Foreign Affairs Handbook, and supplemental procurement guidance to assist and support Contracting Officers in conducting contract terminations. At a minimum, the policies and procedures should include guidance detailing the contents of termination dockets, such as the type and extent of documentation to maintain; expected timelines for adding documents; and standardized methods for organizing and naming documents. The policy and procedures should also include helpful tools, such as a checklist of documents that are required to be maintained in the termination docket and a post-termination conference meeting template.