Open Recommendations

Rec. 1.c: The DoD OIG recommended that the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer, DoD, identify user entities that are effectively implementing complementary user entity controls requirements and share best practices to assist the user entities that need improvement.

Rec. 1.d: The DoD OIG recommended that the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer, DoD, develop a procedure to gather data and feedback from the DoD financial management and audit communities and re-evaluate the Service Provider Working Group meeting dates each year to ensure user auditors obtain information in time to best plan the financial statement audits to meet planning, testing, and reporting phase timelines, and implement changes as determined appropriate.

Rec. 1.e: The DoD OIG recommended that the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer, DoD, identify the service organizations that have the biggest impact across the DoD and establish specific forums for the service organizations to work with user entities and user auditors to discuss updates, complementary user entity controls, and best practices to provide continuous improvement toward achieving the congressional mandate of an unmodified financial statement opinion by FY 2028.

Work with ARC to resolve the inaccurate reporting of $116,808 for non-ARC match construction cost.

Revise policies and procedures for financial reporting of grant costs to include quality control reviews of grant expenses to ensure costs are accurately reported to ARC.

Ensure that the DEA enforces its policy requirement for Special Agents and Task Force Officers to timely complete the DEA-177 Consensual Encounter Form for each consensual encounter, and ensure that required data is being entered.

Ensure that the DEA fully implements appropriate transportation interdiction training that meets the purpose and intent of the OIG's prior recommendations, incorporates DOJ guidance, and addresses the concerns identified in the DEA Office of Training's report that led the DEA to suspend its Jetway training in April 2023.a. Once implemented, ensure that the DEA enforces its policy requirement for Special Agents and Task Force Officers participating in drug interdiction units at mass transportation facilities to complete transportation interdiction training.b. Assess whether the DEA should provide additional training to DEA Special Agents and Task Force Officers who previously received Jetway training.

Assess whether the DEA's repeated payment of a percentage of cash forfeitures to transportation company employees, based on tips leading to seizures, over a period of years, is consistent with the Limited Use Confidential Source category and appropriate under Department of Justice policy.

Assess whether the DEA, in connection with its interdiction efforts at mass transportation facilities, should permit, outside the context of a predicated investigation, cash rewards to private company employees for regularly providing, over an extended period, potentially private consumer data without their employer's knowledge and without any legal process.

Consider whether to direct the Department of Justice law enforcement components to expand their body-worn camera policies to require the use of body-worn cameras during pre-planned consensual encounters with travelers at mass transportation facilities.

Prohibit participation in transportation interdiction activities at mass transportation facilities by DEA Special Agents and Task Force Officers who have not received appropriate training.

Update the policy on "Consensual Encounters Conducted at Mass Transportation Facilities" in the DEA Agents Manual to provide additional consensual encounter guidance regarding transportation interdiction activities.

Provide additional training or guidance on the DEA-177 Consensual Encounter Form to ensure that DEA Special Agents and Task Force Officers understand the importance of the form and how to complete it accurately. Update fields or instructions on the form, if needed.

Determine whether transportation interdiction activities and the use of confidential sources for this purpose are an effective use of law enforcement resources, and assess whether the benefits of these actions outweigh the potential legal risks.

USDA OIG has determined that this recommendation contains sensitive information and will not be publicly released due to privacy concerns.

USDA OIG has determined that this recommendation contains sensitive information and will not be publicly released due to privacy concerns.

USDA OIG has determined that this recommendation contains sensitive information and will not be publicly released due to privacy concerns.

USDA OIG has determined that this recommendation contains sensitive information and will not be publicly released due to privacy concerns.

USDA OIG has determined that this recommendation contains sensitive information and will not be publicly released due to privacy concerns.

We recommend that the Office for Civil Rights expand the scope of its HIPAA audits to assess compliance with physical and technical safeguards from the Security Rule.

We recommend that the Office for Civil Rights document and implement standards and guidance for ensuring that deficiencies identified during the HIPAA audits are corrected in a timely manner.

We recommend that the Office for Civil Rights define and document criteria for determining whether a compliance issue identified during a HIPAA audit should result in OCR initiating a compliance review.

We recommend that the Office for Civil Rights define metrics for monitoring the effectiveness of OCR's HIPAA audits at improving audited entities' protections over ePHI and periodically review whether these metrics should be refined.

We recommend that USAID/Tanzania verify that Amref Health Africa corrects the one instance of material noncompliance detailed on pages 41 to 44 of the audit report.

We recommend that USAID/Rwanda verify that Society of Women Against AIDS in Africa corrects the two instances of material noncompliance detailed on pages 5 and 9 of the management letter.