Open Recommendations

The Facility Director considers consulting with the Office of Mental Health to clarify guidelines for design elements such as artwork on the inpatient unit.

The Facility Director considers alternatives to outdoor access for the inpatient unit, such as those identified in VA’s Design Guide for Inpatient Mental Health & Residential Rehabilitation Treatment Program Facilities.

The Facility Director develops and implements written processes to monitor and track compliance with state laws for involuntary hospitalization and consults with the Office of General Counsel to ensure processes are consistent with applicable laws.

The Chief of Staff ensures documentation of informed consent discussions between the prescriber and veteran on the risks and benefits of newly prescribed medications.

The Chief of Staff ensures veterans’ discharge instructions are written in easy-to-understand language and include the follow-up mental health appointment location, the purpose of each medication, and how the medication is supposed to be taken.

The Facility Director ensures the Interdisciplinary Safety Inspection Team adheres to Veterans Health Administration requirements, including recording membership and attendance for Mental Health Environment of Care Checklist inspections.

The Veterans Integrated Service Network Director implements processes to ensure the Veterans Integrated Service Network Mental Health Environment of Care Checklist Oversight Team provides facility guidance consistent with Veterans Health Administration requirements.

The Facility Director implements processes to ensure Interdisciplinary Safety Inspection Team staff accurately identify and document safety hazards within the Patient Safety Assessment Tool.

The Facility Director ensures the Mental Health Executive Council operates in accordance with Veterans Health Administration requirements.

The Chief of Mental Health ensures compliance with Veterans Health Administration requirements for a full-time local recovery coordinator.

The Chief of Mental Health ensures a minimum of four hours of recovery-oriented, interdisciplinary programming on weekdays and weekends on the inpatient mental health unit.

The Facility Director considers consulting with the Office of Mental Health to clarify guidelines for design elements such as artwork on the inpatient unit.

The Facility Director considers alternatives to outdoor access for the inpatient unit, such as those identified in VAs Design Guide for Inpatient Mental Health & Residential Rehabilitation Treatment Program Facilities.

The Facility Director develops and implements written processes to monitor and track compliance with state laws for involuntary hospitalization and consults with the Office of General Counsel to ensure processes are consistent with applicable laws.

The Chief of Staff ensures documentation of informed consent discussions between the prescriber and veteran on the risks and benefits of newly prescribed medications.

The Chief of Staff ensures veterans discharge instructions are written in easy-to-understand language and include the follow-up mental health appointment location, the purpose of each medication, and how the medication is supposed to be taken.

The Facility Director ensures the Interdisciplinary Safety Inspection Team adheres to Veterans Health Administration requirements, including recording membership and attendance for Mental Health Environment of Care Checklist inspections.

Develop and implement a process to identify mailpieces that have been left behind on the workroom floor and in equipment after operations are completed at the Shreveport Processing and Distribution Center.

Develop and implement a process to verify that all delayed mail is reported in the Mail Condition Visualization system daily at the Shreveport Processing and Distribution Center.

Develop and implement a process to monitor and verify that all mail containers have accurate labels at the Shreveport Processing and Distribution Center and Package Support Annex.

Properly reconcile the Surface Visibility scanners in Ethos and at the facility and take measurable actions to retrieve all lost scanners at the Shreveport Processing and Distribution Center.

Implement controls to monitor and secure Surface Visibility scanners, including a sign out process at the Shreveport Processing and Distribution Center and Package Support Annex.

Verify that all drivers are using wheel chocks at the Shreveport Processing and Distribution Center and Package Support Annex.

Verify that all identified facility repairs are completed at the Shreveport Processing and Distribution Center and Package Support Annex.

Verify that fire extinguishers are provided, mounted, and inspected monthly and annually at the Shreveport Package Support Annex.

Flag the 73,302 7(a) loans for review at guaranty purchase to assess whether borrowers met all eligibility requirements and seek remedy for all loans deemed ineligible.

Ensure an approach for managing GTAs that have been canceled, unfulfilled, modified, or
realigned is formalized in HLS Program policy.

Ensure an approach for decrementing costs for GTAs submitted after contract proposal,
including a timeline for recovery, is formalized in HLS Program policy.

Update the Use of Government Resources clause in both the SpaceX and Blue Origin contracts
to reflect GTA policy changes.

Consult with the Commercial Crew Program to review post-variance acceptance risk assessment
findings related to its manual control waiver for lessons that can be applied prior to HLS
certification.

Update crew survival analyses, including decision packages, to include strategies for extended
crew survival.

Revise and implement policies and procedures to ensure procurement procedures align with Uniform Guidance requirements including informal procurement procedures for small purchases, formal procedures for purchases in excess of the Simplified Acquisition Threshold, and noncompetitive procurement process.

Work with ARC to resolve the questioned costs totaling $21,695 for ARC funded equipment costs.

Work with ARC to resolve the questioned costs totaling $52,289 for non-ARC matching equipment costs.

Develop and implement policies and procedures to review federal and matching grant expenses for compliance with applicable laws, regulations and ARC grant requirements.

Work with ARC staff to correct the 2024 ARC grant financial report and resolve questioned costs.

Develop and implement policies and procedures to ensure ARC grant matching requirements are met in full.

Work with ARC staff to correct and resolve the 2024 ARC grant match deficiency.

Develop and implement policies and procedures to ensure grant reports are submitted on time as required by ARC.

We recommend that the Director of the U.S. Census Bureau develop and implement procedures for maintaining documentation of testing, the issues identified, and the resolution of errors identified.

We recommend that the Director of the U.S. Census Bureau develop and implement a process to monitor and evaluate the quality of the data during the data collection phase.

We recommend that the Director of the U.S. Census Bureau establish and implement oversight to ensure that issues identified during the data collection phase are resolved and documentation is maintained.

We recommend that the Director of the U.S. Census Bureau develop and implement a process to conduct recurring tests of ARC responses to ensure that the bureau’s systems are processing data as intended.

We recommend that the Director of the U.S. Census Bureau develop and implement recurring ACS training for FRs to ensure that vacant HUs are correctly identified and coded.

We recommend that the Director of the U.S. Census Bureau update policies and procedures to include controls to ensure that FRs make personal visits to HUs when required, know when to contact a recommended contact and know what information should be included in an interview note.

We recommend that the Director of the U.S. Census Bureau Update policies and procedures and implement controls to ensure that field supervisors review interview notes for vacant HU interviews and request FRs to reclassify interviews and obtain additional information to support the vacant status for HUs, when necessary.

We recommend that the Director of the U.S. Census Bureau update policies and procedures and implement controls to monitor supervisory reviews of noninterview cases and ensure that notes include sufficient information and follow-up actions when Type A cases are submitted.

We recommend that the Director of the U.S. Census Bureau reevaluate and update timelines and training for supervisory review of noninterviews to ensure that all noninterview procedures are implemented and cases are reviewed by supervisors before closeout.

We recommend that the Director of the U.S. Census Bureau develop and implement procedures to track and monitor supervisory review within ROSCO to ensure that approval of noninterview procedures were followed before closing out a case for supervisory review in ROSCO.

We recommend that the Director of the U.S. Census Bureau develop and implement recurring testing of system controls in ROSCO to ensure that noninterview cases are reviewed by a supervisor before being closed out.