Open Recommendations

We recommend the Assistant Administrator of FEMA’s Grant Programs Directorate develop and implement controls to ensure FEMA officials and grant recipients use FEMA Grants Outcomes as the system of record to maintain required documentation supporting all phases of the grants management lifecycle.

We recommend the Director of FEMA’s Individual Assistance Division and the Assistant Administrator of FEMA’s Grant Programs Directorate establish a review process to ensure there was no duplication of FY 2023 funding between the Emergency Food and Shelter Program-Humanitarian Relief and the Shelter and Services Program. FEMA should recoup any duplicate payments identified.

Ensure that disposition plans are approved for all terminated awards USAID Southern Africa managed.

Implement internal controls, such as closeout audits, to verify that high-value assets purchased under awards are properly accounted for at the time of award closeout, in accordance with thresholds established in Federal requirements.

Enforce the requirement for the White Plains Main Post Office management to monitor fuel card purchases, including annotating all high-risk fuel transactions with an appropriate comment.

We recommend that USAID determine the allowability of $55,154 in ineligible questioned costs identified on pages 19 and 30 of the audit report and recover any amount that is unallowable.

We recommend that USAID verify that Christian Health Association of Kenya corrects the one instance of material noncompliance detailed on pages 43 to 44 of the audit report.

Notify affected LEAP-1B operators if software modification and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification or rulemaking exceed Boeing's and FAA's End-to-End Agreement completion timelines.

Provide outreach to operators with CFM International LEAP-1B engines not covered in the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) AIR-25-03 recommendations.

Oversee air carrier training programs to ensure newly hired or trained flight crews of airplanes equipped with CFM International LEAP-1B engines are being made aware of the risks posed by LRD activation.

Provide guidance to air carriers on incorporating limited cockpit visibility operations into flight crew training scenarios and simulators.

Update written procedures to clarify what Buy American-related clauses are required in contracts partially or fully funded by IIJA and when these clauses must be added into an existing contract. Implementing this recommendation could put up to $272.7 million in Federal funds to better use by improving FAA's ability to enforce Buy American compliance in IIJA-funded contracts.

Update AMS to include requirements that contractors on contracts partially or fully funded by IIJA submit updated Buy American Act certificates if anything changes during the life of the contract. This AMS update should also explain how to implement this requirement when IIJA funds are added to existing contracts.

Implement written procedures to verify that contracting officials comply with Acquisition Management System (AMS) requirements for applying Buy American waivers to contracts partially or fully funded by IIJA.

Implement written procedures to track and annually review all Buy American waivers associated with contracts partially or fully funded by IIJA. This annual review must check if each waiver remains relevant and aligns with current requirements.

Conduct and record annual training for procurement staff regarding Buy American requirements for contracts involving IIJA funds

Implement a written reference guide to detail how Buy American-related data should be entered into the Federal Procurement Data System Next Generation.

Seek industry input on current xEVAS contract requirements to maintain competition as needed
in the future.

Develop a plan to establish interoperability standards between Artemis lunar vehicles and
spacesuits

Ensure the Oregon Department of Human Services has policies and procedures to timely review employee timesheets for cost coding and accuracy.

Work with the New Hampshire Department of Education (NH-DOE) to determine the reason(s) for continuous noncompliance with Form SSA-4513, State Agency Report of Obligations for Social Security Administration (SSA) Disability Programs, reporting requirements.

Monitor the NH-DOE’s progress with its corrective action plan to ensure its revised policies and procedures fully comply with SSA requirements to enable accurate and complete reporting.

We recommend that FWS require the Colorado Department of Natural Resources to provide training to all personnel responsible for the administration of subawards regarding subrecipient risk assessments and subaward public reporting requirements to ensure compliance with the Code of Federal Regulations and State policies.

The Commissioner, Small Business/Self-Employed Division should review the 40 businesses identified as ineligible for the Qualified Small Business Payroll Tax Credit and recover any erroneously claimed credit.

Develop mechanisms to ensure timely subrecipient monitoring going forward, including a plan to conduct site visits and desk reviews of subrecipients that did not receive them within required timeframes.

Enhance NCC's policies and procedures to ensure that NCC follows up on single audit findings within required timeframes and tracks subrecipient progress in implementing corrective actions.

Work with the Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services to ensure its policies and procedures support payroll reconciliations and certifications for each pay period.

Work with the Health and Human Services Commission to ensure it has controls to grant privileged access only to appropriate authorized users.

Develop and implement policies and procedures that promote enhanced communication for property acquisitions, transfers, and disposals between the Office of Facilities and Asset Management, contracting officers, contractors, and program offices.

Develop and implement procedures that ensure the timely recording of FRA-owned APP in the asset management system.

Develop and implement a procedure to ensure acquisition documentation is centrally stored in the asset management system or other readily available system to enhance support for FRA's financial accounts.

Coordinate with FRA's program offices to develop and implement policies and procedures for the management of APP, including, but not limited to: a) a process to assign and delegate responsibilities for APP; b) clearly defined roles and responsibilities for positions related to property management oversight; and c) a review and approval mechanism to ensure that procedures are comprehensive, aligned with regulatory requirements and regularly updated.

Develop and implement procedures to record all acquisition data in the asset management system.

Design and implement a solution to accurately record data necessary to track the net-book value of capitalized assets in FRA's asset management system.

Design and implement a solution to accurately track historical activity for all APP transactions in FRA's asset management system.

Develop and implement a procedure to ensure that disposals of future APP are accurately reflected in FRA's records and ensure current APP records are accurately recorded.

We recommend that BOR implement a method for publicly reporting more detailed data regarding Inflation Reduction Act funds awarded to non-Federal entities via miscellaneous obligations.

We recommend BOR immediately require the appropriate staff to review the Federal exclusions list before issuing Inflation Reduction Act-funded agreements and to document the review in the contract file.

We recommend BOR develop and implement policies requiring staff to document review of the Federal exclusions list before issuing agreements that use Inflation Reduction Act funds.

We recommend that BOR Direct the Upper Colorado River Commission to develop and implement controls to ensure it considers Federal guidance in 2 C.F.R. 200.331 when it classifies agreements and documents justifications for its classifications.

We recommend that BOR direct the Upper Colorado River Commission to develop and implement policies and procedures in compliance with 2 C.F.R Part 1400 and 2 C.F.R. Part 180 to document review of the System for Award Management exclusions list before issuing agreements that use Federal funds.

We recommend that BOR to the extent the Upper Colorado River Commission classifies agreements as subawards, direct the Upper Colorado River Commission to develop a mechanism to ensure adherence to applicable Federal subaward requirements, including guidance for performing risk assessments, determining monitoring plans, and reporting subawards to USASpending.gov, as required by the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act.

1a. Amend the company’s infrastructure asset management strategy to
include specific objectives and performance metrics for bringing its assets
into a state of good repair.

1b. Develop and implement an approach to communicate the company’s
infrastructure asset management policy companywide.

1c. Amend the company’s infrastructure asset management plan to include
activities and resources needed to meet its objectives, and develop and
implement an approach to communicate roles and responsibilities to
internal stakeholders.

2a. Complete ongoing efforts to align the company’s infrastructure asset data
between Maximo and GIS. This should include re-establishing a feature to
automatically update these data.

2b. Establish a process to regularly validate that the company’s infrastructure
data are complete, accurate, and aligned between systems, as appropriate.
As part of this process, regularly monitor the effectiveness of the
company’s practice to add and remove infrastructure assets in Maximo
and GIS.

2c. Complete ongoing infrastructure condition assessments and establish a
process to ensure that the company uses these assessments to inform
SOGR activities.

Develop and implement a plan to reduce the delayed processing of mail arriving at the Norfolk Local Processing Center after the critical entry time.

Some or all of the recommendation is not publicly available due to concerns with information protected under the Freedom of Information Act.