Open Recommendations

Revise the initial contact letters to provide taxpayers the option to submit the requested returns electronically.

Resolve the $17,059 in questioned inappropriately allocated publication costs and direct Brown to repay or otherwise remove the sustained questioned costs from its NSF awards.

We recommend that EAC confirm that the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office implements corrective action to address recommendation 8 in Report Number 21-11 issued by the Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts.

We recommend that EAC calculate lost interest due to the untimely deposit of 2018 and 2020 Election Security funds and ensure any amounts due are deposited into to the election fund.

We recommend that EAC require the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office to reconcile interest earned reported by the Georgia Office of the State Treasurer and interest earned recorded on the general ledger and correct any impacted financial reports for the reissued Section 101, reissued Section 251, and Election Security awards.

We recommend that the FEMA Administrator direct FEMA Regions to:• begin administrative closeout of the 26 grant programs we identified with expired periods of performance to the extent permitted by the Stafford Act, for those with no pending requests for extension or lacking acceptable justifications for extension, and deobligate the associated $9.4 million in remaining funds;• assess and close, as appropriate, the 42 grant programs in our scope representing $7 billion in unliquidated funding; and• conduct a review of all authorized grant programs with expired periods of performance to determine whether to administratively closeout and deobligate remaining fund balances, to…

We recommend that the FEMA Administrator consistently apply FEMA Manual 205-0-1, Grants Management requirements, including that the recipient’s request and FEMA’s determination for extensions must be in writing and signed, and that FEMA’s determination include the rationale for the decision, including how the facts meet the applicable guidelines.

We recommend that the designated personnel complete training in detecting counterfeit system components (including hardware, software, and firmware) and best practices for counterfeit component prevention.

The Veterans Integrated Service Network Director, in conjunction with facility directors, ensures facility community care staff process community care providers’ requests for services within three business days of receipt.

The Veterans Integrated Service Network Director, in conjunction with facility directors, ensures facility community care staff schedule patients for community care appointments within the required time frames.

Work with the Illinois Court of Claims to ensure its Fiscal Year (FY) 2020, FY 2021, and FY 2022 Crime Victim State Certification Forms accurately reflect all activity and payments and take necessary steps to recover any excess awarded funds as appropriate.

Ensure that the Illinois Court of Claims develops a conflict of interest policy.

Ensure that the Illinois Court of Claims enhances it policies and procedures to include the daily loss of earnings computation methodology and the use of the templated spreadsheet.

Ensure that the Illinois Court of Claims updates its drawdown policy to ensure that federal cash on hand is the minimum needed for reimbursements or disbursements made immediately or within 10 days.

Ensure that the Illinois Court of Claims incorporates its informal procedure for completing state certification forms into the Illinois Court of Claims' official accounting procedures and that this procedure instructs the use of actual expenditures, rather than drawdown amounts, when computing the total amount of Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) victim compensation formula grant funds used to pay compensation claims.

Ensure that the Illinois Court of Claims updates its policies and procedures to reflect the current method for tracking performance information and that the Illinois Court of Claims follows its existing policy of conducting a secondary review of performance data prior to its entry into the performance report.

Ensure that the Illinois Court of Claims examines its existing financial management activities and establishes enhanced controls to help mitigate the risk associated with manual data entry. As part of this effort, the Illinois Court of Claims should consider the use of an electronic financial management system with inherent controls.

Ensure that the Illinois Court of Claims assesses its grant administration needs and identifies how best to use the administrative expenditure allowance in carrying out its grant administration activities, including considering its need for improvements to its program infrastructure and the prudence of utilizing grant funds to pay the full compensation of a commissioner for periods in which no work is performed.

Remedy the $123,965 in unsupported costs associated with victim compensation claims.

Remedy the $1,200 in unallowable costs relating to the fitness equipment.

Ensure that the Illinois Court of Claims aligns its policies and procedures with the DOJ Grants Financial Guide's record retention requirements.

Revise regulations to require documents that can be verified to ensure firms complied with 13 CFR § 126.200(d)(3), that a legacy employee resided in a HUBZone for at least 180 days following the most recent certification (or recertification).

Update and implement standard operating procedures to request documents, as permitted under 13 CFR 126.304(b)(1), to verify during program examinations that firms meet size standards in the North American Industry Classification System code in which they perform on HUBZone contracts.

Improve the HCTS system notification module to ensure recertification notifications are sent timely and consistently to all HUBZone firms.

In the interim, establish procedures to verify completion of annual recertifications by defining parameters, timing, and other requirements as needed, including expected OCIO response times when the HUBZone program office requires manual HCTS processing.

Develop a plan that includes a timeline within which a preservation review will be performed of all NARA owned or leased records storage facilities to mitigate potential risks and ensure the long-term preservation and accessibility of valuable records;

Update policies and procedures to include established frequency ofreviews

Develop contingency plans for assigning responsibilities if a key role inthe entity is vacated. In addition, contingency plans should include implementation ofalternative procedures for preservation reviews when on-site visit is not possible or curtailedin the future. As an alternative, consider performing part of the preservation reviews remotewhere possible (i.e. review of preservation plans, inquiries of facility personnel, etc.)

Develop and implement a comprehensive SOP that can help mitigatethe above effects by providing clear guidelines, promoting consistency, and ensuringpreservation activities are conducted effectively, uniformly, and systematically across theorganization

Develop a prioritization method for preservation actions. BudgetRequests should be submitted for any additional resources necessary to complete prioritizedpreservation actions

Review all NARA facilities’ Plans annually to ensure they include allrequired minimum elements and that the Plans are reviewed annually by their respectivefacility director/administrator and Records Emergency Management Team (REMT)

Implement consistent controls across all facilities to maintain evidenceof annual review of the Plans by the facility director/administrator and REMT

Finalize and implement any remaining risk matrices for vulnerableaudio and video formats

We recommend that the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services remediate the four security control findings identified by OIG.

We recommend that the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services develop and implement flaw remediation policies and procedures for effectively identifying vulnerabilities, prioritizing them based on potential impact and exploitability, and remediating them within a defined timeframe as required by NIST SP 800-53, SI-2, Flaw Remediation, or other standards governing security of Federal systems and information.

We recommend that the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services enhance its testing procedures to include performing more robust technical testing of web-facing systems and emulation of an adversary's tactics and techniques on a defined reoccurring basis, in order to better assess the effectiveness of NIST SP 800-53 controls.

Rec. 1.b: The DoD OIG recommended that the Commander of Naval Support Activity Naples monitor the contractor's execution of the contracted radon testing services for all Government-owned and Government-controlled unaccompanied housing and nonresidential facilities, including the 10 rooms with continued elevated radon levels, to ensure that adjustments to the radon mitigation systems resolve the elevated radon levels and the required testing is performed.

Rec. 3.a: The DoD OIG recommended that the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Housing develop and implement policy to ensure DoD personnel living in non-Government-Owned and Government-Controlled off-base housing are made aware of known elevated radon levels at installations outside the continental United States.

Rec. 3.b: The DoD OIG recommended that the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Housing conduct a review to determine whether the DoD has the authority to provide at-home radon test kits to DoD personnel living in non- Government-Owned and Government-Controlled off-base housing at installations outside the continental United States.

Rec. 3.c: The DoD OIG recommended that the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Housing, if the DoD determines it has the authority to provide at-home radon test kits, issue guidance to the Services on providing at-home radon test kits to DoD personnel living in non-Government-Owned and Government-Controlled off-base housing at installations outside the continental United States.

We recommend that FSA’s Acting Chief Operating Officer require FSA to establish objectives for returning borrowers torepayment in specific and measurable terms that are easily understood and allow for the assessment of performancetoward achieving objectives.

We recommend that FSA’s Acting Chief Operating Officer require FSA to establish effective quantitative or qualitativeperformance measures and indicators for returning borrowers to repayment.

We recommend that FSA’s Acting Chief Operating Officer require FSA to ensure that appropriate control activities aredesigned and implemented to assess FSA's performance in returning borrowers to repayment, such as reviews ofperformance measures and indicators; comparing achievements to plans, goals, and objectives; and comparing actualperformance to planned or expected results.

EXIM’s Office of Human Capital should conduct a staffing needs analysis for its office to determine the appropriate staffing levels needed to support a human capital function in alignment with federal regulations and guidance and develop a plan to implement the results of its assessment.

EXIM’s Office of Human Capital should develop a workforce succession plan to support the continuity of the agency’s human capital operations, to include a comparative assessment of required specialist and generalist tasks and skills and identification of single points of failure.

EXIM’s Office of Human Capital should establish an EXIM working group to research and provide recommended solutions to standardize, streamline, and track processes, including the hiring process.

EXIM’s Office of the Chair should identify the human capital functions that affect EXIM’s ability to achieve its mission and develop a plan to measure and mitigate risks.

EXIM’s Office of the Chair, in collaboration with EXIM’s Office of Human Capital, should conduct an agency-wide culture assessment to identify ways to improve EXIM’s culture, retention, and employee engagement.

EXIM's Office of the Chair should implement an advisory group, led by the Office of Human Capital, to identify cultural issues affecting EXIM’s workforce and make appropriate recommendations aimed at mitigating the agency's human capital challenges.

EXIM’s Office of Human Capital should develop a Human Capital Operating Plan in compliance with 5 CFR Part 250 Subpart B.