Open Recommendations

This recommendation contains sensitive information that should not be made public. Therefore, we are not including the wording for this recommendation.

We recommend Social Security Administration (SSA) enhance its award oversight controls to require that SSA employees confirm contractor personnel meet the labor qualifications outlined in the Statement of Work at the date of award.

We recommend SSA ensure Contracting Officer’s Representatives and Contracting Officers retain contractor resumes in accordance with Federal record retention policies as specified in the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR).

We recommend SSA maintain contract file documentation of the review and approval of initial and replacement contractor employees.

We recommend SSA re-validate key personnel periodically to ensure contractors meet labor qualifications.

We recommend SSA use a centralized property management system to track all government furnished IT equipment issued to contractors.

We recommend SSA reconcile its Government Furnished Equipment (GFE) records to the contractors’ property management systems.

We recommend SSA review contractor’s property management system prior to issuing GFE.

We recommend SSA improve award oversight and certification controls to ensure invoices align with the award terms.

We recommend the Senior Vice President, Safety, Environment, and Enterprise Support, implement steps for future projects to evaluate financial impacts of project alternatives in accordance with Tennessee Valley Authority project management procedures.

We recommend the Senior Vice President, Safety, Environment, and Enterprise Support, implement steps for future projects to verify projects include all costs.

We recommend the Senior Vice President, Safety, Environment, and Enterprise Support, implement steps for future projects to review inputs used in economic analysis for reasonableness.

We recommend the Senior Vice President, Generation Projects and Fleet Services, document the coal combustion residuals storage facility instrumentation requiring monthly monitoring under the Disposal of Coal Combustion Residuals from Electric Utilities (CCR Rule).

We recommend the Senior Vice President, Generation Projects and Fleet Services, confirm that instrumentation included in monthly and annual reports is accurate.

We recommend the Senior Vice President, Generation Projects and Fleet Services, reinforce the importance of identifying existing issues during weekly inspections.

We recommend the Senior Vice President, Generation Projects and Fleet Services, complete corrective actions on the unresolved instrumentation maintenance issues identified in monthly instrumentation monitoring reports.

We recommend the Senior Vice President, Generation Projects and Fleet Services, consider documenting the resolution of minor issues identified in annual inspections.

We recommend the Senior Vice President, Generation Projects and Fleet Services, take steps to validate that annual inspections include a review of weekly inspection reports.

We recommend the Senior Vice President, Generation Projects and Fleet Services, facilitate the completion of required training for all personnel performing inspections.

We recommend the Senior Vice President, Generation Projects and Fleet Services, document the training of contractors performing inspections of coal combustion residuals storage facilities.

Veteran Readiness and Employment should coordinate with VAs Office of General Counsel to assess the eligibility decision process and ensure all legal and regulatory requirements are accounted for and confirmed by the appropriate staff. If necessary, Veteran Readiness and Employment should update the process to conform with the general counsels interpretation of legal requirements.

Veteran Readiness and Employment should develop a standard documentation method for verifying eligibility periods, deferrals, extensions, and final eligibility decisions and train appropriate staff, including vocational rehabilitation counselors, on how to properly document eligibility decisions.

Veteran Readiness and Employment should develop a quality assurance review process to monitor the accuracy of eligibility decisions.

Veteran Readiness and Employment should coordinate with VAs Office of General Counsel to assess the entitlement requirements and whether those used to confirm and document entitlement decisions are compliant with laws and regulatory requirements. If changes are needed, Veteran Readiness and Employment should update the manual and train appropriate staff accordingly.

Veteran Readiness and Employment should develop additional controls to ensure official entitlement decisions in the narrative report are documented in a manner that is clear and would allow for effective oversight from both internal and external entities, such as containing clear documentation of the assessment of employability factors and additional evidence used to substantiate the claim.

OIG recommended the under secretary for benefits review all processing errors on cases the Office of Inspector General team identified, correct those errors, and report back on the results of those actions.

OIG recommended the under secretary for benefits collaborate with key stakeholders"such as the VA Secretary and representatives from the Office of Field Operations, the Office of General Counsel, and as needed the Board of Veterans Appeals"to prioritize consolidating the guidance for PACT Act claims processing into the Adjudication Procedures Manual.

OIG recommended the under secretary for benefits evaluate the effectiveness of control activities specifically for denials of nonpresumptive conditions under toxic exposure risk activity procedures and determine where new or stronger controls are needed.

The VA New York Harbor Healthcare System Director reviews facility processes to ensure medical and psychosocial health care for residents who report abuse, and staff are educated on the requirements.

The VA New York Harbor Healthcare System Director ensures that community living center nursing leaders and factfinding investigators complete factfindings in accordance with Veterans Health Administration policy.

The VA New York Harbor Healthcare System Director reviews responses to other incidents of suspected abuse and ensures actions are completed for resolution, including notifications.

The VA New York Harbor Healthcare System Director ensures community living center staff are compliant with Veterans Health Administration Prevention and Management of Disruptive Behavior Program education and training requirements.

The VA New York Harbor Healthcare System Director ensures community living center nursing and clinical staffs electronic health records documentation meets requirements for timeliness, accuracy, and completion, and takes action as needed.

The Under Secretary for Health ensures that VHA abuse policy addresses compliance with federal statutes and regulations, including 42 C.F.R. 483.12, and outlines suspected elder abuse processes to notify leaders, interdisciplinary care team members, VA Police, patients families or designees, and state regulatory agencies; and identifies roles and responsibilities of reviewing officials for investigative reviews.

The VA New York Harbor Healthcare System Director ensures system abuse policies include required elements to comply with Veterans Health Administration, state, and federal regulations, including 42 C.F.R. 483.12; and clearly outlines processes for leaders and staff when responding to suspected abuse related to reporting (for example, to interdisciplinary care team members, VA Police, family or designee, and state regulatory agencies); and conducting factfinding investigations.

FCC should establish a review process, which includes analytics, over replacement samples that identifies and adds additional scrutiny to carriers who request a significant amount of replacement samples. This should include defining what levels of
replacements FCC considers significant.

FCC and USAC should implement a process to verify or validate the speed and latency data submitted by the carrier within the PMM system. This can include sampling and/or analytics and targeted audits over carrier submissions.

FCC should ensure that USAC complies with the requirements of the PMM order and/or issue an amendment to the current orders clarifying how deferred latency tests should be addressed when they make up a significant portion of the sample testing results. This should include defining the maximum tests allowed to be deferred when determining compliance. The amendment should also include other procedures performed by the carrier or USAC to determine that the carrier’s network is compliant with the conditions set forth within the applicable program.

FCC should enforce the minimum speed test duration to ensure the results obtained are accurate and representative of the carriers’ network and in compliance with minimum speed requirements.

FCC should direct USAC to develop and implement procedures to determine if the issues noted in the condition warrant adjustments to the carrier’s withholdings and/or payments previously made. Further, USAC should determine if any of the payments made to these carriers would be considered an improper payment requiring recovery.

FCC should improve and continue to perform cost benefit analyses to determine a proper level of effort to monitor the HCMF; specifically, identifying higher-risk areas and implementing additional sampling, analytics, and other methods to ensure the carrier
compliance status for the enrolled program is reasonably supported.

Direct USAC to modify testing procedures for verification reviews to ensure that the deployment date tested by the Verification Team is reflective of the date entered and certified in HUBB by the carrier and supported by appropriate evidence.

Direct USAC to develop and implement procedures that identify possible erroneous deployment dates and document whether a change to past-compliance statuses is warranted. Further, USAC should determine if any of the payments made to these
carriers would be considered an improper payment.

Direct USAC to modify testing procedures for verification reviews to ensure that carriers are offering the speeds per the corresponding program requirements for minimum speeds. Examples of testing procedures include reviewing stronger evidence, such as an engineer certification or actual network speed testing results performed by a third party or through collaboration with USAC’s engineers.

Create and implement a plan to automate the oversight and review process of missing 091 transactions and completion of Postal Service Form 1017-B before the pay week closes.

Develop and disseminate guidance to assist DOJ components in determining when a document constitutes a nondisclosure policy, form, or agreement subject to inclusion of the WPEA-required statement. This guidance should provide clarity on the terms "policies," "forms," or "agreements" because the WPEA does not define those terms.

Require all components to review documents identified by using the guidance developed as a result of recommendation number 1 and revise or update all such documents, as appropriate, to ensure they incorporate the full statutory language at 5 U.S.C. 2302(b)(13)(A).

Ensure that all personnel responsible for processing prisoner medical request and performing medical claim reviews are properly notified of all recent and future requirement changes.

Improve the notification process for preauthorization of prisoner medical requests entered into Capture to better ensure timely medical services for USMS prisoners.

Remedy the remaining $37,416 of the $43,311 in unsupported medical claims for which the USMS requested recoupment from the medical service providers.