Open Recommendations

Rec. 3.a: The DoD OIG recommended that the Defense Health Agency Director revise Defense Health Agency Administrative Instruction 5136.03 to establish approval authority for any civilian personnel extensions outside the continental United States beyond a period of 7 years.

Rec. 3.b: The DoD OIG recommended that the Defense Health Agency Director establish maximum time frames to approve civilian personnel extensions outside of the continental United States and require monitoring of extension approval timelines.

Rec. 3.d: The DoD OIG recommended that the Defense Health Agency Director develop and implement a plan to apply strategies and incentives used by other Federal agencies to hire entry-level registered nurses if it is determined the strategies and incentives would enhance the DoD's recruitment efforts.

Rec. 1.a: The DoD OIG recommended that the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer, DoD, ensure DoD Components develop and implement a process to identify the characteristics of the data included in the variances from the universe of transactions.

Review and appropriately resolve hold codes related to the 5,044 7(a) loans to determine impact on 7(a) eligibility and seek remedy or repayment of all 7(a) loans deemed ineligible.

For FTA funds identified at elevated risk for misuse, implement written procedures to strengthen the Agency's ability to assess expense eligibility prior to recipients receiving payments. Implementing this recommendation could put up to $446.9 million in Region 9 funds to better use by improving FTA's ability to identify unsupported costs and ineligible expenses before issuing CARES Act payments. This could also result in hundreds of millions in Agency funds put to better use among the other nine FTA regions.

Develop and implement a process to identify and provide oversight of real property to active recipients with new grants that do not receive a triennial or State management review.

Update FTA's Contractors Manual to require contractors to request a current and complete real property inventory that complies with FTA Circular 5010.1E reporting requirements and require contractors to review and verify that the real property inventory complies with FTA reporting requirements.

Establish and implement a process to verify that FTA's financial interest in real property dispositions is managed in accordance with FTA Circular 5010.1E. Implementing this recommendation could put up to $996,877 in funds to better use.

1. We recommend that the Director of the CHIPS Program Office and the Acting Director of the CHIPS Research and Development Office collaborate with the Director of the NIST Office of Human Resources Management to develop a comprehensive workforce plan that includes a skills assessment, vacancy analysis, and risk assessment.

Reconcile the differences between grantees’ internal accounting records and FFRs to determine the propriety of the component payments or require grantees to perform this reconciliation. In addition, AmeriCorps should report any remaining unmatched reporting errors as improper payments to ensure accuracy, reliability, and consistency of their improper payment reporting. (Modified FY 2022 Recommendation 2.1)

Assess whether FFRs were submitted by eligible organizations during the FFR data pull process, as required by OMB. If it is determined that any grant recipients were ineligible to receive the grant, AmeriCorps should include the entire amount of FFR expenses as an improper payment.

Publish improper payment and unknown payment estimates for NST in the accompanying materials provided with future annual financial statements in accordance with OMB guidance. (Modified FY 2022 Recommendation 5)

Develop goals specific to wait times for customers in the office and time customers wait for scheduled appointments.

Develop the 35 sample cases where Illinois or Texas workers’ compensation benefit payment data were not reflected in beneficiaries’ payment records and establish overpayments, as appropriate.

OIG recommends that the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration develop and implement criteria for incorporating specific, measurable objectives and performance indicators into the award terms and conditions for voluntary contributions to enable measurement of the success of voluntary contributions awarded to public international organizations.

OIG recommends that the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration develop and incorporate output and outcome performance indicators into its monitoring plan to assess progress against the established objectives of its voluntary contributions awarded to public international organizations for the humanitarian assistance response to Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine as appropriate following implementation of Recommendation 1.

Embassy Dili should provide consular applicants with toilet facilities and drinking water facilities that meet Department standards.

Embassy Dili should institute regular mechanisms to coordinate the full range of U.S. foreign assistance activities in Timor-Leste.

Embassy Dili should use the Integrated Logistics Management System to track all personal and program property in accordance with Department standards.

Embassy Dili should comply with Department training standards for the use of powered industrial trucks, such as forklifts.

Embassy Dili should manage its bulk fuel operation in accordance with Department standards.

Embassy Dili should bring its contracting officer's representative program into compliance with Department standards.

Embassy Dili should close out procurement files in accordance with Department standards.

Embassy Dili should bring its time and attendance procedures for overtime or compensatory time into compliance with Department standards.

Embassy Dili should bring its cashiering operations into compliance with Department standards.

Embassy Dili, in coordination with the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations, should perform seismic safety evaluations of all its residential properties in accordance with Department standards.

Embassy Dili should install an emergency power-off switch in the unclassified server room in accordance with Department standards.

Issue guidance that clearly defines responsibilities and outlines expectations for those serving in Examiner Commissioning Program support roles, including (a) mentors on their support during an examiner’s acting examiner in charge assignment; (b) regional training leads on their support during rotations; and (c) field managers on providing support, identifying examinations, and selecting acting examiner in charge assignments for examiners pursuing commissioning.

Develop a standardized process for Supervision Learning and Development and the regions to collaborate when providing supplemental Examiner Commissioning Program support to examiners who are preparing for the Examiner Commissioning Program.

Proactively seek and obtain guidance from OMB in the first year of a new program’s implementation and develop a plan to ensure compliance with PIIA reporting requirements, as needed.

Enhance existing procedures using the framework in the Government Accountability Office’s Green Book to design and implement robust internal and quality control processes to ensure complete and accurate reporting of annual improper payment results and formalized risk assessment processes to ensure all programs and activities are considered sufficiently to meet PIIA reporting objectives.

Design and implement enforceable actions and controls to hold lenders accountable for not providing all documentation requested for loan samples in a timely manner.

Formally document and implement additional preventative and monitoring controls to determine the eligibility of loans prior to loan approval and payments and loan guaranty purchases.

Exercise effective management review controls over the statistician’s work product by verifying that the documentation of the sampling and estimation methodology plans comprehensively outlines the details of the implemented sampling and extrapolation methodology, while maintaining statistical validity.

Design and implement effective communication and review processes with responsible staff involved in the payment integrity reporting process to ensure compliance for the reporting of new programs and activities.

Design and document adequate review procedures to ensure that the results of the sample meet the PIIA objectives.

Design and implement a formal review process to ensure corrective actions plans developed, implemented, and published are adequately addressing the true root causes of improper and unknown payments.

EXIM’s Office of Board Authorized Finance and Office of General Counsel should conduct a comprehensive review of the post-authorization process to identify the primary factors within the documentation phase that contribute to the lag between authorization and disbursements and devise strategies to remedy these shortcomings.

(U) Rec. 1.a: The DoD OIG recommended that the Air Force Chief of Safety, in coordination with the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center Commander, update Air Force Manual 91-119 to include detail and clarity of independent verification and validation requirements. Specifically, Air Force Manual 91-119 should be updated to include procedures to select an independent verification organization team.

(U) Rec 1.b: The DoD OIG recommended that the Air Force Chief of Safety, in coordination with the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center Commander, update Air Force Manual 91-119 to include detail and clarity of independent verification and validation requirements. Specifically, Air Force Manual 91-119 should be updated to include procedures to document the independent verification organization team's independence with the Air Force Safety Center; define technical, managerial, and financial independence; and comply with these levels of independence during an independent verification and validation.

(U) Rec. 1.c: The DoD OIG recommended that the Air Force Chief of Safety, in coordination with the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center Commander, update Air Force Manual 91-119 to include detail and clarity of independent verification and validation requirements. Specifically, Air Force Manual 91-119 should be updated to include procedures to define how the prime contractor's laboratory, equipment, and software can be used during independence verification and validation when the independent verification organization team does not have access to Government laboratory, equipment, and software.

(U) Rec. 1.d: The DoD OIG recommended that the Air Force Chief of Safety, in coordination with the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center Commander, update Air Force Manual 91-119 to include detail and clarity of independent verification and validation requirements. Specifically, Air Force Manual 91-119 should be updated to include procedures to define the responsibilities of the independence verification and validation with the Air Force Safety Center and documenting and coordinating the modifications to and deviations from software with the prime contractor.

Rec. 3.a: The DoD OIG recommended that the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office Director review the effectiveness of the Military Departments' procedures to regularly review and assure the quality of data entered into the Defense Sexual Assault Incident Database, and implement additional training, reminders, or other corrective actions, as necessary.

Rec. 3.b: The DoD OIG recommended that the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office Director develop and implement a process to periodically review Defense Sexual Assault Incident Database data on Expedited Transfers, outside of the annual validation period, and applicable Case Management Group meeting minutes, to determine whether the Services are properly executing the requirements of the Expedited Transfer policy.

Rec. 3.c: The DoD OIG recommended that the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office Director configure the Defense Sexual Assault Incident Database to capture the date that the Service member requested a review of their Expedited Transfer request by a senior-level official.

Formalize the executive director’s intent by requiring the submission to the OIG of a related plan and documentation of progress on implementing VA’s maintenance of an independent and updated list of contract facilities.

Formalize the executive directors intent by requiring the submission to the OIG of a related plan and documentation of progress on implementing VAs maintenance of an independent and updated list of contract facilities.

(U) Rec. 1.a.1: The DoD OIG recommended that the Deputy Secretary of Defense designate a DoD Component to lead the DoD effort to satisfy the requirements of section 1088 of the FY 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, including coordinating with Congress to determine the actions necessary to satisfy the requirements of section 1088 of the FY 2022 National Defense Authorization Act.

(U) Rec. 1.a.2: The DoD OIG recommended that the Deputy Secretary of Defense designate a DoD Component to lead the DoD effort to satisfy the requirements of section 1088 of the FY 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, including developing and implementing a plan of action with milestones to ensure that the DoD satisfies the requirements of section 1088 of the FY 2022 National Defense Authorization Act.