Open Recommendations

2. We recommend that the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Regional Affairs of EDA, the Grants Management Division Director of NIST, and the Grants Management Division Director of NOAA review and revise their respective policies and procedures to comply with the Uniform Guidance that management decisions are issued within the 6 month deadline and contain the required content.

We recommend that the Director, Office of Disaster Recovery, perform monitoring of or otherwise review grantees' detailed procedures for preventing duplication of benefits for each grant activity within the first year after HUD signs the grant agreement or before grantees process applications for assistance, whichever occurs first.

We recommend that the Director, Office of Disaster Recovery, develop and implement a process to review grantees' detailed procedures for preventing duplication of benefits and require grantees to correct any deficiencies identified in the review before grantees process applications for assistance.

We recommend that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services use the information we obtained from States about the challenges they are still encountering and develop an action plan for helping States more easily identify liable third parties and recover Medicaid payments.

We recommend that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services work with States, as appropriate, to encourage better cooperation from third parties that routinely resist States' TPL identification and recovery efforts.

We recommend that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, for the four States we identified as not having fully complied with the DRA's TPL provisions, verify whether the States have since come into compliance; and pursue corrective actions for States that have not fully complied.

We recommend that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services verify whether Virginia has refunded the $1.25 million Federal share of the Medicaid TPL collections underreported during two fiscal quarters and, if not, require Virginia to refund any remaining amount owed.

We recommend that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services provide guidance to States to assist them with developing processes that improve the reporting of Medicaid TPL amounts on the form 64.9A.

We recommend that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services ensure that States have current instructions on completing the form 64.9A.

We recommend that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services ensure that States correctly report TPL amounts on the form 64.9A.

We recommend that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services remove or disable lines from the form 64.9A that States are supposed to leave blank.

Incorporate a representative from the Logistics Management Division into each Artemis-related program and project at appropriate milestones, including at the onset of a contract and each life-cycle milestone.

We recommend that the Mississippi Division of Medicaid work with CMS to calculate the rebate amount for claims identified in our findings, invoice drug manufacturers for the calculated rebates, and refund the Federal share of rebates collected for the years covered by our audit period and for years after our audit period.

We recommend that the Mississippi Division of Medicaid strengthen internal controls to facilitate the invoicing of all physician-administered drugs for rebate.

We recommend that the South Dakota Department of Social Services remediate the six control findings OIG identified.

We recommend the Assistant Secretary for Mine Safety and Health update MSHA policies to: (1) define a schedule for verifying mine statuses; (2) specify when visual verifications (e.g., E28 idle mine visits) are necessary; (3) limit deviations from the mine status criteria to defined exceptional situations; (4) define how “primary mine type” changes apply during calculation of inspection requirements; (5) define timeliness metrics for certification of E01 inspections; (6) require mandatory inspections start and end in the same fiscal year; and (7) define how to calculate the mandatory inspection completion rate annually.

We recommend the Assistant Secretary for Mine Safety and Health redesign monitoring processes to check Part 50 data reporting for mines on a quarterly basis, and verify timely certification of mandatory inspections and accuracy of activity codes and inspection dates.

We recommend the Assistant Secretary for Mine Safety and Health update supporting tools based on revisions to the mine status criteria.

We recommend the Assistant Secretary for Mine Safety and Health develop a process to verify if: (1) mines in “temporarily idle” status for extended periods need a change to “abandoned” status and (2) mines with underground openings are being timely sealed when their “primary mine type” is not listed as “underground.”

We recommend the Assistant Secretary for Mine Safety and Health verify all underground coal mines in abandoned status for more than 90 days are either sealed (and its status updated in MSHA’s system), in the process of sealing and are issued a violation for non-compliance with the regulation, or has a remark in MSHA’s system indicating why it will not be sealed. This may include verifying the mine was identified for future reclamation in the Abandoned Mine Lands program inventory.

We recommend the Assistant Secretary for Mine Safety and Health communicate to staff on: (1) the current version of mine status criteria, (2) MSHA reports and tools available for the mandatory inspection program, and (3) leadership’s expectations on districts correcting activity codes and when Part 50 data should be available to districts (including follow-up and violations for operators not reporting timely).

We recommend the Assistant Secretary for Mine Safety and Health update policy or procedures to: (1) clearly define when an inspection starts and ends and (2) ensure the inspection dates for an E01 mandatory inspection include any inspection work done on other events (e.g., E16 spot inspection) to make the E01 inspection an “entire mine” inspection adhering to requirements in the Mine Act.

We recommend the Assistant Secretary for Mine Safety and Health revise business rules used in MSHA reports for the mandatory inspections program to align with the Mine Act and MSHA policy, or update MSHA policy accordingly and consider raising the number of E28 idle mine visits and E27 denial of entry attempts used in MSHA reports to eliminate an inspection requirement.

We recommend the Assistant Secretary for Mine Safety and Health improve the design and execution of MSHA’s internal control system for the mandatory inspections program to align with the GAO Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government, specifically by identifying key risks through a programmatic risk assessment and collecting MSHA workforce concerns to verify or improve the integrity of the program.

Treasury’s Acting Chief Recovery Officer should work with Treasury OIG to obtain adequate documentation from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for the Department of Health and Human Services $300,000 in expenditures or begin recoupment proceedings for the disallowed costs.

We recommend that ASPR mitigate the risk presented by relying on foreign supply chains and JIT inventory strategies when determining annual Stockpile purchases.

We recommend that ASPR develop a strategic plan for the Stockpile, that clearly defines the goals and objectives of the Stockpile, and the Stockpile's roles and responsibilities for responding to emergency events, including pandemics.

We recommend that ASPR work to increase the Stockpile's annual funding to keep pace with the Stockpile's increased responsibilities.

We recommend that ASPR reinstate the annual planning and review process and issue to Congress an updated PHEMCE SIP, PHEMCE Multiyear Budget, and Stockpile Annual Review Report.

We recommend that ASPR develop a plan and timeline for fully integrating the Stockpile within ASPR.

We recommend that ASPR develop a response plan, to include communication plans, for situations in which the Stockpile needs to respond to changes in roles and responsibilities during large-scale emergency responses.

We recommend that the Assistant Secretary for the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education require Kentucky todesign and document procedures to guide Kentucky personnel through the LEA reimbursement request process. Theprocedures should be in the form of written policies and procedures or protocols, and designed to ensure compliance withapplicable requirements, including those covered in 2 C.F.R. Part 200 (Uniform Guidance) and ARP.

We recommend that the Assistant Secretary for the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education require Kentucky to,in order to address the heightened risk associated with ARP ESSER funds, design and incorporate into its documentedprocedures for reviewing LEA reimbursement requests protocols to sample LEA expenditures charged to ARP ESSERand review supporting documentation to ensure that applicable Federal, State, and local requirements are met.

We recommend that the Assistant Secretary for the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education require Kentucky toimplement its ARP ESSER monitoring policies and procedures, as designed, to provide additional assurance that LEAsuse ARP ESSER funds in accordance with applicable requirements and their approved ARP ESSER plans.

Establish achievable cost saving metrics beginning with Artemis IV SLS elements and production contracts.

Transition the core stage and Exploration Upper Stage contracts to fixed-price contracts with a per mission price to codify the actual costs.

If keeping contracts as cost-plus-award-fee, increase the percentage of cost as a factor when conducting contractor evaluations for award fee purposes.

Conduct a detailed review of all contractor-submitted documents to ensure the government’s rights to data and processes are not unnecessarily transferred to the contractor.

Include contract flexibility on future SLS acquisitions that will allow NASA to pivot to other commercial alternatives.

For each Artemis SLS rocket under EPOC, add compensation to the DST contract such as incentive fees for when the contractor achieves specific cost saving goals.

Ensure Government Mandatory Inspection Points and government oversight teams remain throughout the EPOC transition period.

We recommend that CMS conduct an analysis of its hospital transfer payment policy for discharges to PAC and expand the policy as necessary.

We recommend that the Manager, BHSO:1. Direct BNL to ensure its property management policies and procedures are consistent with 41 CFR 109 requirements.

We recommend that the Manager, BHSO:2. Review and assess the adequacy and effectiveness of BNL’s property management program.

We recommend that the Acting Director, Office of Asset Management:3. Review and update the Guide to ensure it is consistent with the provisions of 41 CFR 109.

Direct BNL to ensure its property management policies and procedures are consistent with 41 CFR 109 requirements

Review and assess the adequacy and effectiveness of BNL’s property management program

Review and update the Guide to ensure it is consistent with the provisions of 41 CFR 109

Revises the Order to clearly define all oversight roles and responsibilities in the ECP;

Revises the Order to clearly define all oversight roles and responsibilities in the ECP;