Open Recommendations

Exercise effective management review controls over the statistician’s work 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 document adequate review procedures to ensure that the results of the sample meet the PIIA objectives.

We recommend that the Administration for Children and Families work with State agencies to ensure compliance with Federal requirements to report missing children episodes to law enforcement for entry into the NCIC database in a timely manner.

Coordinate with the Information Technology organization to explore adding Taxpayer Relations inventories into the CII, so that all Accounts Management inventory is located in the same inventory management system.

Review the four $200,000 Indemnity Reviews identified for CY 2020 in California and Florida, and if adequate support is not provided, recover $1,082,604 in indemnity payments.

To strengthen HHS' enterprise-wide cybersecurity program, based on our reviews across the Department, we recommend that HHS continue to work with the OpDivs to implement automated CDM solutions to increase awareness and improve mitigation efforts across all of HHS.

To strengthen HHS' enterprise-wide cybersecurity program, based on our reviews across the Department, we recommend that HHS confirm that the OpDivs contingency plan testing is being performed within the timeframe required by HHS policy.

We recommend that the HHS OCIO work with the OpDivs to ensure that all OpDivs implement the capability to deny access to mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, from connecting to the network if the device's software is outdated.

We recommend that the HHS OCIO work with the OpDivs to ensure that all OpDivs complete its discovery of all information systems and maintain an up- to-date inventory of systems, software, and licenses.

We recommend that the HHS OCIO work with the OpDivs to ensure that all OpDivs complete its discovery of all information systems and maintain an up- to-date inventory of systems, software, and licenses.

We recommend that the HHS OCIO work with the OpDivs to ensure that all OpDiv's SCRM policies and procedures are being consistently implemented across the organization and ensure their execution.

We recommend that the HHS OCIO work with the OpDivs to ensure that all OpDivs finalize and implement draft policies and procedures to include the review of suppliers or contractors for risks to the organization's systems and system components.

We recommend that the HHS OCIO work with the OpDivs to ensure that all OpDivs implement the requirement to resolve high and critical vulnerabilities within 30 and 15 days respectively and create POA&Ms to monitor and resolve the weakness in a timely manner.

We recommend that the HHS OCIO work with the OpDivs to ensure that secure configuration settings are being maintained as defined by existing policy.

We recommend that the HHS OCIO work with the OpDivs to ensure that all operational systems have multifactor or an alternative strong authentication mechanism (PIV or an Identity Assurance Level (IAL)3/Authenticator Assurance Level (AAL) 3 credential) for both privileged and non-privileged users.

We recommend that the HHS OCIO work with the OpDivs to ensure that policies and procedures for identity and access management are being consistently implemented and proper safeguards (i.e., logging, monitoring, review of privileged user activity) are developed across the Department to ensure their execution.

Rec. 2.a.1: The DoD OIG recommended that the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment review and update DoD Directive 4705.01E to update the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Sustainment's oversight responsibilities over the Executive Agent to include that the assessment of the Executive Agent's effectiveness required in Enclosure 2, paragraph 2c, be produced in writing.

Rec. 2.a.2: The DoD OIG recommended that the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment review and update DoD Directive 4705.01E to update the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Sustainment's oversight responsibilities over the Executive Agent to include written communication to the DoD Executive Agent and DoD Components when nonperformance of responsibilities is identified.

Rec. 2.b: The DoD OIG recommended that the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment review and update DoD Directive 4705.01E to correct the internal references in Enclosures 2 and 3.

Rec. 2.c.1: The DoD OIG recommended that the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment review and update DoD Directive 4705.01E to update the Joint Water Resources Management Action Group Charter within DoD Directive 4705.01E to clarify the roles and responsibilities of the Joint Water Resources Management Action Group. Specifically, the updates should identify the specific DoD Components that should attend the Joint Water Resources Management Action Group and instruct those Components to issue guidance designating an office of primary responsibility for attending and communicate those designations to the Executive Agent.

Rec. 2.c.2: The DoD OIG recommended that the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment review and update DoD Directive 4705.01E to update the Joint Water Resources Management Action Group Charter within DoD Directive 4705.01E to clarify the roles and responsibilities of the Joint Water Resources Management Action Group. Specifically, the updates should remove the requirement for the Joint Water Resources Management Action Group to develop and maintain an improved, expanded, and automated water resources intelligence database for the rapid retrieval of selected data, as it is already a requirement for the Executive Agent to ensure this responsibility is…

Rec. 3.a: The DoD OIG recommended that the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment develop and issue a DoD Instruction to supplement the DoD Directive 4705.01E with overarching procedures for implementing the policy. At a minimum, the Instruction should include and update definitions for terms used throughout the Directive, such as "prioritized force materiel requirements," to ensure a common understanding across DoD Components.

Rec. 3.b: The DoD OIG recommended that the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment develop and issue a DoD Instruction to supplement the DoD Directive 4705.01E with overarching procedures for implementing the policy. At a minimum, the Instruction should, in coordination with the Executive Agent for land?based water resources, identify the specific documents, information, and support that DoD Components must provide to the Executive Agent as well as deadlines for their provision.

Rec. B.3.a: The DoD OIG recommended that the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Procurement) to develop and implement a requirement to provide periodic training on the DoD Instruction 7640.02 reporting requirements to contracting officials involved in Contract Audit Followup system reporting with an emphasis on: 1. Describing the DoD contracting officer's responsibility to maintain Contract Audit Followup records. 2. Entering accurate data in the Contract Audit Followup system data fields, including the Questioned Costs Sustained, Resolution Date, Disposition Date, and Status data fields. 3. The importance of timely dispositioning audit reports within 12 months of the audit report date.

Rec. C.3.a: The DoD OIG recommended that the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Procurement), develop and implement a requirement to provide periodic training to termination contracting officers that covers the requirement to estimate funds needed for settling the termination and recommend the release of excess funds.

Rec. C.3.b: The DoD OIG recommended that the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Procurement), develop and implement a requirement to provide periodic training to termination contracting officers that covers the requirement to document prenegotiation objectives in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation 15.406-1(b).

On November 29, 2022, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration recommended that the Director and Deputy Director, Submission Processing, Wage and Investment Division, protect the identity of IRS employees signing manually generated tax processing correspondence by removing their first name and replacing it with the employee’s title, Mr., Ms., or a gender-neutral title, in accordance with Chief Counsel Notice N(30)000-317.

The Commissioner, Wage and Investment Division, should ensure that all tax processing correspondence is revised to remove the signing IRS employee’s first name and replace it with the employee’s title.

Reconsider the National Personnel Records Center’s definition of medical emergency, make any necessary changes to internal policy, communicate the definition to veterans and stakeholders, and implement procedures for how medical emergency requests are made and how they are validated.

Conduct a study to expand Access to Financial Institutions searches between the Supplemental Security Income initial application and subsequent eligibility redeterminations.

Develop a specific, multiyear plan for how the BOP will evaluate its ongoing and proposed changes to the employee discipline process, as well as key performance indicators, by year, to decrease the backlog of its employee misconduct cases and adjudications.

Develop and implement a reliable method to calculate appropriate staffing levels at the enterprise and institution levels. Such a method should seek to baseline appropriate staffing levels for the current inmate population and be flexible to account for future population changes overall and among institutions, as well as other factors (e.g., institution security level and layout) that determine appropriate staffing levels. Once such a method is developed, communicate the need to align funding levels with appropriate staffing levels to executive and legislative branch stakeholders.

(U) Rec. 4.a.1: The DoD OIG recommended that the Principal Director of Defense Pricing and Contracting, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment direct the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council to revise Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement Procedures, Guidance, and Information Part 201, "Federal Acquisition Regulation System," Subpart 201.6, "Career Development, Contracting Authority, and Responsibilities," to require contracting officers to conduct an initial review of the contracting officer's representative file within a set timeframe, such as within 6 months, of designating a contracting officer's representative to ensure that the contracting officer's representative is complying with the designation…

(U) Rec. 4.a.2: The DoD OIG recommended that the Principal Director of Defense Pricing and Contracting, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment direct the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council to revise Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement Procedures, Guidance, and Information Part 201, "Federal Acquisition Regulation System," Subpart 201.6, "Career Development, Contracting Authority, and Responsibilities," to require contracting officers to, after the initial review, establish a contracting officer's representative file review frequency not less than once annually, based on the contracting officer's assessment of the risks, complexity, and value of the contract.

(U) Rec. 4.a.3: The DoD OIG recommended that the Principal Director of Defense Pricing and Contracting, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment direct the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council to revise Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement Procedures, Guidance, and Information Part 201, "Federal Acquisition Regulation System," Subpart 201.6, "Career Development, Contracting Authority, and Responsibilities," to require contracting officers to provide comments to the contracting officer's representative and requiring activity within 30 days of a review on the contracting officer's representative's level of compliance with designation letter requirements and require the contracting officer's representative to take corrective…

(U) Rec. 4.b: The DoD OIG recommended that the Principal Director of Defense Pricing and Contracting, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment revise DoD Instruction 5000.72, "DoD Standard for Contracting Officer's Representative (COR) Certification," March 26, 2015 (Incorporating Change 2, November 6, 2020), to align with the updated contracting officer's representative file review requirements in Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement Procedures, Guidance, and Information Part 201, "Federal Acquisition Regulation System," Subpart 201.6, "Career Development, Contracting Authority, and Responsibilities."

(U) Rec. 4.d: The DoD OIG recommended that the Principal Director of Defense Pricing and Contracting, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment develop and implement plans, in coordination with the Principal Deputy Chief Information Officer, Office of the DoD Chief Information Officer, to ensure that contracting officers are aware of the DoD technical experience requirements for contracting officer's representatives who monitor contractor cybersecurity services or accept cybersecurity deliverables.

(U) Rec. 4.e: The DoD OIG recommended that the Principal Director of Defense Pricing and Contracting, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment direct the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council to revise Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement Part 239, "Acquisition of Information Technology," Subpart 239.71, "Security and Privacy for Computer Systems," to reflect current DoD cybersecurity policies.

(U) Rec. 5: The DoD OIG recommended that the Defense Acquisition University President revise the DoD contracting officer's representative training curriculum and materials, in coordination with the Principal Director of Defense Pricing and Contracting and the Director of the Defense Contract Audit Agency, to include detailed instructions for contracting officer's representatives to review and validate that contractor payment requests, including interim vouchers, are commensurate with performance to prevent improper payments.

We recommend that the CBP Commissioner and the ICEDirector coordinate with the DHS Secretary to contract with an independent,federally funded research and development center to complete a fullassessment of the staffing needs at the Southwest border and strategicallyimplement recommendations based on the assessment. The assessmentshould:• review existing staffing models and methodology for deploying personnelat the Southwest border and across the country and the impact ofcontinuously relying on details and overtime to temporarily fill staffinggaps; and• include factors within and outside of DHS’ control that are affectingworkloads and exacerbating staffing challenges to identify solutions thecomponents can accomplish as well as those…

We recommend that the CBP Commissioner and the ICE Director communicate the duties and responsibilities of the SBCC moreeffectively to frontline staff.

Develop an infrastructure strategy to increase the overall effectiveness of facilities management. The strategy should align infrastructure decisions with the BOP's mission; include one or more methodologies for allocating resources; and include short, medium, and long-range planning goals. As part of this strategy, the BOP should consider incorporating a portfolio-based repair model; a retention or disposal decision model; and business case analyses for new construction, as appropriate.

Develop and implement key performance indicators to track whether the BOP is meeting its infrastructure goals.

Establish an automated and comprehensive inventory for managing and tracking software licenses.

Develop and implement a comprehensive software licensing policy that includes a methodology for analyzing and maintaining software usage data to determine the software license needs of the agency.

Determine the allowability of the questioned transactions and recover $14,886,138, if applicable.

We recommend that the Office of Refugee Resettlement include a review of compliance by ICFs and EISs with all background check requirements and facility access as a part of ORR's routine site visit monitoring.

We recommend that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services work with the MACs to recover $35,560 in improper payments made to providers for the 128 sampled enrollee days that did not meet Medicare requirements. 

Now that CMS has reinstituted most program integrity measures, we also recommend that CMS take the following steps, which if in effect during the audit period could have saved Medicare an estimated $579,667,510 during that period: Conduct medical reviews of psychotherapy services, including services provided via telehealth, to verify that the services are documented and billed in accordance with Medicare requirements.

Now that CMS has reinstituted most program integrity measures, we also recommend that CMS take the following steps, which if in effect during the audit period could have saved Medicare an estimated $579,667,510 during that period: Implement system edits for psychotherapy services, including services provided via telehealth, to prevent payments for services that were billed incorrectly.