Open Recommendations

Annually conduct an improper payment review in accordance with PIIA andfollow the guidance outlined in OMB Circular A-136, section II.4.5 [Payment Integrity Information Act Reporting];

Complete the OMB Annual Data Call reporting, and if necessary, contact OMB via email at MBX.OMB.OFFM.PaymentIntegrity@omb.eop.gov to obtain access to the annual data call.

CDC should expand its efforts both to improve racial and ethnic data associated with COVID-19 and to supplement them with additional data sources.

Develop and implement internal controls to ensure that officials and staff responsible for gathering data used for Federal reporting requirements obtain an understanding of the rules and regulations surrounding the grant programs they are tasked with overseeing.

Develop and implement effective written policies and procedures and sufficient information system controls to ensure that accurate student enrollment and withdrawal data are entered in its student information system in a consistent manner.

Provide support for the inaccurate and unsupported displaced student counts or return $6.5 million in Emergency Impact Aid program funds received based on estimated inaccurate and unsupported displaced student counts.

Ensure mitigation actions for ICT products, especially mission-critical ICT products or services, are descriptive, actionable, and tailored to the user environment and operational contexts (including its anonymity of procurement statement); and work with OCIO and the SCRM Unit to create and resource a continuous monitoring program that monitors C-SCRM risks across the FBI, ensures that users understand and follow C-SCRM mitigations identified in the product vulnerability and procurement risk assessments, and develops procedures to periodically monitor and assess user compliance with its C-SCRM mitigation actions.

Enhance its policies, procedures, training and communication, and/or internal controls for the requisition and government purchase card systems to better ensure that purchasing officials understand the C-SCRM requirements and so that applicable requisitions and purchase requests undergo C-SCRM procedures, as required; and develop policies, procedures, and/or internal controls to periodically monitor FBI compliance by identifying and remedying purchases that improperly bypassed the process.

(U) Rec. 1: This recommendation is Controlled Unclassified Information

We recommend the Counterterrorism Coordinator use the results of the needs assessment to establish a long-term governing body to oversee and coordinate the Department’s efforts to counter domestic terrorismby creating:• a charter with business rules and roles and responsibilities for longterm action;• a formalized documented process to monitor and track completion ofaction items; and• a formalized documented feedback process to review, update, andmeasure the impact of priority actions taken in response to changesin the domestic terrorism threat environment.

We recommend the Deputy Under Secretary for Intelligence Enterprise Operations finalize and implement an overarching policyand standard operating procedures to guide the timely, complete, and accurate review and release of open source intelligence reports.

We recommend the Deputy Under Secretary for Intelligence Enterprise Operations establish a standard process to determinewhether additional oversight or review is needed for open source intelligence reports before their dissemination

Recover the $1.9 million of overpayments to a grant recipient in accordance with 2 CFR § 200.345-346.

Require the reconciliation of the grant recipient’s budget to the final award amount prior to awarding a grant, including ensuring receipt of revised budgets, when changes are needed, prior to disbursing grant awards. Furthermore, discontinue the disbursement of grant awards prior to the receipt of a revised budget.

ACF should encourage all States to evaluate the value of adding an assessment of risk for sex trafficking when children return to foster care after going missing.

ACF should conduct oversight activities to identify States that may not screen all children for sex trafficking when they return to foster care after going missing.

Rec. 2.a: The DoD OIG recommended that the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer, DoD, in coordination with the Deputy Director of Enterprise Accounting and Audit Support for the Defense Finance and Accounting Service, use a sufficient sample size to support the improper payment estimate by calculating the sample size based on improper payment amounts instead of only using the paid amount. To reduce the required sample size, we recommend considering alternative improper payment estimation methodology, and conducting risk assessments of the payment types for each program.

The Bureau of Fiscal Operations and the Office of Programs should work together to develop and document written policies and procedures for the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act process for debts identified for recovery from Railroad Retirement Act benefit payments, across all applicable organizational units involved in the process (both the automated and manual processes).

The Bureau of Fiscal Operations and the Office of Programs should work together to create and document flowcharts for the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act process for debts identified for recovery from Railroad Retirement Act benefit payments, across all applicable organizational units involved in both the automated and manual processes.

The Bureau of Fiscal Operations and the Office of Programs should work together to determine if there are additional missing or ineffective controls in the automated and manual processes (for the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act debts identified for recovery from Railroad Retirement Act benefit payments) which would decrease the likelihood of recoveries, and develop and implement the necessary internal controls.

The Bureau of Fiscal Operations and the Office of Programs should work together to research the unrecovered debts identified in this audit and take action to: recover them; properly record the recoveries in the Financial Management Integrated System and other applicable agency systems; and/or record the reasons why they were not recovered, and if there are legitimate reasons why they should no longer be recovered.

The Bureau of Fiscal Operations and the Office of Programs should work together to identify the organizational unit with debtor notification responsibility and take the necessary actions to ensure that the debt notification process addressed in this audit is properly documented and maintained in agency records.

The Bureau of Fiscal Operations and the Office of Programs should work together to ensure that Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act debtors for the debt process addressed in this audit are properly notified of the debt, as required.

The Bureau of Fiscal Operations should implement a process to periodically monitor the status of each Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act debt transaction (adjustment type code 41) and prepare a report that contains the status of each Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act debt recoverable from Railroad Retirement Act benefits that is also to be provided to the Office of Programs to aid in their monitoring efforts of these Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act debts.

The Office of Programs should develop and implement a process to periodically monitor the new report that the Bureau of Fiscal Operations will provide, (that will identify adjustment type code 41 Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act debts) to determine if any of the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act debts need further action to recover them from the annuitants’ Railroad Retirement Act benefits.

We recommend that the Food and Drug Administration identify and implement additional ways to improve the timeliness of its foreign for-cause drug inspection process

We recommend that the Food and Drug Administration consider streamlining the process for writing and reviewing EIRs to minimize potential delays due to unexpected events.

We recommend that the Food and Drug Administration conduct an analysis of the workloads of individuals responsible for: (1) determining final classification, (2) issuing warning letters, and (3) holding regulatory meetings, and address any potential issues identified by this analysis.

We recommend that the Food and Drug Administration implement policies and procedures to ensure that lead investigators assigned to inspections have completed the Level 1 Investigator Certification Process.

We recommend that the Food and Drug Administration ensure that supervisors review investigators' qualifications and document that they meet applicable training requirements when the investigator training records do not exist.

We recommend that the Food and Drug Administration review the training records of the lead investigators that were outside the scope of the audit to verify that documentation supports either: o that the investigators completed the required training courses, Level 1 Performance Audit, and Level 1 Investigator Certification, or o that investigators are recommended as "experienced investigators" by supervisors and have completed training courses equivalent to the current required training courses.

We recommend that Retirement Services develop and implement additional cost-effective corrective actions, aimed at the root causes of improper payments, to further reduce the improper payments rate.

We recommend the Acting Deputy Assistant Administrator for Resilience implement management procedures to ensure HMGP property acquisition project applications and project information are complete and accurate when submitted, reviewed, closed, and maintained by FEMA.

The OIG recommends the Under Secretary for Benefits, in conjunction with the Assistant Secretary for Information and Technology, establish a mechanism to gain assurance that proper Office of Information Technology project management processes and protocols are followed when establishing information technology systems and applications.

Given the sensitivity of our review, this recommendation is restricted.

Rec. 2.a: The DoD OIG recommended that the Army's Deputy Chief of Staff, G-4 (Logistics); Navy's Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Fleet Readiness and Logistics; and Chief of the Logistics Readiness Division, Headquarters Air Force (Logistics, Engineering, and Force Protection) reinforce and periodically communicate to ordering activities DoD and Service-specific reuse policies promoting maximizing reuse of excess property as a supply source. As part of this communication, the Military Services should provide ordering activities details regarding the newly established Defense Logistics Agency Disposition Services educational sessions, reuse website information, and instructions on how to search and place orders for…

Rec. 2.b: The DoD OIG recommended that the Army's Deputy Chief of Staff, G-4 (Logistics); Navy's Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Fleet Readiness and Logistics; and Chief of the Logistics Readiness Division, Headquarters Air Force (Logistics, Engineering, and Force Protection) establish a process to ensure that activity ordering personnel comply with DoD and Service-specific policy for completing reuse training, including ensuring that all staff complete the training, and newly?hired ordering personnel are trained on the reuse of excess property within a few months of starting their duties.

Rec. 2.c: The DoD OIG recommended that the Army's Deputy Chief of Staff, G-4 (Logistics); Navy's Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Fleet Readiness and Logistics; and Chief of the Logistics Readiness Division, Headquarters Air Force (Logistics, Engineering, and Force Protection) reinforce DoD and Service-specific policy and guidance to assist Military Service activities on proper assignment of condition codes when turning property in to Defense Logistics Agency Disposition Services.

Rec. 2.d: The DoD OIG recommended that the Army's Deputy Chief of Staff, G-4 (Logistics); Navy's Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Fleet Readiness and Logistics; and Chief of the Logistics Readiness Division, Headquarters Air Force (Logistics, Engineering, and Force Protection) collaborate with Defense Logistics Agency Disposition Services to identify and implement training, educational sessions, or another solution to address the lack of trust in the accuracy of the condition codes for items the Military Services turn in to Defense Logistics Agency Disposition Services.

Rec. 2.e: The DoD OIG recommended that the Army's Deputy Chief of Staff, G-4 (Logistics); Navy's Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Fleet Readiness and Logistics; and Chief of the Logistics Readiness Division, Headquarters Air Force (Logistics, Engineering, and Force Protection) establish an internal control mechanism such as monitoring or periodic assessments to ensure assignment of accurate condition codes on turn-in documentation to Defense Logistics Agency Disposition Services.

Rec. 2.f: The DoD OIG recommended that the Army's Deputy Chief of Staff, G-4 (Logistics); Navy's Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Fleet Readiness and Logistics; and Chief of the Logistics Readiness Division, Headquarters Air Force (Logistics, Engineering, and Force Protection) review the Defense Logistics Agency Disposition Services report on inaccurate condition codes, take action to identify why the inaccurate condition codes occurred, and mitigate future inaccurate condition code assignments.

Rec. 4.b: The DoD OIG recommended that the Army Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics develop and implement clear and comprehensive implementation guidance for condition-based maintenance plus and predictive maintenance, ensuring to detail the roles and responsibilities of stakeholders, based on guidance provided by DoD Instruction 4151.22, "Condition-Based Maintenance Plus for Materiel Maintenance," August 14, 2020.

Rec. 4.c: The DoD OIG recommended that the Army Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics develop and tailor training to the appropriate levels necessary to achieve effective condition-based maintenance plus and predictive maintenance implementation.

We recommend that CMS pursue legislative or regulatory changes to lower costs for both the Medicare program and beneficiaries, by equalizing payments as appropriate between provider based facilities and freestanding facilities for E&M services.

We recommend the DHS Chief Financial Officer comply with the PIIA requirement to report an improper payment and unknownpayment estimate of less than 10 percent for each program for which an estimate was published in the materials accompanying the annual financial statement by ensuring that FEMA continues to enhance internal control procedures over the Disaster Case Management and Urban Search & Rescue programs by:a. developing and implementing policies and procedures for establishingand defining documentation requirements;b. providing appropriate training to personnel responsible for developingand operating internal controls;c. ensuring the implementation and operating effectiveness of policies andprocedures over labor rate review and…

We recommend the DHS Chief Financial Officer ensure that DHS’ Risk Management and Assurance Division follow OMB requirementsfor agencies that do not comply with PIIA, as defined in OMB Circular A-123.

We recommend that the NOAA Deputy Under Secretary for Operations update policies and procedures to ensure user observation requirements are validated in advance of next-generation satellite system acquisitions.

We recommend that the NOAA Deputy Under Secretary for Operations assign responsibility and design a process for determining the relative priority of each NOAA user observation requirement.

We recommend that the NOAA Deputy Under Secretary for Operations ensure that NESDIS revises policies and procedures for assigning requirements to next-generation satellite programs.

CMS should develop its own source of race and ethnicity data.