Open Recommendations

OIG recommends that the Bureau of the Comptroller and Global Financial Services (CGFS) develop and implement guidance on the use of “not otherwise classified” budget object codes. As part of the process to develop guidance, CGFS should obtain information from bureaus on specific topics that the bureaus believe need authoritative guidance.

OIG recommends that the Bureau of the Comptroller and Global Financial Services develop and implement a communications strategy to periodically provide updates and reminders on the use of budget object codes, including “not otherwise classified” budget object codes.

We recommend that the Office of Refugee Resettlement issue guidance to care provider facilities regarding the requirement to include all relevant ORR and DHS contacts in their emergency contact lists.

Ensure AVP implements written performance reporting policies and procedures to ensure its reports are accurate, submitted timely, and reflect an appropriate share of accomplishments towards achieving federally assisted activities.

Ensure AVP implements written policies and procedures to ensure program costs are approved by OVW, allocable to the grant, and supported with adequate documentation necessary to demonstrate compliance with its purchasing procedures and the federal grant requirements.

Ensure AVP implements policies and procedures to ensure compliance with its federal grant award conditions.

Ensure AVP implements written federal grant administration policies and procedures to ensure compliance with the DOJ Grants Financial Guide and other federal grant award requirements.

Remedy $601,578 in unsupported personnel expenditures.

Remedy $4,848 in unallowable pre-award personnel and fringe expenditures.

Ensure AVP implements written policies and procedures to ensure personnel expenditures charged to its federal grants are based on records that accurately reflect work performed and support a reasonable allocation or distribution of costs among specific activities or cost objectives when recipients work on multiple grant programs or cost activities.

Remedy $78,667 in unsupported fringe benefits expenditures.

Ensure AVP implements written policies and procedures to ensure fringe benefit expenditures are accurate and calculated correctly.

Remedy $67,831 in unsupported other direct costs.

Establish program- or award-specific performance goals to measure the progress of recipients in implementing activities under state-administered sheltering assistance grant awards.

Establish coordinated program- or award-specific oversight activities to monitor, assess, and provide guidance to sheltering assistance grant recipients on performance and corrective actions to address shortfalls. In addition: • ensure proper documentation of oversight activities; and • validate accuracy of progress-related data provided by the award recipient.

Determine the allowability of the questioned transactions and recover $5,409,880, if applicable.

We recommend that HUD's Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Housing and Voucher Programs conduct additional outreach efforts to educate tenants and PHAs on their rights and responsibilities related to requests for reasonable accommodation, including technical assistance, webinars, and external communications to inform PHAs about their responsibilities and how to evaluate requests for reasonable accommodation, and help families understand their rights.

We recommend that the National Cancer Institute coordinate with the National Institutes of Health’s DGSI/Closeout Center to update policies and procedures for monitoring grantees’ submission of closeout documents to include increased outreach to grantees before the final reports (Final FFR, FRPPR, and FIS) become delinquent.

We recommend that SCAN refund to the Federal Government the $54,318,154 of net overpayments.

We recommend that SCAN continue to improve its policies and procedures to prevent, detect, and correct noncompliance with Federal requirements for diagnosis codes that are used to calculate risk-adjusted payments.

(U) Rec. 1: The DoD OIG recommended that the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, in coordination with the Service Components, develop a plan to implement the strategies identified in Test Resource Management Center's "Fiscal Year 2018-Fiscal Year 2028 Strategic Plan for Department of Defense Test & Evaluation Resources," and the additional projects the Arnold Engineering Development Complex has identified through the Service Program Objective Memorandum process to increase hypersonic ground test and evaluation capability and capacity.

(U) Rec. 2: The DoD OIG recommended that the Director of the Test Resource Management Center revise the strategic plan to incorporate options to eliminate all ground test and evaluation capability and capacity shortfalls necessary for hypersonic weapon system development.

As part of the ongoing process of revising the cost-sharing methodology, take the following actions: Clarify and document in the methodology, state partner contracts, or elsewhere, the extent to which the methodology will have state partners cover additional fixed asset and other capital expenditures, continue to have the company cover them, or some other solution.

As part of the ongoing process of revising the cost-sharing methodology, take the following actions: Work with Congress to ensure that the solution in recommendation 2b meets its intent under section 209 of PRIIA, and, if not, work with Congress on a resolution.

To ensure a common picture of the accuracy of the company’s bills and help address any recurring billing issues that arise, develop and begin to implement a process to track and regularly share with all state partners the number, type, and magnitude of errors that occur on state partner bills. To reduce the work burden, consider partnering with SAIPRC to assist with these efforts.

Establish in policy a process to consistently communicate to internal stakeholders and state partners any system changes the company makes that materially impact state partners’ costs, either before making the change or as soon as practical thereafter.

KPMG recommends that FAA ensure that policies and procedures for revoking access to the shared services center for separated users include:
a. Timely notifying shared services center managers of FAA employees that have separated from the agency to ensure that access is removed; and
b. Enforcing the timeline for removal of separated employees from shared services center, by reviewing active user listings on a periodic basis to ensure that no separated employees still have access.

STB management should review the current version of OMB Circular A-136 to independently verify that all required footnotes are included and bring any omissions to the service provider's attention so that errors or omissions can be corrected.

STB management should review the service provider's Financial Statement and Notes Review Checklist to verify that the checklist is up to date and includes all required elements per OMB and Treasury guidance and then complete the checklist independently. Alternatively, STB management should develop and complete its own review checklist based on current Treasury and OMB reporting requirements.

STB management should request its financial management service provider to:
a. Reevaluate the inclusion of account balances that were excluded in the Other Liabilities footnote, or
b. Disaggregate (i.e. separately report) intragovernmental other liabilities balances reported as a single line item on the balance sheet that are not included in the footnote so that the total amounts reported for Other Liabilities on the Balance Sheet and in the footnote agree.

STB should perform routine reviews of employee benefit elections and Official Personnel Folders to ensure they are complete and accurate.

STB management should work with the service provider to identify, at least quarterly, upward adjustments that have been offset by downward adjustments in the general ledger or perform an independent review of the general ledger activity of both accounts so that manual adjustments can be recorded to properly state the ending balances of both accounts, if needed.

STB management should design and implement policies and procedures which enhance the internal review process for upward and downward adjustment transactions and includes a reconciliation of the UDO balances with the supporting documentation to ensure that transactions have been recorded correctly.

STB should amend its existing policy regarding the review and approval of journal vouchers to include a review of all non-reversing entries recorded during the fiscal year and to review all year-end journal vouchers before they are recorded in the agency's general ledger.

We recommend the CIO: Enforce DOL requirements for implementing, auditing, testing and documenting exceptions to baseline configurations.

We recommend the CIO: Develop clear standards for the documentation of information security controls and enforce the adherence to these standards through OCIO monitoring processes for developing, reviewing and maintaining system security plans and documentation.

Develop and implement procedures to verify the accuracy and completeness of displaced student counts that can be used for Federal reporting requirements related to the Emergency Impact Aid program.

Implement its procedures for monitoring the Emergency Impact Aid program.

Provide support for the inaccurate and unsupported displaced student counts at Springfield and Worcester or return $895,374 in Emergency Impact Aid program funds received based on projectable inaccurate and unsupported displaced student counts. Review support for all LEAs, or a statistically valid sample of students reported as displaced by quarter, and return any funds related to inaccurate and unsupported displaced student counts.

Provide support for the unsupported displaced student counts at Springfield and Worcester or return $40,875 in Emergency Impact Aid program funds received based on the inaccurate displaced student counts that were collected from the LEAs in the LEA application. Review support for all LEAs, or a statistically valid sample of students reported as displaced by quarter, and return any funds related to inaccurate displaced student counts.

Return $44,750 in Emergency Impact Aid program funds received based on duplicate displaced student counts. Determine whether other Massachusetts LEAs that received Emergency Impact Aid program funds reported duplicate displaced student counts and return funds for any duplicate students that are found.

Provide support showing that Springfield and Worcester properly used Emergency Impact Aid program funds for displaced students reported as children with disabilities or return about $1.43 million to the Department.

Determine whether other Massachusetts LEAs that received Emergency Impact Aid program funds separately accounted for Emergency Impact Aid program funds received for the benefit of displaced students reported as children with disabilities. For all or a statistical sample, of these LEAs that did not separately account for these funds, review support to determine whether they properly used these funds and return any funds that were not properly used.

Develop and implement procedures for providing guidance for and monitoring of future emergency funding from the Department to ensure that (1) award notifications to the LEAs identify Emergency Impact Aid program funds by student type (including children with disabilities), (2) funds received for displaced students are used for activities and services in accordance with Federal requirements, and (3) all Federal grant requirements are provided to the LEAs.

Provide support demonstrating that employees in Springfield and Worcester worked at schools with displaced students or return $304,308 to the Department.

Develop controls to provide reasonable assurance that LEAs use funds received for displaced students for activities and services related to serving displaced students.

ASFR should take steps to ensure that HHS’s suspension and debarment program has more consistent senior leadership and sufficient staffing.

ASFR should improve the case management and tracking of referrals.

We recommend that the BLM update applicable manuals to detail the processes for documenting the review of the Federal exclusions list for all leasing actions.

Adequately support the eligibility of payroll costs or repay its CoC grants $824,302 from non-Federal funds.