Open Recommendations

Train employees on the newly developed risk-based methodology.

Establish and operate monitoring activities of the policies and procedures to evaluate if the procedures are operating effectively. Remediate any deficiencies identified during monitoring activities as applicable.

Determine whether the $3.785 million of questioned costs related to the 25,380 useable square feet of space associated with General Services Administration Public Building Service’s 2019 recommendation of space reduction at CPSC headquarters is reasonable and necessary in the circumstances.

Relinquish space equal in value to the $2.258 million of funds put to better use related to the 25,380 useable square feet of space associated with General Services Administration Public Building Service’s 2019 recommendation of space reduction at CPSC headquarters or demonstrate usage in line with General Services Administration’s benchmarks.

Establish and document policies and procedures that ensure only officials with the authority to commit or obligate the CPSC execute occupancy agreements, including a process to keep all delegations of authority available for inspection.

Determine whether questioned costs for prior expenditures of $29.573 million and future expenditures of $69.199 million are supported and allowable.

Review the delegation of authority for tenant alteration projects and determine whether the delegation should be revised, canceled, or certified as current.

Design and implement a real property data quality program that ensures accurate and complete data are available to drive agency management decisions.

Train employees on the newly developed data quality program.

Adopt policies and procedures that establish a process to have an organization outside of the office of the Senior Real Property Official provide independent triannual data validation and verification.

Establish routines to assess and optimize resource utilization on an ongoing basis.

Identify useful indicators for measuring, monitoring, and improving organizational performance to support agency assessments of current and future work environments.

Determine and detail how the agency’s optimized real property portfolio links to and supports the agency's strategic plan.

Develop a comprehensive needs assessment in sufficient detail for the reader to understand how the agency assessed its real property needs.

Demonstrate how the agency evaluated the best methods in performing its alternative analysis in future Real Property Capital Plans.

Establish and detail the link between the agency’s priority scheme and the agency’s strategic priorities.

Determine and detail how the capital plan will be integrated into the annual budget, to include newly implemented processes for planning, formulation, and execution of the agency’s budget.

Determine and detail how the agency assesses whether asset types within its business lines, and the agency as a whole, have sufficient capacity to meet mission requirements. Additionally, describe how asset types for each business line are assessed for utilization.

Include a summary in the Real Property Capital Plan for the methodology used by the agency to calculate the life cycle costs.

Establish standard operating procedures to ensure the real property capital plan is completed annually by August 15, covers the appropriate five year period, and meets all of the Office of Management and Budget’s criteria.

Establish processes to evaluate performance against expected standards of conduct for compliance with agency policies in the area of time and attendance keeping.

Train employees on the standards of conduct related to time and attendance keeping.

Monitor compliance with agency policies and address deviations in a timely manner via random audits or other appropriate methods.

Hold entity personnel accountable for performing assigned internal control responsibilities regarding time and attendance keeping.

Relinquish 28,122 useable square feet of underutilized headquarters office space, so that the corresponding funds, $2.782 million, can be put to better use; or provide documentation to the Office of Inspector General demonstrating usage in line with General Services Administration benchmarks.

Determine whether the expenditure of $4.473 million in questioned costs spent on 28,122 useable square feet of office space are reasonable and necessary in the circumstances.

Determine whether the expenditure of $4.473 million in questioned costs spent on 28,122 useable square feet of office space are supported and allowable.

Determine the appropriate utilization rate for the agency’s leased office spaces.

Determine the appropriate minimum average annual occupancy rates for the agency’s leased office spaces.

Take appropriate action to right-size the agency’s leased office space in order to meet the agency’s targeted utilization and occupancy rates and promote the efficient utilization of space at an economical cost to the government.

Relinquish 3,000 useable square feet of fitness center space, corresponding to underutilized fitness space, so that the corresponding funds, $306,000, can be put to better use

Determine whether the expenditure of $486,000 of questioned costs spent on 3,000 useable square feet on the fitness center are reasonable and necessary in the circumstances.

Determine whether the expenditure of $486,000 of questioned costs spent on 3,000 useable square feet on the fitness center are supported and allowable.

Conduct a survey of the fitness needs of CPSC employees.

Use the results of the survey to develop an appropriate fitness program that meets the agency’s mission requirements at an economical cost to the government.

Evaluate alternative usage, including relinquishment, of the fitness center space.

Evaluate the appropriate funding source(s) to promote employee commitment to regular participation in a physical fitness program.

Based on results of the evaluations performed in conjunction with recommendation numbers 40 and 41, take action to adopt strategies that promote the efficient delivery of a fitness program for agency employees at an economical cost to the government.

Evaluate the agency’s conference rooms for each space’s respective best and highest use.

Based on the results of the evaluation performed for recommendation number 43, take action to utilize each space in their respective best and highest use in a cost-effective manner.

Collect data showing where National Product Testing and Evaluation Center staff spend their time, lab versus office space, and analyze how space is actually used to determine if the current space allocation best meets CPSC needs.

Based on reported results in recommendation number 45, adopt strategies to promote the efficient utilization of space at National Product Testing and Evaluation Center at an economical cost to the government.

Revise Tennessee Valley Authority’s Tech Standard, Authentication - Multifactor Authentication Implementation Requirements, to include the appropriate reauthentication frequency and authorized exclusions.

Revise multi-factor authentication enforcement access policies to include all networks as required by Tennessee Valley Authority’s Tech Standard, Authentication – Multifactor Authentication Implementation Requirements.

Reconcile enterprise applications in Microsoft Entra® to validate their lifecycle and multi-factor authentication status.

Implement a process to periodically validate the lifecycle and multi-factor authentication status of enterprise applications in Microsoft Entra® with appropriate system owners and cloud administrators.

Ensure the Alliance develops and implements written policies and procedures for awarding VOCA funds and ensuring that the selection process is documented to demonstrate how VOCA funds were awarded
among Alliance member centers.

Ensure Connecticut develops and implements updated written financial policies and procedures that ensure compliance with the DOJ Grants Financial Guide requirement that drawdowns be based upon
immediate disbursement or reimbursement needs.

Ensure the Alliance communicates all subaward and VOCA-specific requirements to its member centers going forward.

Ensure that the Alliance implements its risk assessment tool to inform its subrecipient monitoring activities.