Open Recommendations

Review each of the three case files to determine whether disciplinary action is warranted for failure to follow proper procedures, resulting in potential violations of taxpayer rights. Additionally, consider these errors when evaluating each employee’s performance in accordance with RRA 98 § 1204(b).

The Director, Collection Policy, SB/SE Division, should remind revenue officers of their obligation to comply with I.R.C. § 6103, ensuring that they follow the proper Oral Disclosure Consent procedures to prevent unauthorized disclosure of taxpayer return information and avoid any potential violation of a taxpayer’s rights under I.R.C. § 6103.

The Chief, Taxpayer Services, should ensure that the seven violations of RRA 98 § 1204(a) identified by TIGTA are discussed with the responsible employees and their managers to ensure that they understand the guidelines related to the use of ROTERs.

The Commissioner, LB&I Division, and the Chief, Taxpayer Services, should ensure that the 30 instances of noncompliance with RRA 98 § 1204(b) are discussed with the responsible managers to ensure that they understand the retention standard documentation requirements.

The Chief Human Capital Officer should create and implement a systemic fix to ensure that Section 1204 managers completing their quarterly certifications are automatically routed to the appropriate SharePoint page(s) when their responses necessitate additional information reporting about potential ROTER violations.

The Chief Human Capital Officer should perform an annual reconciliation to ensure that: 1) all Section 1204 employees assigned the yearly Section 1204 mandatory briefing are accounted for in the yearly Section 1204 population and 2) the entire Section 1204 population has been assigned the annual Section 1204 mandatory briefing.

Develop and implement formal procedures that monitor nondepository institution participants and address at-risk and unresolved collateral.

Assess electronic health record major performance incident data needs and contractually commit to real-time data sharing that will provide greater awareness of system operations.

Develop a formal procedure for verifying performance metrics and associated credits to ensure the department receives the remedies it is due under the contract.

Update the process for prioritizing major performance incidents to ensure that notification and resolution occur in a consistent manner.

Develop effective notification and resolution metrics that consistently capture results for all major performance incidents, regardless of the owner, and enforce them.

Identify the information needed in post-resolution reports, such as corrective and preventative actions, and require the contractor to consistently collect, verify, and report that information as a contract deliverable.

Develop a plan to ensure all clinicians are familiar with the national downtime procedures.

Identify the appropriate backup system and develop a training strategy to ensure clinicians can use the system during downtime.

Assess facilities patient safety reports identified during this audit to determine if additional actions need to be taken and, if so, provide an action plan.

Develop a mechanism to better identify major performance incidents and negative patient outcomes and provide a plan to prioritize and address their causes.

We recommend that USAID/Kenya and East Africa determine the allowability of $109,177 in ineligible questioned costs on pages 26 and 30 of the audit report and recover any amount that is unallowable.

We recommend that USAID/Kenya and East Africa verify that World Vision Kenya corrects the four instances of material noncompliance detailed on pages 44 to 52 of the audit report.

We recommend that USAID/Kenya and East Africa determine the allowability of $85,508 in unsupported cost-sharing contributions on pages 53, and 48 to 49 of the audit report and take any corrective action deemed necessary under ADS 303.3.10.3.

We recommend that Humana Health Plan, Inc. refund to the Federal Government the $6,777,385 of estimated overpayments.

We recommend that Humana Health Plan, Inc. identify, for the high-risk diagnoses included in this report, similar instances of noncompliance that occurred before or after our audit period and refund any resulting overpayments to the Federal Government.

We recommend that Humana Health Plan, Inc. continue to examine its existing compliance procedures to identify areas where improvements can be made to ensure that diagnosis codes that are at high risk for being miscoded comply with Federal requirements (when submitted to CMS for use in CMS's risk adjustment program) and take the necessary steps to enhance those procedures.

We recommend that CVS Health refund to the Federal Government the $4,256,568 of estimated overpayments.

We recommend that CVS Health identify, for the high-risk diagnoses included in this report, similar instances of noncompliance that occurred before or after our audit period and refund any resulting overpayments to the Federal Government.

We recommend that CVS Health continue its examination of its existing compliance procedures to identify areas where improvements can be made to ensure that diagnosis codes that are at high risk for being miscoded comply with Federal requirements (when submitted to CMS for use in CMS's risk adjustment program) and take the necessary steps to enhance those procedures.

We recommend that the Assistant Secretary for the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education require FDOE, inconsultation with the Governor of Florida, to— Obtain a revised ARP EANS application from the 73 nonpublic schools thatused proportionality data (in whole or in part) to estimate its low-income student count and ensure that the schoolsinclude a revised low-income student count that is based on a proper data source. FDOE should use the revised countsto reassess the eligibility of the 73 schools and any EANS funds used to provide services to ineligible nonpublic schoolsmust be reverted to Florida’s Governor to be used for…

We recommend that the Assistant Secretary for the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education require FDOE, inconsultation with the Governor of Florida, to— Formally document its expenditure review and approval procedures to guideFDOE personnel through the expenditure review and approval processes. The procedures should be designed to ensurecompliance with applicable requirements, including those pertaining to EANS in both CRRSA and ARP EANS as well asthe regulations at 2 C.F.R. Part 200 (Uniform Guidance).

We recommend that the Assistant Secretary for the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education require FDOE, inconsultation with the Governor of Florida, to— Retroactively obtain prior written approval from the Department for the 5equipment expenditures or return the $187,660 expended for those equipment purchases and perform a review of theremaining equipment expenditures to determine whether there are additional purchases that require prior written approval.FDOE should also incorporate into its grants management policies and procedures a step to determine whether it isrequired to obtain prior approval from the Department for certain expenditures related to any Department grants, orwhether it can provide…

We recommend that the Assistant Secretary for the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education require FDOE, inconsultation with the Governor of Florida, to— Develop a process to track and periodically check on the use ofEANS-funded supply purchases with a unit cost under $5,000 to ensure that all supplies are accounted for and used forallowable purposes.

Develop a means of identifying and documenting acquisition-specific team members from the Program Offices, Division of Administration Acquisition Services Branch, Legal Division, and Office of Minority and Women Inclusion.

Update the Acquisition Procedures and Guidance Manual to (1) define “reasonable planning,” (2) require the documentation of “reasonable planning” for all acquisitions, and (3) require a written description of potential or actual acquisition-specific conflict of interest-related risks in planning documentation.

Develop procedures requiring acquisition team members, as defined in response to Recommendation 1, to complete a conflict of interest certification in which each team member is to assess and document that they do not have a potential or actual conflict of interest related to the specific acquisition prior to participating in any phase of the acquisition lifecycle (from planning to closeout). These procedures should require that evidence of acquisition team members’ conflict of interest certifications is maintained in accordance with requisite FDIC records retention schedule requirements.

Develop procedures requiring acquisition team members, as defined in response to Recommendation 1, to re-certify annually that they remain free of actual or potential conflicts of interest as long as the acquisition is in place.

Develop and deliver specialized acquisition-related conflict of interest training on at least an annual basis to all acquisition team members to strengthen employee knowledge and skills related to ethics laws and regulations.

Evaluate whether there should be minimum qualifications and requirements for appointed Deputy Ethics Counselors (DEC), a desired ratio of DECs to filers across FDIC Divisions and Offices, and whether DEC duties should be incorporated into FDIC employee position descriptions to better equip DECs to monitor and respond to employees’ potential and actual conflicts of interest.

Develop and implement an action plan utilizing Deputy Ethics Counselor survey results and other relevant information to help identify strengths and opportunities for continuous improvement in the FDIC’s financial disclosure review program.

We recommend that the Assistant Secretary for the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education require Iowa torequire Des Moines to return to the U.S. Department of Education the $164,580 that Des Moines improperly charged tothe ARP ESSER grant for LEA advertising and public relations or reallocate the funds to other allowable costs. Identifyany additional improper charges to ESSER grants for LEA advertising and public relations, including those made duringperiods not covered by our review, and if applicable, return the funds to the U.S. Department of Education or reallocatethem to other allowable costs.

We recommend that the Assistant Secretary for the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education require Iowa torequire Des Moines to provide documentation to support payment of the unsupported portion of the HVAC upgradesexpenditure, return to the U.S. Department of Education the $33,326 in ARP ESSER grant funds, or reallocate the fundsto other allowable costs.

We recommend that the Assistant Secretary for the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education require Iowa torequire Des Moines to calculate the interest earned (actual or imputed) on any ESSER grant funds that were retained(withheld) and not immediately paid to vendors, and if applicable, ensure that the correct amount of interest is returned tothe Federal government in accordance with 2 C.F.R. section 200.305(b)(9).

We recommend that the Assistant Secretary for the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education require Iowa torequire Des Moines to ensure that LEA officials responsible for making or reviewing and approving purchases receivesufficient training on Federal rules and regulations related to grant administration and management, particularly thoseaddressing allowability, documentation requirements, and cash management.

We recommend that the Director of Acquisition and Contract Management develops standard operating procedures for issuing contract modifications.

We recommend that the Director of Acquisition and Contract Management provides training on the updated contracting procedures.

We recommend that the Director of Acquisition and Contract Management develops a contracting officer representative handbook that alights with the contracting officer representative designation memo and includes policies, standard operating procedures, and best practices to assist the contracting officer representative with contract oversight.

We recommend that the Director of Acquisition and Contract Management defines and communicates the roles, responsibilities, and standard operating procedures for the technical point of contact to ensure efficiency in executing the contract activities.

We recommend that the Director of Acquisition and Contract Management develops a centralized system for maintaining contract files to ensure that contracting officer representatives are compliant with the Federal Acquisition Regulation and record retention requirements.

We recommend that the Director of Acquisition and Contract Management ensures that contracting officers review the contracting officer representative files annually and develop a checklist for the review.

We recommend that the Director of Acquisition and Contract Management ensures that contract management personnel have access to Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System and develops and implements standard operating procedures for performance assessments to be submitted into Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System at the time the work under the contract or order is completed.

We recommend that the Director of Acquisition and Contract Management ensures contracts are closed out within the specified Federal Acquisition Regulation timeframes and backlogged contracts are properly closed.

We recommend that the Director of Acquisition and Contract Management works with the contracting officer representative to establish processes and standard operating procedures that ensure de-obligations are completed when the period of performance ends and the final invoice is paid.

The Bureau of Political-Military Affairs should implement a detailed plan for the coordinated performance of all program evaluation requirements bureau-wide, including systematic briefings to bureau leadership on evaluation results.