Open Recommendations

OIG recommends that the Bureau of Administration develop and implement oversight activities to effectively administer subcontracting plans. At a minimum, this should include reviewing administrative actions and communicating policies and procedures to Contracting Officers to comply with the statutory requirements from Federal Acquisition Regulation 19.702 for subcontracting plans.

OIG recommends that the Bureau of Administration, within 6 months of the issuance of this report, issue guidance to Contracting Officers that includes a mechanism for the maintenance of contract files and required documentation if eFiling is not required to be used.

OIG recommends that the Bureau of Administration, within 6 months of the issuance of this report, develop and implement oversight procedures to confirm that contract actions are properly designated in the Federal Procurement Data System - Next Generation.

OIG recommends that the Bureau of Administration issue guidance and training to Contracting Officers that includes the proper interpretation of subcontracting plan requirements and exemptions, in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation 19.702(b)(1-4) and Department of State Acquisition Regulation 619.000(b).

OIG recommends that the Bureau of Administration develop and implement a process for achieving the goals, objectives, and timeframes for individual subcontracting report reviews, as prescribed in Federal Acquisition Regulation 19.705-6(f)(1)(2), Department of State Acquisition Manual 619.705-6, and supplemental guidance. At a minimum, this should include identifying and reporting to management contractors that fail to submit required reports.

OIG recommends that the Bureau of Administration develop and implement standard operating procedures describing the post-award responsibilities of Contracting Officers to comply with Federal Acquisition Regulation 19.705-6. At a minimum, the procedures should include regular reporting from the Small Business Technical Liaison to Contracting Officers and management officials in the Bureau of Administration, Office of Global Acquisitions, Acquisitions Management Directorate.

OIG recommends that the Bureau of Administration develop and implement standard operating procedures describing Contracting Officers' responsibilities to (1) determine contractors' good faith efforts to comply with their small business subcontracting plans and (2) take action to address a contractor's failure to make a good faith effort to comply with the requirements in Federal Acquisition Regulation 19.705-7.

OIG recommends that the Bureau of Administration develop and implement standard operating procedures describing Contracting Officers' responsibilities to comply with the contractor past performance evaluation requirements in Federal Acquisition Regulation 42.1502. At a minimum, the procedures should include timely and accurate assessments of contractors' small business subcontracting plan performance in the Contracting Performance Assessment Reporting System.

We recommend that NPS develop servicewide guidance to aid National Park Service staff when determining whether National Park Service cost estimating personnel and contracted architect and engineer firms should be required to conduct site visits when developing construction estimates.

We recommend that NPS develop a method to track and monitor independent government cost estimate accuracy for Great American Outdoors Act Legacy Restoration Fund construction projects and develop a process to evaluate trends that lead to inaccurate estimates, to include the types of construction projects.

The OIG recommended the under secretary for health make sure the Office of Integrated Veteran Care, in coordination with VHA’s chief operating officer and the Veterans Integrated Service Networks evaluate its Veteran Self-Scheduling training and identify improvements if they are needed.

The OIG recommended the under secretary for health make sure the Office of Integrated Veteran Care, in coordination with VHA’s chief operating officer and the Veterans Integrated Service Networks make certain that staff who are involved in the Veteran Self-Scheduling process are trained on how to assess eligibility for the scheduling option, communicate key information to veterans on the option, and conduct appropriate consult follow-up procedures.

The OIG recommended the under secretary for health make sure the Office of Integrated Veteran Care, in coordination with VHA’s chief operating officer and the Veterans Integrated Service Networks ensure all guidance related to the Veteran Self-Scheduling process is clear, consistent, and disseminated to all VA medical facilities.

The OIG recommended the under secretary for health make sure the Office of Integrated Veteran Care, in coordination with VHA’s chief operating officer and the Veterans Integrated Service Networks, establish a mechanism to effectively track and monitor each VA medical facility’s challenges with implementation of the Veteran Self-Scheduling process and then develop a plan to address reported issues.

The OIG recommended the under secretary for health make sure the Office of Integrated Veteran Care, in coordination with VHA’s chief operating officer and the Veterans Integrated Service Networks, develop best practices and lessons learned for implementing the Veteran Self-Scheduling process and disseminate them to all VA medical facilities.

The OIG recommended the under secretary for health make sure the Office of Integrated Veteran Care, in coordination with VHA’s chief operating officer and the Veterans Integrated Service Networks, develop controls to ensure VA medical facility staff have the tools in place to identify instances of potential inappropriate processing or inappropriate use of Veteran Self-Scheduling consults.

The OIG recommended the under secretary for health make sure the Office of Integrated Veteran Care, in coordination with VHA’s chief operating officer and the Veterans Integrated Service Networks, direct facilities to conduct routine reviews of Veteran Self-Scheduling consults to identify potential inappropriate processing or use of the Veteran Self-Scheduling option and notify VHA’s Office of Integrated Veteran Care of instances of inappropriate use

The OIG recommended the under secretary for health make sure the Office of Integrated Veteran Care, in coordination with VHA’s chief operating officer and the Veterans Integrated Service Networks, develop a plan to accurately assess whether the Veteran Self-Scheduling process is meeting its intended goals.

The OIG recommended the under secretary for health make sure the Office of Integrated Veteran Care, in coordination with VHAs chief operating officer and the Veterans Integrated Service Networks, direct facilities to conduct routine reviews of Veteran Self-Scheduling consults to identify potential inappropriate processing or use of the Veteran Self-Scheduling option and notify VHAs Office of Integrated Veteran Care of instances of inappropriate use.

The Montana VA Healthcare System Director assesses the timeliness of appointment setting for direct and community care referrals and ensures facility staff establish appointments within required time frames.

The Montana VA Healthcare System Director assesses the timeliness of completion of community care appointments within 90 days of requested date and acts on identified opportunities for improvement.

The Montana VA Healthcare System Director reviews consult management practices and ensures receiving staff document scheduled appointment dates for VA direct care referrals.

The Montana VA Healthcare System Director reviews appointment wait times and acts on identified opportunities for improvement.

The Montana VA Healthcare System Director ensures community care providers utilized by the system are designated as eligible in the Provider Profile Management System and acts on identified opportunities to improve the accuracy of eligibility designations.

To address the noncompliance identified, OIG adopts Premier Group's recommendations to USAID's Director, Office of Acquisition & Assistance:
Determine the allowability of $17,816 in questioned costs and recover any amount that is unallowable.

To address the noncompliance identified, OIG adopts Premier Group's recommendations to USAID's Director, Office of Acquisition & Assistance:
Require DAI Global, LLC to implement policies and procedures to
ensure that the exchange rate applied when billing USAID matches the rate used to pay employees based on the same date.

To address the noncompliance identified, OIG adopts Premier Group's recommendations to USAID's Director, Office of Acquisition & Assistance:
Require DAI Global, LLC to monitor implementation of invoicing
and exchange rate practices to ensure continued compliance with federal regulations and accuracy in billing.

We recommend that USAID/Zimbabwe determine the allowability of $101,722 in unsupported questioned costs identified on pages 14, 15, and 20 of the audit report.

We recommend that USAID/Zimbabwe verify that the implementer corrects the four instances of material noncompliance identified on pages 13, and 20, through 22 of the audit report.

We recommend that USAID/Zimbabwe verify that the implementer corrects the one material weakness in internal control detailed on page 18 of the audit report.

We recommend that the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration work with the Contractor to strengthen procedures related to verifying facility information, such as validating a sample of facilities each year.

We recommend that the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration improve the prominence of the statement on FindTreatment.gov about contacting the Contractor to report an issue with the information listed for a facility, such as placing the statement at the top of the page on the website and using a larger font size and a different color.

We recommend that the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration work with the Contractor to implement additional system edits in the Survey to prevent facilities from submitting the Survey without completing all of the critical information fields.

We recommend that the Acting GSA Administrator develop and implement a consistent methodology to collect daily occupancy data and implement appropriate controls to ensure that the data produced is consistent, reliable, and accurate.

We recommend that the Acting GSA Administrator develop and implement a centralized approach for managing GSA’s internal space and meeting its space utilization target.

We recommend that the Acting GSA Administrator improve the management of GSA’s occupancy agreements (OAs). Specifically, GSA should: (1) conduct a comprehensive review of the Occupancy Agreement Space Inventory System (OASIS) and verify and validate that there are no discrepancies in the OA space reporting for GSA-occupied space, (2) develop a process to periodically review and verify that OAs are properly cancelled in OASIS and ensure that all notifications and supporting documents are properly tracked in OASIS in accordance with the space release process, and (3) correct the $520,155.69 of imputed rent for the PBS space in the U.S. Department…

We recommend that the Acting GSA Administrator update PBS’s Standard Operating Procedure, Release of Space Actions to reflect the current operating environment.

We recommend that FS determine whether the IIJA funds totaling $519,907 in questioned costs spent on salaries of non-Federal wildland firefighters were allowable. As appropriate, recover any costs determined to be unallowable.

We recommend that FS develop and implement additional refresher training(s) for HR Management employees on retirement coding and the input of retirement coverage into FS’ HR system.

We recommend that FS develop and implement a secondary review process to ensure the accuracy of data entered into FS’ HR system for retirement coverage.

We recommend that FS develop and implement an action plan for the overpayments and underpayments identified in FS’ internal review of all salary increase payments. As appropriate, recover any costs determined to be unallowable.

We recommend that FS consider an innovative approach, such as automation, technology, or a combination of both, that would allow for more timely completion of its review of salary increase payments.

We recommend for the current project, the Vice President, Financial Operations and Performance, and the Director, Technology and Innovation Portfolio Management, work with affected business units to identify all boundary system requirements and reporting needs prior to testing.

We recommend for future projects the Vice President, Financial Operations and Performance, and the Director, Technology and Innovation Portfolio Management, include key stakeholders early in the process in order to identify business units’ needs and concerns.

We recommend for the current project, the Vice President, Financial Operations and Performance, and the Director, Technology and Innovation Portfolio Management, develop and manage the GL project based on a complete schedule that includes all business units’ resource needs.

We recommend for future projects the Vice President, Financial Operations and Performance, and the Director, Technology and Innovation Portfolio Management, manage projects using a complete schedule.

We recommend the Vice President, Financial Operations and Performance, and the Director, Technology and Innovation Portfolio Management, (1) hold contractors accountable for performance issues and (2) perform a lessons learned assessment on contractor use on the GL project and document corrective actions for future projects.

Ensure supervisors conduct monitoring activities, including periodic reviews of expendable and nonexpendable inventory and root cause analyses of identified discrepancies to strengthen controls over VA supplies.

Establish routine monitoring for the accountable officer to verify the required use of barcode labels to track and identify supplies and equipment and report deficiencies for barcode replacement.

Address all unaccepted equipment and establish a requirement for custodial officers to routinely accept equipment in Maximo.