Open Recommendations

We recommend that management implement key monitoring controls to ensure that corrective action plans are implemented to remediate control deficiencies identified in a timely manner. In addition, increase oversight, review, and accountability over the process among various offices and directorates within the Department.

Develop and implement a formal, documented grant closeout process that includes clear policies and procedures aligned with federal requirements.

Provide training to relevant staffs on the new grant closeout policies and procedures to ensure consistent understanding and application across all grant programs.

Update the NARA 111, NARA Directives, for the development, approval, and maintenance of internal policies and SOPs.

Ensure a NARA executive oversees and monitors the periodic review and update of the policies and SOPs.

Update the travel policy and continue efforts to ensure that all written policies and procedures are reviewed and revised in a timely manner.

We recommend that FWS require the Department to resolve the $36,588 ($27,443 Federal share) in questioned costs related to inequitably allocated leave charges billed to the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program.

We recommend that FWS require the Department to develop an internal mechanism to ensure that all subawards over $30,000 are reported through SAM.gov, as required under 2 C.F.R. 170, Appendix A(a)

We recommend that FWS require the Department to develop and implement a written policy for leave allocation consistent with 2 C.F.R. 200.405(d) and 200.431(b).

We recommend that FWS require the Department to provide training to ensure employees charging to the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program understand the Federal requirements for allocating leave across multiple projects and activities.

We recommend that FWS require the Department to provide training on public reporting requirements to all employees responsible for the administration of subawards.

We recommend that ONRR update its policies and procedures to establish conditions that warrant or require a referral to ONRR Enforcement, such as the maximum number of informal compliance attempts or maximum number of days since an effort to obtain compliance was initiated, to provide sufficient time to resolve the case before expiration of the statute of limitations.

We recommend that ONRR update its policies and procedures to define conditions that may warrant the immediate issuance of Notices of Noncompliance without additional Office of Enforcement attempts to follow up and gain compliance (for example, when companies disregarded compliance and collection attempts from the referrers).

We recommend that ONRR update policies and procedures with clear instructions on the steps necessary to ensure that companies have achieved full compliance, including searching for collateral violations and coordination with other ONRR divisions for verification that there are no other related violations prior to closing the case.

We recommend that ONRR establish a process to periodically evaluate identified cases of noncompliance that have not been referred to enforcement to determine whether open cases may require additional actions, such as an enforcement referral or escalation.

We recommend that ONRR update its policies and procedures to prioritize referring cases related to unpaid royalties to the Office of Enforcement based on defined conditions, to include dollar thresholds, material significance, or when companies are repeat offenders.

We recommend that ONRR update policies and procedures to require prompt issuance of a Failure to Correct Civil Penalty when violations communicated in the Notice of Noncompliance are not cured by the due date.

We recommend that ONRR establish procedures to identify unpaid royalties related to missing reporting cases and issue Immediate Liability Civil Penalties unless an exception is warranted and adequately documented.

We recommend that ONRR update procedures for instances when the Office of Enforcement decides to forego issuing a penalty when such penalty was warranted, including documenting the reasons for such determination.

We recommend that ONRR provide training on updated procedures to ensure all investigators consistently pursue issuing penalties when warranted or document any exceptions.

We recommend that ONRR evaluate and report on the compliance of the responsible parties associated with the 25 cases of insufficient enforcement actions to determine if the entities corrected the identified violations.

We recommend that ONRR update the Office of Enforcement's policies and procedures to ensure coordination with the surface management agency to verify well status or well shut-in requests prior to closure of unenforceable cases or archiving referrals.

We recommend that ONRR update the enforcement peer review process to include verification that a search for collateral violations was performed and, for cases closed as unenforceable, that coordination with the surface management agency was performed.

We recommend that ONRR evaluate and report on the compliance of the responsible parties associated with the six closed reporting cases to ensure each company submitted all the required reports and payments or pursue appropriate enforcement actions.

It is recommended that GPO strengthen the controls related to the review and approval of employee separation personnel actions and reinforce the requirements in OPM's Guide to Processing Personnel Actions, specifically as it relates to the timeliness of review and approval.