Open Recommendations

Review the four $200,000 Indemnity Reviews identified for CY 2020 in California and Florida, and if adequate support is not provided, recover $1,082,604 in indemnity payments.

To strengthen HHS' enterprise-wide cybersecurity program, based on our reviews across the Department, we recommend that HHS continue to work with the OpDivs to implement automated CDM solutions to increase awareness and improve mitigation efforts across all of HHS.

To strengthen HHS' enterprise-wide cybersecurity program, based on our reviews across the Department, we recommend that HHS confirm that the OpDivs contingency plan testing is being performed within the timeframe required by HHS policy.

We recommend that the HHS OCIO work with the OpDivs to ensure that all OpDivs implement the capability to deny access to mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, from connecting to the network if the device's software is outdated.

We recommend that the HHS OCIO work with the OpDivs to ensure that all OpDivs complete its discovery of all information systems and maintain an up- to-date inventory of systems, software, and licenses.

We recommend that the HHS OCIO work with the OpDivs to ensure that all OpDivs complete its discovery of all information systems and maintain an up- to-date inventory of systems, software, and licenses.

We recommend that the HHS OCIO work with the OpDivs to ensure that all OpDiv's SCRM policies and procedures are being consistently implemented across the organization and ensure their execution.

We recommend that the HHS OCIO work with the OpDivs to ensure that all OpDivs finalize and implement draft policies and procedures to include the review of suppliers or contractors for risks to the organization's systems and system components.

We recommend that the HHS OCIO work with the OpDivs to ensure that all OpDivs implement the requirement to resolve high and critical vulnerabilities within 30 and 15 days respectively and create POA&Ms to monitor and resolve the weakness in a timely manner.

We recommend that the HHS OCIO work with the OpDivs to ensure that secure configuration settings are being maintained as defined by existing policy.

We recommend that the HHS OCIO work with the OpDivs to ensure that all operational systems have multifactor or an alternative strong authentication mechanism (PIV or an Identity Assurance Level (IAL)3/Authenticator Assurance Level (AAL) 3 credential) for both privileged and non-privileged users.

We recommend that the HHS OCIO work with the OpDivs to ensure that policies and procedures for identity and access management are being consistently implemented and proper safeguards (i.e., logging, monitoring, review of privileged user activity) are developed across the Department to ensure their execution.

Rec. 2.a.1: The DoD OIG recommended that the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment review and update DoD Directive 4705.01E to update the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Sustainment's oversight responsibilities over the Executive Agent to include that the assessment of the Executive Agent's effectiveness required in Enclosure 2, paragraph 2c, be produced in writing.

Rec. 2.a.2: The DoD OIG recommended that the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment review and update DoD Directive 4705.01E to update the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Sustainment's oversight responsibilities over the Executive Agent to include written communication to the DoD Executive Agent and DoD Components when nonperformance of responsibilities is identified.

Rec. 2.b: The DoD OIG recommended that the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment review and update DoD Directive 4705.01E to correct the internal references in Enclosures 2 and 3.

Rec. 2.c.1: The DoD OIG recommended that the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment review and update DoD Directive 4705.01E to update the Joint Water Resources Management Action Group Charter within DoD Directive 4705.01E to clarify the roles and responsibilities of the Joint Water Resources Management Action Group. Specifically, the updates should identify the specific DoD Components that should attend the Joint Water Resources Management Action Group and instruct those Components to issue guidance designating an office of primary responsibility for attending and communicate those designations to the Executive Agent.

Rec. 2.c.2: The DoD OIG recommended that the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment review and update DoD Directive 4705.01E to update the Joint Water Resources Management Action Group Charter within DoD Directive 4705.01E to clarify the roles and responsibilities of the Joint Water Resources Management Action Group. Specifically, the updates should remove the requirement for the Joint Water Resources Management Action Group to develop and maintain an improved, expanded, and automated water resources intelligence database for the rapid retrieval of selected data, as it is already a requirement for the Executive Agent to ensure this responsibility is…

Rec. 3.a: The DoD OIG recommended that the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment develop and issue a DoD Instruction to supplement the DoD Directive 4705.01E with overarching procedures for implementing the policy. At a minimum, the Instruction should include and update definitions for terms used throughout the Directive, such as "prioritized force materiel requirements," to ensure a common understanding across DoD Components.

Rec. 3.b: The DoD OIG recommended that the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment develop and issue a DoD Instruction to supplement the DoD Directive 4705.01E with overarching procedures for implementing the policy. At a minimum, the Instruction should, in coordination with the Executive Agent for land?based water resources, identify the specific documents, information, and support that DoD Components must provide to the Executive Agent as well as deadlines for their provision.

Rec. B.3.a: The DoD OIG recommended that the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Procurement) to develop and implement a requirement to provide periodic training on the DoD Instruction 7640.02 reporting requirements to contracting officials involved in Contract Audit Followup system reporting with an emphasis on: 1. Describing the DoD contracting officer's responsibility to maintain Contract Audit Followup records. 2. Entering accurate data in the Contract Audit Followup system data fields, including the Questioned Costs Sustained, Resolution Date, Disposition Date, and Status data fields. 3. The importance of timely dispositioning audit reports within 12 months of the audit report date.

Rec. C.3.a: The DoD OIG recommended that the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Procurement), develop and implement a requirement to provide periodic training to termination contracting officers that covers the requirement to estimate funds needed for settling the termination and recommend the release of excess funds.

Rec. C.3.b: The DoD OIG recommended that the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Procurement), develop and implement a requirement to provide periodic training to termination contracting officers that covers the requirement to document prenegotiation objectives in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation 15.406-1(b).

On November 29, 2022, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration recommended that the Director and Deputy Director, Submission Processing, Wage and Investment Division, protect the identity of IRS employees signing manually generated tax processing correspondence by removing their first name and replacing it with the employee’s title, Mr., Ms., or a gender-neutral title, in accordance with Chief Counsel Notice N(30)000-317.

The Commissioner, Wage and Investment Division, should ensure that all tax processing correspondence is revised to remove the signing IRS employee’s first name and replace it with the employee’s title.

Reconsider the National Personnel Records Center’s definition of medical emergency, make any necessary changes to internal policy, communicate the definition to veterans and stakeholders, and implement procedures for how medical emergency requests are made and how they are validated.