Open Recommendations

The IPA recommended that Fiscal Service develop, document, and implement policies, procedures, and controls to conduct periodic reviews of actual UNIX and database settings against the security configuration baselines.

The IPA recommended that Fiscal Service provide logging and monitoring of security related events to include the retention of evidence of reviews performed.

The IPA recommended that Fiscal Service develop a baseline of essential security settings and specify that baseline as the standard to be observed.

The IPA recommended that Fiscal Service implement corrective actions to address all vulnerabilities associated with the baseline enforcement to include removing the three default user accounts on UNIX servers.

The IPA recommended that Fiscal Service perform a review of the current system environment against the CMDB.

The IPA recommended that Fiscal Service perform a risk assessment over the subject matter and determine the appropriate personnel to be responsible for monitoring and updating the CMDB.

The IPA recommended that Fiscal Service update policy and procedures related to the above recommendations and disseminate the documentation to enforce such policy and procedures.

We recommend that BLM develop policies and procedures for identifying and tracking helium-producing wells to ensure helium agreements are established and enforce agreement clauses for annual reporting.

We recommend that BLM resolve the $48,000 in uncollected penalties.

We recommend that BLM establish a records management system for tracking helium agreements.

We recommend that BLM develop policies and procedures for monitoring helium agreements to ensure they are current.

We recommend that BLM conduct a thorough review of royalty payment data to identify potential delinquencies and resolve any delinquencies identified, including resolving the $851,000 of potential delinquencies previously reported.

We recommend that BLM develop policies and procedures for identifying, tracking, and following up on delinquent companies.

We recommend that BLM establish a policy for conducting reviews of helium companies to conform to ONRR practices, including establishing a risk-based strategy and independent verification of company-provided production data to assist the Federal Leased Lands team in performing efficient oversight of helium companies, which would put the team's $96,385 in estimated yearly salary expenses associated with inefficient oversight practices to better use in the future.

The Executive Director ensures staff receive education about badge holders’ responsibilities in preventing unauthorized access to VA facilities and computer systems and safeguarding electronic databases including electronic health care records.

The Executive Director ensures staff monitor patient care areas for expired, damaged, and contaminated medications and remove them as needed.

The Executive Director ensures staff store medications in pharmaceutical grade refrigerators.

The Executive Director ensures primary care staffing is sufficient for patients to receive appropriate health care.

The Executive Director reviews staffing levels for the Housing and Urban Development–Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing program and takes action as needed.

The Medical Center Director ensures staff properly store clean medical equipment.

We recommend that the FAS Commissioner resume iterations of the Competitive Pricing Initiative at the MAS Program level to identify, address, and reduce price variability.

We recommend that the FAS Commissioner strengthen policies and procedures to: address data inaccuracies within FAS pricing tools; and ensure bilateral contract modifications are submitted and approved prior to catalog changes.

We recommend that the FAS Commissioner provide additional guidance to contracting officers regarding adequate sampling techniques for large catalogs to ensure information accuracy.

We recommend that the FAS Commissioner inform federal customer agencies that they should perform separate and independent price determinations because significant price variability puts federal customer agencies at risk of overpaying for products on MAS contracts.

We recommend that the FAS Commissioner increase oversight and implement additional controls related to temporary price reductions.