Audit of USAID/West Africa's P.L. 480 Title II Food Aid in Support of the Livelihood Expansion and Asset Development Program in Sierra Leone

USAID's Office of Food for Peace (a) conduct a cost-benefit analysis of using containers to ship all food commodities and (b) take appropriate actions on all future Multi-Year Assistance Programs based on the results of the analysis.

USAID's Office of Food for Peace in conjunction with its cooperating sponsor, develop a plan of action with a timetable to (a) upgrade storage facilities, including roof and wall repairs, and (b) implement measures to ensure that warehouse staff are aware of the Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere and USAID Office of Food for Peace storage guidelines.

USAID's Office of Food for Peace direct the cooperating sponsor to develop a plan to limit the amount of time between food delivery and distribution and to record the reason(s) for food distributions that take place more than 12 hours after the food delivery.

USAID's Office of Food for Peace direct the cooperating sponsor to develop a list of documents to be retained at the distribution site and require that this documentation is verified during postdistribution monitoring visits.

Office of Food for Peace determine and request from the cooperating sponsor the additional information needed on the loss reports to form a conclusion on whether the loss claims will be waived.

USAID's Office of Food for Peace work with the cooperating sponsor to (a) reconcile the loss amounts reported by Catholic Relief Services and the internal forensics auditor team and determine the correct value and types of commodities that were diverted by Africare staff in October 2007, and (b) determine whether to waive or collect the loss, and implement the decision.

Office of Food for Peace establish and implement a plan to (a) determine and share information on the status of the outstanding marine and port loss claims, and (b) ensure that the Office of Food for Peace staff as well as the cooperating sponsor follow up with U.S. Department of Agriculture on marine and port loss claim reports on a regular basis, perform sufficient review of the claims to determine responsibility for the commodity losses, and ensure that unresolved claims are reviewed and
addressed in a timely manner.

USAID's Office of Food for Peace and its cooperating sponsor develop a plan and timetable for future multiyear assistance programs to (a) sensitize communities benefiting from the food aid, and (b) mark projects and sites supported with food aid.