Recommendation Dashboard

USAID/West Bank and Gaza determine the allowability of the $2,869.67 in ineligible questioned cost and issue a bill of collection as appropriate.

USAID/West Bank and Gaza review all of Parent Circle-Families Forum salary expenses under its USAID-funded program and collect as appropriate any additional questioned costs.

USAID/Mexico require the Nature Conservancy to adjust and resubmit its work plan and budget to account for the delays experienced in the first year.

USAID/Mexico work with the Nature Conservancy to identify a new local partner to take on the financial system for REDD+ and help manage subgrants with local partners while maintaining the cost share level agreed to in the award.

USAID/Mexico work with Tetra Tech Inc. to provide written status updates on activities approved in the work plans.

USAID/Mexico develop a plan to help the Nature Conservancy improve the monitoring and evaluation component of the M-REDD Program.

USAID/Mexico, Tetra Tech Inc., and the Nature Conservancy implement a plan to define how each indicator is to be tracked.

USAID/Mexico consult with USAID/Washington's Global Climate Change Office on how to calculate and report greenhouse gas emissions reductions and sequestrations for activities related to law,
policy, agreement, or regulation.

USAID/Mexico verify the information reported in the performance management plan and performance plan and report, and revise the reports accordingly.

USAID/Mexico conduct a data quality assessment (which includes verification of data) on its performance plan and report indicators.

USAID/Mexico, Tetra Tech Inc., and the Nature Conservancy implement uniform guidance on how to calculate and report data in the Training Results and Information Network.

USAID/Mexico amend the Tetra Tech Inc. contract to include Clause 52.222-50 of the Federal Acquisitions Regulation.

USAID/Mexico advise Tetra Tech Inc. and the Nature Conservancy to implement appropriate methodologies for planning, allocating, tracking, and reporting earmarked funds.

USAID/Mexico verify that Tetra Tech Inc. corrects the internal control deficiencies identified in this audit report.

USAID/Mexico advise Tetra Tech Inc. and the Nature Conservancy to implement security plans that adequately address the safety and security of their personnel working in regional locations.

USAID/Bangladesh develop a plan documenting its strategy for implementing the Promoting Democratic Institutions and Practices Program and maximizing the program's impact during the time left, taking into account the achievements to date, current status of ongoing activities, and remaining funding available.

USAID/Bangladesh direct its implementer for the Promoting Democratic Institutions and Practices Program to develop a strategy, with milestone dates, outlining the steps it plans to take to establish realistic, sustainable links between its parliamentary and civil society components to make sure the latter fully contributes toward the program's goal of strengthening Bangladesh's Parliament.

USAID/Bangladesh direct its implementer for the Promoting Democratic Institutions and Practices Program to develop a strategy outlining the steps it plans to take to make sure appropriate staff within Bangladesh's Parliament Secretariat, particularly those directly supporting the program's target committees, receive the full extent of training needed to strengthen the capacity of the Secretariat to the level envisioned.

USAID/Bangladesh direct its implementer for the Promoting Democratic Institutions and Practices Program to amend its monitoring and evaluation plan to include procedures requiring that appropriate documentation be maintained to support the results data reported under the program's performance indicators and implementer staff conduct spot testing of the results data reported by its partners during field visits to verify that the reported data are reliable and identify any discrepancies.

USAID/Iraq prepare a written evaluation of project deliverables to determine the extent to which they can be accomplished in the time remaining, and adjust the deliverables and budget based on the results of the evaluation.

USAID/Iraq issue a technical directive to University Research Company to (1) expedite the translation of project materials and training curricula into Kurdish, prioritizing those most needed, and (2) develop a protocol to confirm that future products are translated as appropriate and that interpretation is available for trainees if needed.

USAID/Iraq modify its contract with University Research Company to incorporate tracking of Ministry of Health's cost share.

USAID/Iraq issue a technical directive requiring University Research Company to provide officials at all surveyed primary health care centers with the written results of the center's assessment, information on the planned use of the assessment results, and names of contacts with the project and the Ministry of Health to be sure that they are notified of significant changes at the
primary health care center level.

USAID/Iraq implement procedures to confirm that University Research Company is entering required data on in-country training in the Training Results and Information Network and mission staff members are monitoring that activity.

USAID/Iraq implement procedures to confirm that University Research Company is submitting required documents to the USAID Development Experience Clearinghouse and mission staff members are monitoring submission.

USAID/Iraq issue a technical directive clarifying the expected reporting periods for project plans and reports.

USAID/Iraq document its review of the Primary Health Care Project in Iraq's electronic and hard copy files to confirm that required documents are in the official file, duplicate documents are removed, and draft and final documents are identified clearly.

USAID/Iraq direct University Research Company in writing to finalize the fiscal year 2013 annual work plan and revised performance management plan, and that USAID/Iraq document the approval of these plans within 30 days of their submission.

USAID/Iraq's contracting officer direct prime
contractors in writing to perform an accounting system and internal control review of Sallyport Global Services, which includes verification that Sallyport Global Services accounts for all costs by contract, and that appropriate internal controls, such as segregation of duties and general ledger reconciliation, are in place and functioning as intended.

USAID/Iraq's contracting officer suspend all
future security and life support payments for all prime contractors with Sallyport Global Services subcontracts until Sallyport Global Services implements an adequate cost accounting system.

USAID/Iraq's contracting officer make a written determination about terminating all security and life support subcontracts with Sallyport Global Services and work with USAID's Compliance and Oversight of Partner Performance division to start suspension and/or debarment procedures on Sallyport Global Services.

USAID/Iraq's contracting officer determine the allowability of all security and life support costs incurred by Sallyport Global Services since 2007 and billed to prime contractors, and issue a bill of collection as appropriate.

USAID/Iraq make a written determination about establishing a direct contracting relationship with Sallyport Global Services, or another security and life support provider, to better monitor costs incurred. If USAID/Iraq decides against the direct contracting relationship, USAID/Iraq should develop a written plan to verify that contractors are monitoring costs appropriately and proper surveillance is performed.

USAID/Iraq issue a mission notice with new serious incident reporting procedures and modify all awards with the updated language.

USAID/Pakistan develop an action plan to make sure project goals can be reached by the end of 2016, or, if they cannot, determine whether the agreement signed with the Agribusiness Support Fund should be discontinued.

Recommend that prior to making future awards, USAID/Pakistan implement mission-wide procedures to verify independently that corrective actions are sufficient to address weaknesses identified in its preaward assessments.

USAID/Pakistan implement a plan to confirm that the policies and procedures of the Agribusiness Support Fund related to governance, procurement, human resource, information technology, and agribusiness operations comply with USAID regulations.

USAID/Pakistan follow up with the Agribusiness Support Fund to correct the weaknesses identified in the second preaward assessment report.

USAID/Pakistan implement a strategy to work with the Agribusiness Support Fund to update its finance and procurement manuals and implement the integrated management information system.

USAID/Pakistan implement a plan to monitor the second-year annual plan to confirm that the project can meet its targets, outcomes, and goals.

USAID/Pakistan require the Agribusiness Support Fund to stop advance payments to subrecipients responsible for forming farmer groups until it conducts a thorough preaward responsibility determination.

USAID/Pakistan obtain a revised annual plan from the Agribusiness Support Fund to include specific grant activities that it plans to implement during the year, with benchmarks, milestones, and expected outputs and outcomes.

USAID/Pakistan require the Agricultural Support Fund to record the nonrefundable application fees received from the grantees as income in the project accounts.

The Office of the Chief Financial Officer, in
coordination with USAID/Ghana, conduct an onsite review of USAID/Ghana's implementation of the Public Financial Management Risk Assessment Framework for the Resiliency in Northern Ghana Project to confirm that all material risks were identified and effective mitigation measures developed and implement procedures to verify that all future Stage 2 assessments comply with guidance for the Public Financial Management Risk Assessment Framework.

Office of the Chief Financial Officer review and approve updates to the USAID/South Africa Stage 1 appraisal to verify that fiduciary risks are clearly identified and assessed.

The Office of the Chief Financial Officer revise
Automated Directives System Chapter 220 and Stage 1 and Stage 2 guidance to assign a more active oversight role to the Global Partner Country Systems Risk Management Team, including applying additional quality assurance controls over the assessment process.

The Office of the Chief Financial Officer, in
coordination with the Bureau for Policy, Planning and Learning, revise Automated Directives System Chapter 220 and Public Financial Management Risk Assessment Framework guidance to explain how the Public Financial Management Risk Assessment
Framework and project design relate to one another.

The Office of the Chief Financial Officer, in
coordination with the Bureau for Policy, Planning and Learning, revise Automated Directives System Chapter 220 and Public Financial Management Risk Assessment Framework guidance to elaborate on how technical capacity evaluations should be used
to inform the Public Financial Management Risk Assessment Framework.

The Office of the Chief Financial Officer revise
Stage 2 guidance to describe the importance and types of public financial management testing and require missions to document the type and extent of testing performed in Stage 2 assessments.

The Office of the Chief Financial Officer verify
that USAID/Peru updates its Stage 2 assessment of the Regional Government of San Martin by testing relevant areas of public financial management to determine the effectiveness of system operations and internal controls, identify risks and modify its risk mitigation plan as appropriate, and maintain supporting documentation for all testing
performed to demonstrate due diligence in accordance with Automated Directives System Chapter 220.

USAID/Bosnia-Herzegovina implement a plan to improve outreach with partner banks to promote the Development Credit Authority Program to small and medium-sized enterprises.

USAID/Bosnia-Herzegovina work with Cardno Emerging Markets USA Ltd. to review all unspent balances, close all completed grants, deobligate unspent balances, make the deobligated funds available for future grant activities, and document the results.

USAID/Bosnia-Herzegovina work with Cardno Emerging Markets USA Ltd. to implement procedures to assess whether funds are available in the grant's budget before approving new grant activities.

USAID/Bosnia-Herzegovina implement a plan to conduct a timely gender analysis and incorporate its findings and recommendations in the mission's country assistance strategy.

USAID/Bosnia-Herzegovina finalize the gender analysis report, performance management plan, and mission order pertaining to gender inclusion, and implement them in monitoring and assessing progress.

USAID/Bosnia-Herzegovina require Cardno Emerging Markets USA Ltd. to report in writing sex-disaggregated data for indicators that would help the mission assess its progress toward addressing obstacles women encounter in small and medium-sized enterprises.

USAID/Bosnia-Herzegovina implement a plan to verify and assess the quality of data reported by Cardno Emerging Markets USA Ltd.

USAID/Bosnia-Herzegovina require Cardno Emerging Markets USA Ltd. to strengthen its data quality and verification procedures and document the results.

USAID/Bosnia-Herzegovina work with Cardno Emerging Markets USA Ltd. to review and adjust the project's targets to make them realistic, and document the results.

USAID/Bosnia-Herzegovina direct Cardno Emerging Markets USA Ltd. in writing to reassess its grant with Adventure Tourism Association and either implement a plan to help the Adventure Tourism Association achieve sustainability or cancel the grant.

USAID/Bosnia-Herzegovina work with Cardno Emerging Markets USA Ltd. to implement procedures to evaluate sustainability thoroughly when reviewing grant applications.

USAID/West Bank and Gaza direct Development Alternatives International to submit the required environmental documentation forms, pesticide evaluation report, and safe use action plan in a timely manner and do so in future activities under the Compete Project.

USAID/West Bank and Gaza direct Development Alternatives Inc. and the contracting officer's representative to institute an internal control system for tracking environmental compliance under the Compete Project.

USAID/West Bank and Gaza provide training to Development Alternatives Inc. Compete Project employees on environmental compliance and document whether to expand this training mission-wide.

USAID/West Bank and Gaza direct Development Alternatives Inc. to implement a gender strategy for the Compete Project and, based on the results, include gender-sensitive indicators in its performance monitoring plan.

USAID/West Bank and Gaza direct Development Alternatives Inc. to use performance indicators in the Compete Project's performance monitoring and evaluation plan that measure results toward improving the capacity of the business associations and service providers critical to the four sectors.

USAID/Liberia work with the National Malaria
Control Program and Management Sciences for Health Inc. to address all outstanding issues related to the private pharmacy program, document the resolution, and implement a plan for pharmacies to be provided with sufficient amounts of rapid diagnostic tests and artemisinin-based combination therapies to meet their needs in diagnosing and treating malaria patients.

USAID/Liberia work with Management Sciences for Health Inc. to implement a plan to update private pharmacies periodically on progress that the organization has made to provide them with rapid diagnostic tests and artemisinin-based combination therapies.

USAID/Liberia work with the National Malaria Control Program to follow up and address the remaining findings in writing from the Management for Science Health Inc.'s quarterly surveys.

We recommend that USAID/Liberia require partners to take the necessary steps to confirm adherence to branding and marking guidelines, and document the results.