Recommendation Dashboard

USAID/Kenya critically evaluate its economic growth activities to determine whether they are designed to achieve the mission's strategic goals, and determine whether funds could be more effectively allocated.

USAID/Kenya implement procedures to evaluate periodically the extent to which economic growth activities are contributing towards achieving stated strategic goals, including an analysis of programming options.

USAID/Kenya remind its implementing partners involved in policy analysis and advocacy of policy advocacy objectives to help ensure that implementing partners advocate for policies consistent with USAID strategy.

USAID/Kenya (a) review its fiscal year 2009 Full Performance Plan and Report submission, (b) identify which figures are inaccurate, and (c) revise the report accordingly to prevent others from relying on inaccurate figures in the future.

USAID/Kenya review monitoring and evaluation documents, including the performance monitoring plans for implementing partners and the mission, and make the necessary changes to ensure that performance indicators are consistently defined.

USAID/Kenya communicate to all implementing partners the way performance reporting should be prepared, stressing the need to maintain supporting documentation for all reported information.

USAID/Kenya develop a schedule for agreement officer's technical representatives and contracting officer's technical representatives to review periodically the performance reporting systems and information for the agreements and contracts they oversee.

USAID/Nepal adjust, if cost-effective, the eligibility requirements for targeted beneficiaries of the Education for Income Generation Program to include a limited number of disadvantaged residents older than 30 who could
benefit from program interventions so as to allow youth in more remote, sparsely populated communities to participate in the program.

USAID/Nepal direct its contractor to modify the program's database to include actual final test scores, instead of recording only pass-fail information, to enable the contractor to identify weaknesses and tailor its interventions to address the educational needs of beneficiaries.

USAID/Nepal direct its contractor to include final test scores in its formal reporting procedures.

USAID/Nepal determine the cause of the lower tests score in the Karnali Zone and make adjustments, as necessary, to tailor the literacy, life skills, and entrepreneurship training component of the Education for Income
Generation Program to better assist beneficiaries there.

USAID/Nepal work with its contractor to include more math content in its literacy, life skills, and entrepreneurship training curriculum.

USAID/Nepal clarify the " retaining quality employment " indicator it is using to measure the impact of the Education for Income Generation Program's vocational education component.

USAID/Nepal take steps to ensure that assessment results are accurately attributed from the statistical samples to the rest of the population and that accurate projections are reflected in upcoming progress reports.

USAID/Pakistan revise the implementer's third-year implementation plan to establish ambitious yet achievable targets, outcomes, and goals, and modify the program's cooperative agreement as required to reflect these changes.

USAID/Pakistan develop and implement a plan to collect baseline data so that progress in achieving the program's outcomes and goals can be measured throughout the remainder of the program.

USAID/Pakistan develop written procedures to document, track, and take corrective action on all deficiencies identified in reports independent6 monitoring reviewers.

USAID/Pakistan verify that the material internal control weaknesses identified in the financial review are corrected and document the results.

USAID/Pakistan make a management decision regarding the allowability of $767,841 in questioned costs ($432,482 ineligible and $335,359 unsupported) identified in the financial review and recover those costs determined to be unallowable.

USAID/Pakistan issue a mission order that establishes security standards to be used when reviewing implementers' security plans and when collaborating with implementing partners throughout implementation.

USAID/Pakistan revisit the implementing partner's approved request for additional security funding, document any adjustments needed, and make a written determination regarding the provision of funding.

USAID/Pakistan develop and implement a periodic training program for mission staff that clearly defines the authority, responsibility, and accountability of agreement officers, technical representatives, and program staff, including their communications with implementers, to support an effective management control environment. Because of the constant changes in personnel, we recommend that the training materials be made available on USAID/Pakistan's Intranet for all new arrivals to review in the interim between training sessions.

USAID/Pakistan develop and implement a plan, in compliance with Federal Acquisition Regulation 37.114 and Office of Management and Budget guidance, to provide proper oversight and management of contractors that support contract and agreement administration.

USAID/Pakistan perform an analysis, as a template for the mission, to establish the sufficiency of the mission's internal capability for control and management of contractors working on the Livelihood Development Program, taking into account the goals of the program, the complexity of the work, the need for specialized skills, and the effect of contactor default on program performance.

USAID/Pakistan develop and implement a mission workforce plan with guidelines for the consideration of increasing the use of U.S. direct-hire personnel for positions engaged in services closely associated with inherently governmental functions.

USAID/Pakistan develop and implement definitive plans for the Livelihood Development Program in regard to the shift toward more direct funding to Pakistani institutions, including incremental funding, budgets, transition plans, and any other information that may require modifications of relevant agreements and contracts. Moreover, we recommend that USAID/Pakistan designate appropriate personnel to communicate these plans to implementers and the Government of Pakistan.

USAID's Office of Acquisition and Assistance, Cost, Audit and Support, determine the allowability of $325,275 in questioned costs and collect, as appropriate, any disallowed amounts from CARE USA.

USAID's Office of Acquisition and Assistance, Cost, Audit and Support, follow up with CARE USA to ensure that the auditor's recommendations in Findings 2009-01 to 2009-39 (page numbers 70 to 226 of the audit report) have been implemented.

USAID/Lebanon develop and implement a plan to communicate results of recommendations from audits, assessments, and reviews to its implementers in a timely manner.

USAID/Lebanon develop and implement procedures with the agreement officer's technical representative at the beginning of each program activity to establish methodologies and sampling
techniques to conduct appropriate data verification of information provided by the implementing partners in accordance with the terms and conditions of the program activity.

USAID/Lebanon create a centralized program filing system that includes the first or original agreement, subsequent agreements and modifications, and other identified agreement documents necessary for management review.

USAID/Lebanon's agreement officer's technical representatives, in conjunction with the agreement officer, develop and implement a written plan to ensure that agreements are modified to include relevant provisions, such as the intellectual property rights clause, as
appropriate over the life of the award.

USAID/Lebanon develop and implement a plan to document the review of program activities and communicate potential sustainability or vulnerability problems to the agreement officer
expeditiously.

USAID/Lebanon document procedures to develop, maintain, and communicate explicit system requirements, protocols, and procedures to maintain information technology in an appropriate
activity approval document and in the subsequent solicitations and awards.

USAID/Lebanon, in coordination with the agreement officer, develop and implement a plan that requires capitalization of programs with information technology components during the asset's development phase.

USAID/Lebanon conduct an audit of locally incurred cost for software programs developed under the Assistance to Sustain Local Democratic Practices in Lebanon program to determine finite
values for the programs.

USAID/Lebanon develop a schedule for the implementer to submit to the mission a complete list of USAID-funded equipment with a program description and assigned values.

USAID/Lebanon develop and implement a procedure to perform end-use checks as part of its routine site visits and retain documentation of the equipment reviewed.

USAID/Iraq require its implementing partners to establish procedures to monitor the reporting of security incidents to ensure that such incidents are properly reported in accordance with Embassy and USAID guidance and verify that each implementing partner has completed this corrective action.

USAID/Iraq provide training for the implementing partners to coordinate and reinforce roles and responsibilities and to address control weaknesses in security incident reporting requirements.

USAID/Iraq require its implementing partners to establish and maintain records of reported serious security incidents and verify that each implementing partner has completed this corrective action.

USAID/Iraq develop and provide training for its agreement/contracting officer's technical representatives for their roles in receiving, reviewing, and forwarding serious security incident reports to the designated USAID/Iraq mailbox and other required security incident responsibilities.

USAID/Iraq request Embassy Baghdad to issue instructions for private security contractors and their personnel in accordance with Interim Final Rule 32 CFR 159.4(c).

USAID/Iraq clarify in writing the relevant sections of the Local Compensation Plan for the Bangkok payroll office to understand the types of allowances to be included in the computation of unused annual leave.

USAID/Iraq establish written procedures to obtain the computation package of severance and retirement payments from the Bangkok payroll office for verification prior to payment processing.

USAID/Iraq determine the amount of underpayments in unused leave and severance pay to Foreign Service National employees, and pay the individuals any amounts due.

USAID/Iraq remind staff of its overtime policy and the procedures for recording overtime in time and attendance sheets.

USAID/Iraq establish procedures to require the financial management office to review time sheets for overtime hours recorded and resolve discrepancies before entering the time into the electronic time and attendance system.

USAID/Iraq clarify in writing the different overtime rates and the standard workweek in Iraq, as stated in the Local Compensation Plan, for the Bangkok payroll office.

USAID/Iraq recompute the amounts of underpayments made to employees and any amounts due, and prepare bills of collection to recover overpayments due from employees.

USAID/Iraq reinforce to all staff the mission's overtime approval processes.

Modify the Payment Request Form (PRF) to specifically identify requests for advance payments to vendors.

Provide training to Fiscal Agents and other in-country personnel to explain how to properly record each line of the PRF based on supporting documents and how MCC financial statements are affected by MCA activities and transactions.

Establish a comprehensive methodology and/or standard process for obtaining, recording, and reporting yearend accruals which covers all MCAs and funds and include invoiced and rendered services which have not been recorded in the yearend trial balance.

Establish consistent communication with NBC and the MCAs for understanding the process and methodology developed.

Perform quality control procedures over amounts obtained and recorded. Review the amounts posted for reasonableness, accuracy, and completeness.

We recommend that the MCC Department of Compact Operations and Division of Finance: Performance of Timely and Complete MCA Audits Recommendation No. 6: Implement a process for coordinating with MCAs, audit firms, and the OIG to ensure all parties are adequately informed of the progress of all audits to ensure that MCA audits are completed in accordance with the compact.

We recommend that the MCC Department of Compact Operations and Division of Finance: Establish and implement a process to ensure that MCAs prepare and make available for audit the status of advances to contractors, retention balances and data necessary for MCC to properly report its accruals.

We recommend that MCC Management and Department of Compact Operations: Establish and implement a process to ensure that all personnel responsible for QFRs to guide them to submit accurately prepared and properly approved QFRs and Disbursement Requests in a timely manner.

We recommend that MCC Management and Department of Compact Operations:
Establish and implement a process to ensure that funds are periodically reviewed to determine if MCAs should submit final QFRs to record deobligations for funds no longer needed.

We recommend that MCC Department of Compact Operations coordinate with appropriate management levels to implement a formal process for administering 609(g) funds in all countries not managed by either MCC or an MCA.

We recommend that MCC Department of Compact Operations, in coordination with the Division of Finance monitor on a quarterly basis the cumulative obligation and disbursements of all countries that have received 609(g) funds and communicate with the MCAs to determine if there is still an immediate need to maintain excess 609(g) funds that have not been disbursed. The input from MCC Department of Compact Operations must be documented. Deobligate 609(g) funds that are no longer considered an immediate need to the MCA/Partnering Country.

We recommend that MCC Department of Compact Operations strengthen its CPS Signature Card process to include a MCC authorizing signature, effective and termination dates, to include an annual or other periodic review process between MCC, its financial service provider, and the MCAs to ensure that signature cards are kept on file for only active users of its CPS payment requesting system.

We recommend that the MCC management and Department of Compact Operations:
Develop policies and procedures for Program Closure of Compacts that have been suspended or terminated to ensure that programs, activities, and assets are properly accounted for, and final disposition is reported to MCC.

We recommend that the MCC management and Department of Compact Operations: Establish guidelines for Fiscal Accountability Directors, Fiscal Agents, as well as personnel in the Division of Finance and MCC's financial services provider to make them fully aware of any restrictions to process payments made during a program or compact close-out period.

We recommend that the MCC Division of Finance continue to follow USAID's progress toward elimination of cash balance differences between USAID and Treasury and timely clearing of suspense account items in order to monitor MCC's risk of potential misstatements.

Strengthen its quality reviews over financial statements to validate that information presented is accurate, complete, and complies with accounting standards and reporting guidance.

Establish quality control procedures to document during the review process any discrepancies, errors, and other anomalies that have occurred to provide an audit trail of issues that may require on-top adjustments.

The Chief Financial Officer: (a) provide changes in its crosswalk to the Department of Health and Human Services in a timely manner to ensure that the Department of Health and Human Services charges all third-party transactions to appropriate appropriations; and (b) research and resolve all suspense items within the time stipulated by Treasury.

The Chief Financial Officer: (a) intensify efforts to reconcile loan balances with Midland's ELS, (b) ensure that all transactions transmitted to Phoenix via the interface are properly posted to Phoenix, and (c) complete debt restructuring reconciliations within 90 days after Midland records debt restructurings in ELS.

The Chief Financial Officer develop and implement procedures to ensure that: (a) adequate supporting documentation is maintained for all purchases, transfers, and dispositions of property, plant, and equipment; (b) communication between USAID's Overseas Management Division and Financial Management Division is maintained to ensure that all the equipment are reconciled annually; and (c) disposed property and equipment are removed from its financial records in a timely manner.