Recommendation Dashboard

We recommend that the acting Vice President for the Department of Policy and International Relations develop a formal policy and written procedures on anti-trafficking that at a minimum includes: Defining how Millennium Challenge Corporation will address the issue of trafficking in development and implementation phases; Defining how Millennium Challenge Corporation will comply with U.S. Government anti-trafficking policies; Identifying actions Millennium Challenge Corporation should take when a country's tier rating declines; Identifying how Millennium Challenge Corporation will monitor countries' tier ratings and anti-trafficking efforts; and Identifying how Millennium Challenge Corporation will coordinate with the Department of State on receiving information on countries'\' anti-trafficking efforts and tier ratings.

We recommend that the acting Vice President for the Department of Policy and International Relations develop written guidance on actions it plans to take when countries are designated as Special Watch for the first year and subsequent consecutive years.

M/OAA/CAS determine the allowability of $851,292 in questioned costs and collect, as appropriate, any disallowed amounts from CARE USA.

M/OAA/CAS follow up with CARE USA to ensure that the auditor's recommendations in Findings 2008-01 to 2008-73 (page nos. 60 to 251 of the Fiscal Year 2008 audit report of CARE USA) have been implemented.

M/OAA/CAS follow up with CARE USA to ensure that USAID accounts were credited for the funds embezzled in the fraud cases described in Finding 2008-06.

USAID/Dominican Republic, in conjunction with the Rural Economic Diversification project contractor, develop a written implementation plan to appropriately focus contractor efforts and resources on the original goal of cluster development.

USAID/Dominican Republic prepare and approve new written performance indicators that are more likely to determine the progress achieved by specific clusters assisted by the project and the sustainability of the clusters.

USAID/Dominican Republic develop, in conjunction with its implementing partner and the Development Credit Authority lender, a system to allow the mission to review proposed guaranteed loans to ensure that these loans are limited to diversified products supported by the project.

USAID/Dominican Republic develop, in conjunction with its implementing partner and the Development Credit Authority lender, a system to allow the mission to review proposed guaranteed loans to ensure that these loans have longer maturities and primarily support capital investment.

USAID/Senegal, in conjunction with Research Triangle Institute, develop a written plan with a timetable to conduct training for all staff who are responsible for collecting, compiling, and reporting data-administrative staff and personnel responsible for spraying.

USAID/Senegal develop a written plan for cross-checking and verifying data on reported indoor residual spraying and maintain support of their verification of reported results.

USAID/Senegal review the supporting documentation provided by the implementing partner and verify that outstanding advances totaling $645,000 have been properly reconciled.

USAID/Senegal establish written internal control procedures to improve storage conditions of bed nets and provide transparency over the voucher programs in future projects.

USAID/Colombia perform a sustainability review of the projects to identify those that can optimize the impact of its alternative development program and direct its remaining resources under both contracts to the types of activities that have demonstrated a strong potential for sustainability.

USAID/Colombia, establish defined procedures to sample on a routine basis the accuracy of the contractor's estimating methodologies and quality and accuracy of the underlying data that serves as the basis for reported results.

USAID/Colombia, require Associates in Rural Development to strengthen its internal controls, such as providing training to its subimplementing partners, to decrease the risks of errors in the results data collected and reported at the operating level.

USAID/Mali reflect the Academy for Educational Development's failure to retain pertinent information regarding the project activities in the contractor's performance evaluation.

USAID/Mali obtain adequate documentation from the Education Development Center for the $20,500 in unsupported questioned costs related to per diem payments or issue a bill for collection, and

USAID/Mali follow up with the Education Development Center regarding its internal review to determine if additional amounts should be questioned and request a bill for collection for those amounts.

USAID/Mali verify that the Education Development Center established adequate controls over the Road to Reading Program's per diem payments.

USAID/Mali conduct expanded data quality assessments, including a thorough review of data validity and reliability for all standard and customized performance indicators.

USAID/Mali require a written site visit report to document the purpose and the results of each visit and specify that each site visit include the confirmation of data validity and reliability, when possible.

USAID/Mali schedule the monitoring and evaluation specialist for the Certificate Course in Monitoring and Evaluation scheduled for January to March 2010.

USAID/Mali work closely with its implementing partner to finalize the performance management plan for the Education Decentralization Program.

USAID/Mali engage in dialogue with Education Development Center and the Ministry of Education to enforce the program's contract with the radio stations and minimize the broadcasting of other content.

USAID/Mali require partners to implement branding plans and take the necessary steps to ensure adherence to USAID branding guidelines.

USAID/Mali develop a realistic, multiyear education program budget to ensure that future activities are carefully planned to reduce the existing and projected pipeline and ensure compliance with the Agency's forward funding regulations. The budget should include a realistic assessment of historical and future expenditures, the time required to complete procurement actions, and the risk of unanticipated implementation delays.

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.

USAID/Afghanistan negotiate a new memorandum of agreement with the Afghan Ministry of Education to formalize a working relationship between the mission, Creative Associates International, Inc., and the Ministry of Education to be used for accomplishing tasks and activities for the remaining period of the Building Education Support Systems for Teachers
Project.

USAID/Afghanistan require Creative Associates International, Inc., to submit all pertinent information related to all Building Education Support Systems for Teachers Project subcontract modifications for which the mission has not been notified. After receipt of the pertinent information from Creative Associates International, Inc., the mission
should determine and document the acceptability of the subcontract modifications.

USAID/Afghanistan require a closeout audit of the subcontract between Creative Associates International, Inc., and JBS International, Inc.-Aguirre Division related to the Building Education Support Systems for Teachers Project and take all corrective actions detailed in the closeout audit report.

USAID/Afghanistan require Creative Associates International, Inc. and its subcontractors to provide documented proof of compliance with requirements of USAID Automated Directive System 320, "Branding and Marking", or submit a written request to the mission for a waiver from the requirements.

USAID/Pakistan provide immediate written guidance to the contractor and to the Federally Administered Tribal Areas governmental institutions to identify contractual arrangements that would be in force to implement the Capacity Building for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas Development Program as the mission transitions to USAID's new implementation strategy.

USAID/Pakistan develop and issue implementation plans, following best practices, to (1) assign the 260 computers (and related equipment) to the Federally Administered Tribal Areas governmental institutions and (2) transfer the 140 laptop computers to the North-West Frontier Province and ensure that the computer equipment will be used for intended purposes and that maximum benefits will be derived from this equipment.

USAID/Pakistan take immediate steps to confirm the existence of 72 laptop computers. If the laptop computers cannot be produced, the mission should issue a bill of collection to the contractor for $1,400 for each missing laptop.

USAID/Pakistan require the contractor to develop and put into use detailed implementation plans for both the geographic information system and the planning commission database under development for use by the Federally Administered Tribal Areas Secretariat. The plans should identify roles and responsibilities to be carried out by the contractor and others and should contain best practices of systems development, such as obtaining approval by stakeholders, establishing target dates for completing user manuals, training users and administrators, and preparing for the final handover of day-to-day operations and maintenance to the Secretariat.

USAID/Nigeria develop a plan with a timetable to conduct training for all administrative staff and health workers responsible for collecting, compiling, and reporting site data.

USAID/Nigeria develop a plan for cross-checking and verifying reported data used to make management decisions and maintain support of their verification of reported results.

USAID/Nigeria, in conjunction with its implementing partners and the procurement agent, develop an action plan timetable to reevaluate internal controls over commodities management and address the inventory management deficiencies noted during the audit. The action plan should also include activities for raising mission management's and partners' awareness of the necessity of a proactive control environment.

USAID/Nigeria, in conjunction with its implementing partners, review the unsecured items valued at $57,000 and identify any expired or damaged commodities for disposal and unexpired and usable commodities for redistribution to beneficiaries.

USAID/Nigeria determine the allowability of $39,720 in unsupported questioned costs, as identified in the audit report, and recover from the implementing partner any amounts determined to be unallowable.