Recommendation Dashboard

USAID intensify its effort to expedite the completion of the reconciliation and make results available for periodic review.

USAID intensify its efforts to investigate and deobligate outstanding obligations, especially those that make up the $55 million that had no activity since they were established.

The Office of the Chief Financial Officer research all advances outstanding for more than 90 days to determine if they should be recovered, implement policies and procedures for establishing accounts receivable to recover outstanding advances within a reasonable period, and review and correct as necessary appropriations erroneously charged by the DHHS and recorded by the Department of the Treasury.

USAID's Office of Human Resources implement applicable work flow or business processes that clearly delineate roles and responsibilities within the Office of Human Resources for processing different types of actions, whether they were first entered manually or electronically, to make sure that records that support deductions from employees' salaries are easily retrievable.

USAID/West Bank and Gaza determine the
reasonableness of $2,272,626 associated with materials used at project sites that were not approved in advance, and consider whether it is appropriate to recover any part of the costs deemed unreasonable.

USAID/West Bank and Gaza determine the
reasonableness of $395,366 associated with materials used by the Palestinian Water Authority in the belief that it owned the materials but that were not transferred for its use, and consider whether it is appropriate to recover any part of the costs deemed unreasonable.

USAID/West Bank and Gaza agree in writing with the Palestinian Water Authority to implement a plan to differentiate pipes and fittings owned by USAID and stored in the Palestinian Water Authority's storage yards, and to update the inventory records to reflect USAID ownership.

USAID/West Bank and Gaza implement a plan to ensure that the Palestinian Water Authority uses the remaining inventory transferred to it at locations mutually agreed upon by USAID and the Palestinian Water Authority.

USAID/West Bank and Gaza perform an assessment of the Palestinian Water Authority's inventory management system and provide capacity-building assistance as needed before using its storage yards for future projects.

USAID/West Bank and Gaza implement control activities to monitor inventory held at the Palestinian Water Authority storage yards.

USAID/Iraq reassess the progress made in all the areas under the administrative decentralization component, determine and document those activities that the Iraqi Government has the ability and will to implement, and direct Management Systems International Inc. in writing to focus resources on those activities.

USAID/Iraq modify its contract with Management Systems International Inc. to terminate work plan activities under its civil service reform component.

USAID/Iraq stop and document activities aimed at implementing standard bidding documents until the Iraqi Government revises its procurement regulations and the Ministry of Planning enforces the use of the documents.

USAID/Iraq conduct and document a review to determine whether Management Systems International Inc. will be able to support ministries in organizational development, fiscal management, and business process improvement as envisioned, and adjust contract deliverables and budget based on the review.

USAID/Iraq and Management Systems International Inc. analyze and document what the expected output is for each deliverable needed for the remainder of the contract, and what constitutes an acceptable product.

USAID/Iraq reassess the adequacy of the deliverables questioned by the audit and determine whether it should recoup the $1,071,658 in fees paid until Management Systems International Inc. fully satisfies the requirements and documents its determination.

The contracting officer's representative conduct and document field visits independently on a sample basis and discuss with the beneficiaries to assess the results of the project.

The contracting officer's representative implement documentation controls to record and capture program decisions made based on reviews of field monitors' reports, site visits, and technical direction given to Management Systems International Inc.

USAID/Iraq's contracting officer make a written decision on the changes that the contracting officer's representative made and modify the contract accordingly.

USAID/Iraq, in coordination with Management Systems International Inc., adjust in writing targets to measure the project's results more accurately.

In collaboration with the SSP, formalize in writing the system's issues and resolution process. This will include developing a standardized remedy ticket listing with relevant and historical information. (New recommendation)

Further review SSP data entries relating to MCA payment processing and related
adjustments. Perform reconciliation of AP on a monthly basis and proactively resolve all differences.

Develop audit procedures for the MCA audit to compare spending authority amount
granted against actual MCA expenses, and investigate and document significant
variances. MCC should maintain a library of historical MCA financial data. This
information may be used by MCC to validate or enhance its current methodology.

Continue to enhance the accrual methodology by: a. stratifying the MCAs based on variances in their spending rates and/or stages in the compact's life cycle; b. developing and implementing a process to ensure that compacts that are partially managed by MCC are fully addressed within the grant accrual process.
c. addressing situations where the MCA exceeds its quarterly spending authority;
d. addressing situations where the compact has expired and there is no spending
authority and disbursements are still occurring; e. obtaining detailed document level breakdown of expenses to be used to compare against the accrual estimates;
f. reviewing the disbursement patterns by compact to identify those with large
fluctuations to determine the cause so that adjustments can be made in developing the spending plan or in how the grant accrual is calculated to improve the accuracy of the grant accrual estimate; and g. other factors as deemed necessary to achieve an acceptable precision of the accrual
estimate.

Continue the collaboration between the USAID OIG and the MCC management to improve timeliness of the MCA audits; adequacy of the MCA audit procedures; monitoring and reviewing the quality and performance of the MCA audits; and tracking and conducting follow-up of corrective action plans with the MCAs timely.

USAID/Jordan require Development Alternatives Inc. to implement a sustainability plan so the Ministry of Finance will be able to continue the project management office without continued support from USAID/Jordan.

USAID/Jordan adopt USAID's standardized mission order on performance monitoring earlier than December 10, 2013, establish penalties for noncompliance, and inform (in writing and through training), all individuals responsible for performance monitoring of their responsibilities and the penalties for noncompliance.

USAID/Jordan perform an evaluation or assessment that covers the remainder of Fiscal Reform Project II and looks at previous assistance, accomplishments, and lessons learned from other USAID/Jordan projects to provide a vision and design for any new fiscal reform or related project.

USAID/Jordan deobligate $3,727,670 of funds from the trade and investment program area that will not be spent for trade-related activities, and reprogram the funds as necessary.

USAID/Jordan implement procedures to allocate disbursements that match the nature of the expenses.

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

USAID/Southern Africa determine the allowability of $1,109,459 in questioned costs for excess compensation and collect, as appropriate, any disallowed amounts from the Southern Africa Enterprise Development Fund.

USAID/Southern Africa follow up to confirm that the Southern Africa Enterprise Development Fund has implemented the auditor's recommendations for Findings 2012-01 through 2012-11 (pages I-18 through I-25 and II-1 through III-2 of the report).

USAID/Southern Africa's mission director determine the reasonableness of $1.3 million in management fees SAEDF paid ICP and collect any amount determined to be unreasonable.

USAID/Southern Africa's mission director determine the allowability of the $360,000 that the Southern Africa Enterprise Development Fund paid for lobbying and collect any unallowable amount.

The Center of Excellence on Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance, in coordination with regional bureau counter-trafficking in persons advisers and missions, define coordinators' specific responsibilities, and communicate them in writing to all mission directors and coordinators.

The Center of Excellence on Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance provide written instructions to coordinators on how to carry out the requirements in the implementing guidance for the code of conduct.

The Center of Excellence on Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance determine mission coordinators' training needs and implement a training plan that addresses them.

The Center of Excellence on Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance, in close collaboration with bureau counter-trafficking in persons advisers and contacts, provide to mission coordinators, technical officers, and other staff available tools on integrating programs and conducting impact evaluations, and document having done so.

The Center of Excellence on Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance, in close collaboration with bureau counter-trafficking in persons advisers and contacts and gender advisers, determine the viability of using alternative methods to implement the policy, and document the results.

The Center of Excellence on Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance determine the benefits of conducting briefings for mission directors and program staff to obtain their support, increase their awareness, and emphasize critical aspects of the policy, and document the results.

The Center of Excellence on Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance determine its information needs, and in close collaboration with Policy, Planning, and Learning, ask the Streamlining Governance Committee about the applicability of the limit on data calls, and document the results.

If the Streamlining Governance Committee does not allow the data calls, the Center of Excellence on Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance, in close collaboration with Policy, Planning, and Learning, devise alternative methods for obtaining the information it needs from missions to monitor implementation of the policy. This includes soliciting input from the Streamlining Governance Committee on whether regional bureau C-TIP advisers and mission coordinators can provide data, and documenting the results.

The Center of Excellence on Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance implement a documented process for identifying, funding, and periodically reassessing critical trafficking in persons challenge countries and conflict and crisis-affected countries.

The Center of Excellence on Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance establish and formalize its priorities and time frames for implementing the Counter-Trafficking in Persons Policy, while considering missions' future activities and needs.

The Center of Excellence on Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance implement a mechanism to share information, tools, and best practices with all missions.

USAID/Guatemala establish tangible targets for its outcome indicators with baselines and time frames for its program development goals in the mission-wide performance monitoring plan, and disseminate guidance in writing to require program awards to link activities to the plan's goals.

USAID/Guatemala implement a schedule for conducting periodic compliance reviews of all site visit documentation.

USAID/Guatemala provide RTI International with written guidance for properly reporting the number of individuals trained in the quarterly reports and Training, Resource, Advocacy, and Information Network, and validate in the next data quality assessment that RTI is reporting the data accurately.

USAID/Guatemala determine the extent of the incorrectly reported training data, and make corrections to Training, Resource, Advocacy, and Information Network and indicator data, and document the results.

USAID/Guatemala either document a plan for complying with environmental responsibilities related to the program's grant with the Tigo or terminate the portion of the grant related to leveraged reconstruction activities. If the mission chooses to terminate the construction portion of the grant, it should obtain and document reasonable assurance that Tigo complied with USAID environmental requirements for the projects completed with Tigo funding under the grant.

USAID/Guatemala draft a statement of work for a final evaluation of the program to include determining whether it is resulting in continued alliance partners' investments to health and education projects in Guatemala and is resulting in sustainable alliance partners.

USAID/Guatemala reevaluate the program's use of water filters to determine whether there is a way to make the project sustainable; if not, discontinue funding the filters and conduct follow-up monitoring to see whether the filters from other grants are being replaced after expiration and document results.

The Director of Office of Management Policy, Budget, and Performance issue written guidance regarding the appropriate use of rapid response funds as part of development awards.

USAID/Guatemala issue to all its implementers the USAID Counter-Trafficking in Persons Field Guide, which includes guidance for reporting suspected cases of trafficking through the Office of Inspector General Hotline.

USADF Chief Information Officer update and implement USADF vulnerability management procedures to address how management reviews the results of scans, and documents and tracks all vulnerabilities identified in scans in a timely manner. If management determines any of the identified vulnerabilities are not applicable to their environment or cannot be fixed for a valid business reason, management should formally document this and retain documentation for future reference.

The USADF Chief Information Officer take appropriate action to address all vulnerabilities identified in our internal vulnerability scan
conducted on July 30, 2013, and properly document the results.

USADF Chief Information Officer update and implement patch management procedures to ensure all available patches are installed in a timely manner. For patch installations that fail, timely analysis should be conducted to determine the cause and take corrective action.

The USADF Chief Information Officer develop, document, and implement procedures to conduct testing over all software updates and patches before installation.

The USADF Chief Information Officer assign responsibility for reviewing Wide Area Network and Program Support System security logs to someone other than the system administrator. If management determines this is not feasible, they should document this risk and put compensating controls in place where possible.

USADF Chief Information Officer update the Wide Area Network separation of duties matrix to ensure all potential conflicting roles are identified. If no conflicting roles exist for end users, management should specifically note that in the matrix.

USADF Chief Information Officer update the Program Support System separation of duties matrix to ensure all potential conflicting roles are identified. If no conflicting roles exist for end users, management should specifically note that in the matrix.

The USADF Chief Information Officer implement documented procedures to review Program Support System and Wide Area Network security logs and document evidence of these reviews.

The USADF Chief Information Officer implement documented procedures to ensure that network changes are documented, tested, and approved in accordance with USADF policies and procedures.

The USADF Chief Information Officer develop, document, and implement policy and procedures for conducting periodic reviews of configuration settings for all IT components. Configuration reviews should determine whether actual configuration settings in place agree with settings documented in approved baselines.

The USADF Chief Information Officer implement documented account management policies and procedures to formally document and approve all accounts on the Wide Area Network before creation.

The USADF Chief Information Officer implement documented policy and procedures to perform a periodic recertification of Wide Area Network accounts to ensure they remain appropriate.

The USADF Chief Information Officer develop, document and put in place account management procedures for the Program Support System. At a minimum, documented procedures should address:
Approved methods for requesting and approving access to the system; Disabling and removing accounts for terminated employees/contractors; Reviewing accounts for inactivity; Recertifying accounts on a continuous basis to ensure active accounts and permissions remain appropriate.

The USADF Chief Information Officer rename all default and administrator account identifiers to ensure appropriate accountability is tracked for administrative activities in accordance with policy.

The USADF Chief Information Officer implement documented procedures to change all default authenticators on initial creation in accordance with policy.

The USADF Chief Information Officer complete planned corrective actions for the Wide Area Network to confirm that plan of action and milestone item 5 is remediated in a timely manner, or perform an appropriate acceptance of risk, and document the results.

The USADF Chief Information Officer update the plan of action and milestones template for the Wide Area Network and Program Support System to include required resources, milestones with completion dates, and changes to milestones in accordance with Office of Management and Budget
Memorandum M-02-01 and National Institute of Standards and Technology Special Publication 800-53 Revision 3.