Recommendation Dashboard

USAID/Office of Transition Initiatives direct Chemonics to develop detailed work plans for program implementation based on the district stability framework and determine the adequacy of these plans.

USAID/Office of Transition Initiatives develop objective standards for evaluating Chemonics' performance, including standards for timeliness of program implementation.

USAID/Office of Transition Initiatives develop formal communication protocols to facilitate interaction and communication between USAID/Office of Transition Initiatives managers and Chemonics.

USAID/Office of Transition Initiatives prepare activity manager designation letters describing field program manager responsibilities.

USAID/Office of Transition Initiatives provide training for its field program managers on their roles and responsibilities and program implementation practices and procedures.

USAID/Office of Transition Initiatives instruct Chemonics to adjust its program grants portfolio to include more small-scale activities.

USAID/Office of Transition Initiatives formally delegate contracting officer's technical representative responsibilities for directing Chemonics to the USAID/Office of Transition Initiatives Regional Representative in Kandahar.

USAID/Office of Transition Initiatives implement budgetary controls at the district level to manage existing and future grants.

USAID/Office of Transition Initiatives recover as appropriate the $12,200 spent for supporting other agencies under the ASI-SR program.

USAID/Office of Transition Initiatives develop and implement benchmarks to assess Chemonics' progress in closing out completed grants.

USAID/Office of Transition Initiatives issue written guidance to Chemonics describing time frames for project closeout.

USAID/Office of Transition Initiatives direct Chemonics to assist Afghan Government officials in developing a local branding plan.

USAID/Afghanistan 1) identify the districts in which it intends to implement post-transition development projects, 2) develop transition plans for districts in which it plans to implement future projects, and 3) closeout plans for districts where it will not implement new projects.

USAID/Office of Transition Initiatives determine the allowability of $6.5 million in security costs and recover costs determined to be unallowable.

USAID/Office of Transition Initiatives instruct Chemonics to develop compensating controls for use in conjunction with cash payments.

USAID/Office of Transition Initiatives instruct Chemonics to report actual results in its progress reports.

USAID/Office of Transition Initiatives develop procedures for validating reported results on a periodic basis.

USAID/Office of Transition Initiatives complete all required contractor performance reviews under the Afghanistan Stabilization Initiative for the Southern Region contract.

USAID/Kenya require Family Health International to implement a reporting system that is sufficient to track and report on activities for an entire fiscal year.

USAID/Kenya work with Family Health International to develop and implement a timeline to correct its reporting system to classify activities into the six core areas defined by guidance from the Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator.

USAID/Kenya develop and implement a plan that requires Family Health International to provide services to and report on only those orphans and other vulnerable children that meet the definition in the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief guidance.

USAID/Kenya modify its data quality assessment procedures to include a review of how results are compiled and reported by implementing partners.

USAID/Kenya develop and implement a method to track by program area the expenditure of funds from the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.

USAID/Central Asian Republics establish additional output indicators to measure achievements under the voucher activity, including the number of voucher recipients and the number of vouchers redeemed.

USAID/Central Asian Republics adopt and document end-of-program targets, as well as milestone targets, for all output indicators as required by Automated Directives System 203.3.3.1.b.

USAID/Central Asian Republics implement control procedures to require that the contractor supports reported achievements with reliable documentation, the contractor enters information accurately into the program's database, and reported results accurately reflect the intended measurement of the indicators (people trained, not training courses provided).

USAID/Central Asian Republics modify the voucher activity as necessary to communicate the purpose of the voucher activity more effectively.

USAID/Central Asian Republics clarify the Productive Agriculture Program's farmer eligibility requirements with its contractor. The contractor should then communicate in writing the requirements to personnel implementing and monitoring the voucher activity so that they select only eligible individuals to participate.

USAID/Central Asian Republics identify the key dates by which farmers need voucher inputs for various crops and implement a schedule for delivering inputs well in advance of those dates, giving farmers sufficient time to save or identify financing for purchasing these inputs.

USAID/Central Asian Republics expedite the program's approval process for grant applications.

USAID/Central Asian Republics implement a plan to facilitate purchases of agricultural equipment through more frequent purchase requests to the contracting officer and expedited approval.

The Office of Management Services update USAID's conference policy to cross-reference the Federal Travel Regulation, Part 301--74 and Chapter 301, Appendixes C and E.

The Office of the Chief Operating Officer update all USAID conference-related guidance to reflect the Federal Travel Regulation, Part 301--74 and Chapter 301, Appendixes C and E, and ensure that staff members are trained accordingly.

The Office of the Chief Operating Officer notify offices and missions that total conference cost estimates must reflect the total cost to the Agency, and establish controls to enforce this requirement.

The Chief Operating Officer institute controls which require his approval before conference-related costs may be included in USAID-funded awards.

The Office of the Chief Operating Officer adjust its conference reporting requirements to solicit Agency-wide information.

The Office of the Chief Operating Officer implement a rolling conference approval process, and include a limitation on late registration in the updated conference guidance.

The Office of the Chief Operating Officer include in its updated conference guidance a requirement that cost estimates include a government facility among possible venues and that planners consider alternatives such as teleconferencing.

The Office of the Chief Operating Officer require written justification when a commercial facility is selected over a government facility offered at a cheaper rate.

The Office of Management Services hold a refresher course for travel arrangers, voucher examiners, and travelers on the current methods for calculating per diem.

The Office of the Chief Financial Officer recover the $90 overpayment made to a staff member who received reimbursement using the all-inclusive method (listed in Appendix III).

The Office of the Chief Operating Officer require, as part of the approval process for a conference serving meals to local staff, that the approving official provide a written determination that provision of the meals is necessary for the employee to obtain the full benefit of the training.

The Office of the Chief Operating Officer specify in its updated conference guidance that USAID conference attendees must declare all provided meals on their travel voucher.

The Office of Management Services develop controls for travel arrangers and voucher examiners to recognize and avoid duplicated payments for furnished meals for staff on travel duty.

The Office of the Chief Financial Officer recover $4,890 in overpayments for meals furnished to staff at the conferences reviewed (listed in Appendix III).

USAID/Haiti require Population Services International to identify the quantity of training material that it anticipates it will need for the last year of the contract, and either fulfill these needs with the available educational material in stock or place orders to print new materials.

USAID/Haiti require Population Services International to commit and follow through with the delivery of a marketing and communication plan for HIV, as well as the promised radio soap opera.

USAID/Haiti require Population Services International to establish consistent definitions and practices of how its subcontractors are to track and report the activity against the training and outreach indicators.

USAID/Haiti require Population Services International to develop and utilize sales data collection tools that will provide consistent and accurate data.

USAID/Haiti request that Population Services International implement the sales and marketing activity data collection efforts as stipulated in the contract and use the resulting data to develop a sales and distribution strategy to achieve the program's sales targets, particularly in rural areas.

USAID/Haiti require Population Services International to evaluate whether its current sales strategies are increasing sales to populations in rural areas as intended.

USAID/Haiti require Population Services International to develop a monitoring and evaluation process that can assess the impact of its interventions to date and allow PSI and USAID/Haiti to identify program gaps and areas where interventions are not achieving their intended outcome.

USAID/Southern Africa develop and implement a plan to hold regular program coordination forums with its Lesotho implementing partners and provide written invitations to other U.S. Government agencies in Lesotho and their implementing partners to participate.

USAID/Southern Africa determine whether Pact is currently achieving performance targets and document the results and develop and implement a plan to help enable Pact to achieve its targets if it is not doing so.

USAID/Southern Africa develop and implement a gender strategy to require that its HIV/AIDS programming in Lesotho systematically address the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief's gender-related goals.

USAID/Southern Africa collaborate with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Lesotho to put in place additional performance indicators and monitoring and evaluation tools that USAID officials can directly access to adequately measure whether John Snow Inc. is fulfilling the terms of its contract with USAID in Lesotho.

USAID/Pakistan develop and implement a plan with measurable targets to help ensure the mango activity achieves its contract goals.

USAID/Pakistan develop and implement a performance management plan for the Firms Project that complies with USAID's Automated Directives System 203 and adjusts targets to reflect strategy shifts, delays, and current conditions.

USAID/Pakistan develop procedures to collect and analyze indicator results periodically to measure progress toward planned results in accordance with USAID's Automated Directives System 203.

USAID/Pakistan instruct Chemonics to exclude from project sales totals all procurements from local vendors.

USAID/Pakistan determine the allowability of $1,359,337 in questioned costs (unsupported) and recover those costs determined to be unallowable.

USAID/Pakistan verify that Chemonics has corrected all procurement deficiencies identified in this report.

USAID/Pakistan develop and implement procedures to conduct site visits to ensure goods and services acquired under the Firms contract are maintained according with Agency property management standards and requirements.

USAID/Pakistan reassess the project component devoted to improving the business-enabling environment and develop meaningful targets that align with Firms Project goals.

USAID/Pakistan complete and file all delinquent and future past performance reports in accordance with federal and USAID policies and procedures.

We recommend that the Millennium Challenge Corporation's Vice President for the Department of Compact Operations require FOMILENIO to develop a written contingency plan for Section 7 of the Northern Transnational Highway to ensure road completion.

We recommend that the Millennium Challenge Corporation's Vice President for the Department of Policy and Evaluation, in conjunction with FOMILENIO, revise and document the revision of the following indicators:
-Number of beneficiaries of technical assistance and training
-Number of beneficiaries that have applied improved techniques
-Investment in productive chains by selected beneficiaries
-Increase in income of households near the Northern Transnational Highway
-Land prices along the Northern Transnational Highway
-Travel time from Guatemala to Honduras through the Northern Zone

We recommend that the Millennium Challenge Corporation's Vice President for the Department of Policy and Evaluation, in conjunction with FOMILENIO, document the verification of reported data used for the following indicators:
-Number of farmers trained
-Number of beneficiaries that have applied improved techniques

We recommend that the Millennium Challenge Corporation's Vice President for the Department of Policy and Evaluation, in conjunction with FOMILENIO, finalize and implement the Productive Development Project-specific Monitoring and Evaluation manual.

USAID/Afghanistan, in collaboration with the
Ministry of Public Health, develop and implement a plan that (1) improves the nongovernmental organization contractors' supervision, monitoring, and problem solving at their health facilities; and (2) verifies the successful implementation of a reliable quality assurance mechanism by the nongovernmental organization contractors, including the establishment of quality assurance committees at each of the health
facilities.

USAID/Afghanistan assist the Ministry of Public Health in establishing and implementing a plan to ensure that nongovernmental organization contractors are verifying that the requirement of second-person verification is being effectively implemented at health facilities.

USAID/Afghanistan, in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Health, develop a plan to (1) identify a pool of qualified civil service employees who would benefit from capacity building training in order to sustain the ministry's capacity for managing the PCH program and (2) provide the training.

USAID/Afghanistan work with the Ministry of Public Health and the Ministry of Finance to streamline the payment process to accelerate payments to nongovernmental organization contractors and health workers.

USAID/Afghanistan work with the Ministry of
Public Health and the Ministry of Finance to (1) implement written policies and procedures that clearly define the roles, responsibilities, and approval authorities for the payment process and (2) provide further training on the advance/liquidation mode of payment process.

USAID/Afghanistan work with the Ministry of Public Health and the Ministry of Finance to implement procedures limiting the frequency of changes made to the payment process and providing sufficient notification and clear instructions to nongovernmental organization contractors on any changes.

USAID/Afghanistan review its internal administrative procedures, such as the processing of implementation letters, to ensure the smooth and timely flow of the payment process for on-budget assistance agreements.

USAID/Afghanistan issue a mission order to provide an organizational framework with clearly defined roles and responsibilities of all mission offices responsible for managing on-budget assistance activities.

USAID/Afghanistan provide a formal designation
letter similar to an officer's technical representative designation letter to staff members
monitoring implementation of on-budget assistance agreements.

USAID/Afghanistan work with the Ministry of Public Health to prepare a performance management plan for the Partnership Contracts for Health Services program.

USAID/Afghanistan provide the Ministry of Public Health with clearly written definitions of Afghan Info performance indicators.

USAID/Afghanistan implement procedures to review and verify the accuracy of data entered into Afghan Info and provide timely feedback to users.

USAID/Afghanistan, in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Health, implement a plan to confirm and document accurate GPS coordinates for the ministry's health facilities.

USAID/West Bank and Gaza develop and implement a plan with milestones to establish management controls that require indicator data reported under the Palestinian Authority Capacity Enhancement Program to be accurate and reliable.

USAID/West Bank and Gaza verify and correct in writing any errors in the reported baseline data for the Palestinian Authority Capacity Enhancement Program and document revisions in the mission's data tracking system.

USAID/West Bank and Gaza require the implementer to obtain baseline data for the strategic communicaitons audit indicator for the Palestinian Authority Capacity Enhancement Program.

USAID/West Bank and Gaza require the implementer to use a qualified, independent third party to score the strategic communicaitons audit indicator for the Palestinian Authority Capacity Enhancement Program.

USAID/West Bank and Gaza restate the fiscal year 2010 targets in the mission's data tracking system so that indicators for the Palestinian Authority Capacity Enhancement Program are consistent with the program's data collection practices.