Recommendation Dashboard

USAID/Africa Bureau require the West African missions that received Global Food Security Response supplemental funding in fiscal year 2009 reevaluate and document the validity of existing targets on the overall success of program activities.

USAID/Africa Bureau develop and 'mplement a plan to assess each mission's personnel competencies, abilities, and readiness prior to the obligation of any future Global Food Security Response development assistance funds, and adjust funding or resources to properly support sustained program development.

USAID/Brazil establish written procedures that require adequate oversight of its projects.

USAID/Brazil establish written procedures to measure training effectiveness.

USAID/Brazil develop and report against an indicator which it considers most significant and best reflects the progress and impacts of their interventions.

USAID/Brazil provide training during the next meeting with all implementers to discuss the definition and the expectations of what should be considered for reporting progress against the training indicator and the policies, laws, agreements, or regulations indicator.

USAID/Brazil's Agreement Officer's Technical Representative require each implementing partner to submit a monitoring and evaluation plan if one was required as part of the cooperative agreement.

USAID/Brazil's Agreement Officer's Technical Representative adapt its monitoring and evaluation tool to track the receipt and approval of key documents such as life-of-project plans, annual work plans, and monitoring and evaluation plans.

USAID/Brazil develop and implement a system to confirm that reported performance results are accurate.

USAID/Brazil conduct an assessment to confirm that the implementing partners have procedures and internal controls to properly track and report the activities correctly.

USAID/Brazil develop and implement procedures to collect and input training data quarterly into the USAID training network.

USAID/Afghanistan's Director of Acquisition and Assistance include a clause or provision in all acquisition and assistance agreements to require the implementing partner to report information on casualties as well as serious incidents.

USAID/Afghanistan's devise and implement a formal process, consistent with standards specified in 32 CFR 159.6, for its employees to forward reports of serious incidents and casualties to a designated office that will collect and coordinate the reports.

USAID/Afghanistan's Director of Acquisition and Assistance provide written notification to the implementing partners responsible for the two awards (detailed in the table on page 13) directing them to use only private security contractors licensed by the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.

USAID/Afghanistan's Director of Acquisition and Assistance require that the implementing partners-to which the 17 private security companies (identified in the audit report) have been subcontracted-provide what would customarily be advance notification to USAID/Afghanistan, so that consent to subcontract may be considered and granted or refused.

USAID/Afghanistan's Director of Acquisition and Assistance issue written guidance to existing implementing partners and the office's contracting officers, reminding them of the requirements of Federal Acquisition Regulation part 44.2.

USAID/Afghanistan's contracting officer add Federal Acquisition Regulation Clause 52.225-19, " Contractor Personnel in a Designated Operational Area or Supporting a Diplomatic or Consular Mission Outside the United States, " to all its existing acquisition awards and issue guidance to include the clause in future awards.

USAID/Afghanistan's contracting officer request in writing that the Chief of Mission issue Mission-wide instructions for non-DOD PSCs and their personnel, as required by Interim Final Rule 32 CFR 159.4(c), to either (1) implement standards set forth by the geographic combatant commander, or (2) instruct non-DOD PSCs and their personnel to follow the guidance and procedures developed by the geographic combatant commander and/or subordinate commander.

USAID/Afghanistan's contracting officer request in writing that the Office of Acquisition and Assistance provide acquisition and assistance award language to regulate subcontracted private security services.

Director of Program Management for the Bureau for Foreign Assistance and the Director of the Office of Democracy and Governance establish and implement procedures to assign the Office of Democracy and Governance as designee for the purpose of oversight, including collecting all financial and program data and conducting monitoring visits to allow the Agency to report to Congress and the public on the Victims of Torture Fund.

The Director of the Office of Democracy and Governance and the Director of Program Management for the Bureau for Foreign Assistance revise and make publicly available the existing Victims of Torture Fund guidelines and that missions are notified, upon receipt of funds, to adhere to these guidelines when implementing Victims of Torture Fund activities.

USAID/Southern Africa define, in writing, the respective authorities, responsibilities, and reporting structure for its Regional HIV/AIDS Program office and its Botswana-resident country director and staff.

USAID/Southern Africa develop and implement a plan, with milestones, to train all implementing partners and service providers for prevention and care services on how to properly maintain source documents and accurately report program results.

USAID/Southern Africa develop and implement a plan, with milestones, to train all implementing partners and service providers for prevention and care services in the Botswana HIV/AIDS program on how to correctly apply performance indicator definitions when collecting, summarizing, and reporting program results.

USAID/Southern Africa prepare an updated performance management plan for the Botswana HIV/AIDS program that is complete and that contains all current performance indicators and reference sheets.

USAID/Southern Africa complete data quality assessments for the HIV/AIDS program indicators in Botswana in accordance with Automated Directives System requirements.

USAID/Southern Africa develop and implement a risk-based monitoring plan for its Botswana HIV/AIDS activities that includes regular site visits involving programmatic review, verification of reported results, and the documentation of site visits performed.

USAID/Afghanistan require its implementer to establish appropriate procedures and controls to strengthen its monitoring of Afghanistan Vouchers for Increased Productive Agriculture Program activities to ensure that intended beneficiaries receive program inputs and to detect irregularities, such as those identified by this audit, and address them in a timely manner.

USAID/Afghanistan require its implementer to reassess the impact of its 2008-2009 wheat seed distributions using a justifiable methodology and report the results to the mission along with supporting calculations that clearly show the basis for the assessed impact.

USAID/Afghanistan determine the amount of surplus funds projected to be available under its Afghanistan Vouchers for Increased Productive Agriculture Program and reprogram these funds to make them available for other activities under this or other programs in the mission's portfolio.

USAID/Jordan develop and implement procedures to require the prime contractor to periodically conduct independent financial reviews of for-profit local subcontractors' incurred costs to determine if audits are warranted.

USAID/Jordan notify the prime contractor in writing of requirements to conduct incurred costs audits annually, as required by the Guidelines for Financial Audits Contracted by Foreign Recipients.

USAID/Jordan develop a list of for-profit subcontractors that require independent financial audits for funding received for fiscal years 2007, 2008, and 2009; notify the local subcontractors in writing to conduct required audits; and develop a plan of action to conduct these audits.

USAID/Jordan require its prime contractor to conduct audits of incurred costs for fiscal years 2007, 2008, and 2009, and document and develop a plan of action to conduct these audits.

USAID/Jordan contracting officers document the review of the implementing partner's processes to mitigate the risk or perceived risks of a conflict of interest to determine whether there are substantial advantages in competition or whether the overall competitiveness in bidding processes has been impacted negatively.

USAID/Jordan provide instruction to its prime contractor to obtain and review antiterrorist certifications for grants under the SABEQ contract, and implement specific procedures to require its prime contractor to obtain antiterrorism certifications before awarding any new grant.

USAID/Jordan implement specific procedures as a notice to remind its prime contractor of the antiterrorism certification requirements, and periodically verify that procedures are followed.

USAID/Jordan develop and implement procedures that require the contracting officer's technical representative to review and update the project's performance management plan and require current activities to be documented.

USAID/Afghanistan establish a separate reconstruction program that will provide prompt implementation of reconstruction action plans for defective structures and ensure that all defective USAID-built structures are reconstructed.

USAID/Afghanistan take immediate action to secure and vacate the two occupied defective buildings constructed under the Accelerating Sustainable Agriculture Program.

USAID/Afghanistan complete an implementation plan for the demolition and retrofitting of the five buildings constructed under the Accelerating Sustainable Agriculture Program, either by compelling Chemonics to perform or by using a third party. If a third party is used, the implementation plan should include requirements to reduce Chemonics' future billings in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation 52.246-5(e) for the cost of demolishing or retrofitting the structures.

USAID/Afghanistan revise and reissue the November 2008 Office of Acquisition and Assistance notice on quality assurance to include requirements for quality assurance of construction performed under subcontracts and subagreements.

USAID/Afghanistan revise its contracting officer's technical representative designation letter to communicate the need to comply with construction oversight and quality assurance requirements.

USAID/Afghanistan develop written procedures covering the types of roads that require engineering oversight and quality assurance.

USAID/Afghanistan take appropriate action during each portfolio review to require that all in-progress and completed construction projects during the review cycle are documented and shared with the Office of Infrastructure, Engineering and Energy so that it can ensure that the
existing database of constructions projects is complete and provide engineering quality assurance oversight for those projects lacking it.

USAID/Afghanistan establish procedures to grant the mission engineers or their designated representatives the right to communicate directly with the construction contractors or subcontractors on deviations from approved engineering designs.

USAID/Afghanistan require that the final subcontract requirements for the design of the new campus for the American University of Afghanistan be reviewed for adherence to appropriate engineering standards.

USAID/Afghanistan require that all engineering drawings related to the American University of Afghanistan campus be reviewed for compliance with specified standards before the mission accepts delivery of the drawings.

USAID/Afghanistan require that the final statement of work clearly identify the continuation of the Afghan Infrastructure Data Center as a core aspect of the follow-on contract, to include training of Afghan Ministries in the maintenance and use of the data center.

USAID/Afghanistan complete all required contractor performance reviews of International Relief and Development, Inc., in accordance with Agency procedures.

We recommend that the Millennium Challenge Corporation's Vice President for Compact Implementation revise the Millennium Challenge Corporation's Guidelines for Environmental and Social Assessment to include assessing environmental risks broader than project activity risks, such as the risk presented by radioactive materials.

We recommend that the Millennium Challenge Corporation's Vice President for Compact lmplementation re-evaluate and document the risks surrounding the customs project activity to determine whether it will feasibly accomplish its objective and th"t the intervention will be sustainable.

We recommend that the Millennium Challenge Corporation's Vice Presidentfor Compact lmplementation amend the contract to remove the purchase of machine guns and patrol boats to ensure that the implementing partner does not purchase these items with Compact money.

We recommend that the Millennium Challenge Corporation's Vice President for Compact lmplemenultion revise its internal controls for procurement to include guidelines for preventing items prohibited by the Compact from being solicited.

We recommend that the Millennium Challenge Corporation's Vice President for Compact Developmmt revise the Guidance for Compact Eligible Countries to include under Risk Management Assessment a discussion for identifying risks associated with frequent changes in management when it could impact a project or component of a project, and to prepare a risk management plan to minimize the negative impact of such a risk.

We recommend that the Millennium Challenge Corporation's Vice President for Compact Implementation determine the status of and collect the remaining funds in MCA-Madagascar's bank account.

We recommend that the Millennium Challenge Corporation's Vice President for Compact Implementation include in the Guidelines for Program Closure of Millennium Challenge Compacts procedures to address the advances, accrued interests, and security deposits in the MCAs' accounts after compact closeout.

We recommend that the Millennium Challenge Corporation's Vice President for Compact Implementation prepare guidance that implements a process to identify and collect value-added tax payments improperly made to compact countries.

Recommendation #4 -WITHDRAWN
Recommendation No.4: We recommend that the Millennium Challenge Corporation's Vice President for Compact Implementation collect the $3.8 million
value-added tax owed by the Government of Madagascar.

We recommend that the Millennium Challenge Corporation's Vice President ofthe Compact Implementation Department issue guidance clarifying how compacts address value-added tax as it relates to the sale ofassets during early terminations.

We recommend that the Millennium Challenge Corporation's Vice President for Compact {sic} include specific requirements on removing sensitive data in the next iteration ofthe Program Closure Guidelines.

We recommend that the Millennium Challenge Corporation's Vice President for Compact Implementation revise the nongovernmental Organizations Selection Form to include a requirement that each Millennium Challenge Account request legal
documentation when considering nongovernmental organizations as recipients of compact property for future project closeouts.

We recommend that the Millennium Challenge Corporation's Vice President for Compact Implementation, when considering compact termination in the future, establish procedures to require that each Millennium Challenge Account transfer assets only to nongovernmental organizations that have the funding and human capital capacity to continue the compact objectives.