Open Recommendations

Revise Procurement Instruction PPA 318.1A, Procurement Integrity, dated March 24, 1997 and
GPO Directive 825.12A, Proprietary Information and Trade Secrets, dated December 18, 2012
to include the anti-gag language required by 5 U.S.C. §2302(b)(13).

We recommend the Executive Assistant Commissioner of CBP’s Office of Field Operations develop and implement policies and procedures requiring regular comprehensive assessments of operations across all land ports of entry. These policies and procedures should also include key elements such as the designated office or official for conducting comprehensive assessments, assessment criteria, frequency of assessments, and related records retention requirements.

We recommend the Executive Assistant Commissioner of CBP’s Office of Field Operations conduct an initial comprehensive assessment of land port of entry operations, issue a report on the findings to identify areas of efficiencies, develop a corrective action plan to eliminate inefficiencies, and avoid wasting funds. This report should also document the rationale for strategic decisions including, but not limited to:• maintaining current land port of entry operations;• reducing or expanding land port of entry operational hours; and• permanently closing land ports of entry.

We recommend the Executive Vice President, Chief Financial and Strategy Officer, in conjunction with the Vice President, Financial Operations and Performance, ensure all projects are optimized in a consistent and holistic manner to ensure the most value to TVA ratepayers.

We recommend the Executive Vice President, Chief Financial and Strategy Officer, in conjunction with the Vice President, Financial Operations and Performance, ensure economic analyses are (1) performed for all applicable projects and (2) considered in decision making.

We recommend the Executive Vice President, Chief Financial and Strategy Officer, in conjunction with the Vice President, Financial Operations and Performance, provide economic analyses and all known costs to the Tennessee Valley Authority Board when presenting projects for approval.

We recommend the Vice President, Financial Operations and Performance, implement a reverse capital flex list for use in the event of a funding shortfall.

We recommend the Vice President, Financial Operations and Performance, evaluate the control gap to identify solutions to prevent the execution of purchase orders for projects that do not have all required approvals.

Conduct refresher training for the PCs regarding documenting and maintaining asset management system records in accordance with NCUA policy and procedures.

Update the accountable property policy to implement a process for the PMO to complete a periodic review of the IT asset inventory to validate that the inventory is documented and maintained in accordance with NCUA policy and procedures.

Complete the PRISM risk assessment review on an annual basis and document the results.

Ensure that the annual risk assessment reviews for all third-party NCUA services are completed.

Document and implement a process to track and complete supply chain risk assessments for all third-party systems and service providers.

Implement improved processes for leveraging dashboards in order to monitor and manage patch compliance and remediation of vulnerabilities including the tracking of approved and unapproved software.

Complete the 2024 backlog of overdue reinvestigations.

Document and implement a process for notifying OHR to add the initial role-based security training requirement to the learning profile in the learning management system for new hires requiring the training

Complete implementation of the new alternate processing and storage site to a fully operational state.

Collaborate with the Bureau of Labor Statistics to track and report data specific to mixed earners in the U.S. economy to allow for the provision of timely and useful assistance to the mixed earner population during future emergencies.

Monitor the state workforce agencies’ levels of benefit payment activity and establish timeframes to reduce the remaining allotment to the sufficiently minimal amount required to meet future benefit payment needs and ensure the remaining Mixed Earners Unemployment Compensation funds are expended appropriately or returned to Treasury.

Perform an assessment of previous emergency unemployment insurance (UI) programs and the pandemic-related UI programs to determine an appropriate historically-based time limit for states’ acceptance of emergency program benefit claims after the expiration of the UI programs’ eligibility periods and consider making a legislative proposal to Congress to use the determined the time limit on future emergency programs.

We recommend that OSMRE provide training to grants management specialists on conducting thorough risk assessments, including guidance on identifying and analyzing single audit findings.

We recommend that OSMRE develop and implement a long-term staffing plan for grants management specialists that considers existing resources, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act funding, and OSMRE's priorities and goals.

We recommend that OSMRE create and implement a mechanism to track and monitor all key dates for processing applications, modifications, and authorizations to proceed to ensure processing dates are met.

We recommend that OSMRE design and implement an updated risk assessment checklist that requires grants management specialists to document consideration of applicable risk factors and document any mitigating measures for each risk factor identified.

We recommend that OSMRE develop and provide to grant applicants guidance on prioritization of projects for the Justice40 Initiative.