Inspection of Embassy Buenos Aires, Argentina

Embassy Buenos Aires should implement a structured first- and secondtour officer professional development and mentoring program for the Ambassador’s approval that assigns a senior officer to serve as a mentor and advisor to the group and includes scheduled presentations to the group by embassy section chiefs and others on substantive and career development issues.

Embassy Buenos Aires, in coordination with the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs and the Bureau of Human Resources, should reprogram permanently the mid-level environment, science, technology, and health position currently detailed from the economic section.

Embassy Buenos Aires should designate alternate space for the Federal benefits unit that is appropriate in size and configuration and as close to the consular section as possible, coordinate an appropriate office design with the Social Security Administration regional representative at Embassy San José, and relocate the Federal benefits unit.

Embassy Buenos Aires should assign supervision of the fraud prevention unit and the assistant regional security officer-investigator to the chief of the consular section.

Embassy Buenos Aires should review and update the position descriptions of the locally employed staff in the American citizens services unit and reclassify the positions if appropriate.

The Bureau of Human Resources, in coordination the Bureau of Administration, should review and update the Foreign Affair Manual and Foreign Affairs Handbook provisions related to economic conditions and local compensation plans.

The Bureau of Human Resources should revise its current policy on making salary adjustments and follow Argentine prevailing practice by conducting two salary surveys per year during periods of high inflation.

Embassy Buenos Aires, in coordination with the Bureau of Human Resources, should review its life insurance and supplemental retirement policies and contracts every 5 years to ensure they comply with prevailing practice and local labor law requirements and meet the needs of the locally employed staff.

Embassy Buenos Aires, in coordination with the Bureau of Human Resources, should update its locally employed staff handbook to reflect current conditions of employment, ethical standards, and disciplinary processes, including terminations.

Embassy Buenos Aires should include a work requirement for all supervisors to complete performance evaluations on time and should rate the supervisors accordingly.

Embassy Buenos Aires should train the second Equal Employment Opportunity counselor.

Embassy Buenos Aires should recruit, appoint, and train locally employed Equal Employment Opportunity liaisons using materials from the Office of Civil Rights Web site.

Embassy Buenos Aires should create an Equal Employment Opportunity and Federal Women’s Program section on its SharePoint site that includes policies and procedures in English and Spanish and issue an administrative notice in English and Spanish to its employees with the same information.

Embassy Buenos Aires should regularly publish a schedule for Equal Employment Opportunity activities, including townhall meetings, diversity training, and newcomer orientation. The Equal Employment Opportunity counselors and the human resources officer should develop the schedule for deputy chief of mission approval.

Embassy Buenos Aires should conduct a formal cost-benefit analysis of outsourcing a portion of its voucher processing to the Bureau of the Comptroller and Global Financial Services Post Support Unit and select the appropriate low cost option.

Embassy Buenos Aires should determine the most efficient procedures for processing vouchers by studying the practice of other embassies or by conducting a site visit and should revise its voucher processing procedures to reflect those findings.

Embassy Buenos Aires should establish a housing coordinator position to manage the housing program.

The Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations should fund a suitable warehouse for Embassy Buenos Aires and provide the embassy with a relevant funding timeline.

The Office of Foreign Missions, in coordination with Embassy Buenos Aires, should remedy reciprocity inequities between the Argentine Embassy and Embassy Buenos Aires concerning the importation, exportation, sales, and transfer procedures related to private and government-owned vehicles and household effects.

Embassy Buenos Aires should update its housing policy and guidelines and include the roles and responsibilities of the general services office, facility maintenance unit, landlords for government-owned properties, and short-term leases in the revisions.

The Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations, in coordination with Embassy Buenos Aires, should consolidate the three heating, ventilation, and air conditioning requirements into one renovation project.

Embassy Buenos Aires, in coordination with the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations, should request priority funding to rehabilitate the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning at the chancery.

Embassy Buenos Aires should replace the missing covers on all electrical boxes.

The Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations, in coordination with Embassy Buenos Aires, should conduct a survey of all chancery office space and develop a plan for unused and underused space for new purposes and to accommodate future growth.

The Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations, in coordination with Embassy Buenos Aires, should schedule a visit to Embassy Buenos Aires to conduct an assessment of all excess and underutilized U.S. Government-owned properties and implement a plan to reuse, renovate, or dispose of these properties.

The Bureau of Human Resources, in coordination with Embassy Buenos Aires and the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, should reclassify position number 55152000 from FP-04 specialist to FP-03 information systems officer.

Embassy Buenos Aires, in coordination with the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, should redesignate the language designation for the positions numbered 50259000 and 55164000 from Spanish 2/2 to 0/0 (language preferred).

Embassy Buenos Aires should convert position number A54801 to a help desk coordinator.

Embassy Buenos Aires should establish a diplomatic mail policy for usage of the Diplomatic Post Office.

Sensitive Information Redacted

Embassy Buenos Aires should issue a management notice on use of the State Messaging and Archive Retrieval Toolset to archive official email and should require section heads to hold staff accountable for compliance with Department of State requirements.

Embassy Buenos Aires should not renew the current radio technician contract and hire another radio technician.

Embassy Buenos Aires should update the deputy chief of mission’s password for consular adjudications, retrain him on adjudication review procedures, and alert him when the consular section chief has adjudicated referral or other visa cases that he must review.

Embassy Buenos Aires should designate a gifts officer and issue a policy on procedures for the solicitation and acceptance of different types of gifts.