Inspection of the Bureau of Consular Affairs, Office of Consular Systems and Technology

The Bureau of Consular Affairs should fill the deputy director position for the Office of Consular Systems and Technology.

The Bureau of Consular Affairs should implement a plan to expedite the filling of staff vacancies in the Office of Consular Systems and Technology.

The Bureau of Consular Affairs should designate a system owner for ConsularOne who is responsible and accountable for all aspects of the system throughout its life cycle.

The Bureau of Consular Affairs should create a system security plan for ConsularOne.

The Bureau of Consular Affairs should create a contingency plan for ConsularOne.

The Bureau of Consular Affairs should require all its directorates and offices to assign dedicated staff to support ConsularOne, employing a shared services concept where appropriate.

The Bureau of Consular Affairs should publish scheduled system maintenance outages, including weekly maintenance windows and periodic longer outages, in which the Office of Consular Systems and Technology has complete authority to take systems offline.

The Bureau of Consular Affairs should require the Office of Consular Systems and Technology, with assistance from its Office of Policy Coordination and Public Affairs, to design a plan for communication with consular users that would promote understanding of the stages, timeline, and content of the consular systems modernization program.

The Bureau of Consular Affairs should require the Office of Consular Systems and Technology to convey information from its division directors meeting to its staff.

The Bureau of Consular Affairs should require the Office of Consular Systems and Technology to update its internal procedures and policies.

The Bureau of Consular Affairs should redesign its trouble-shooting websites for improved effectiveness and relevance.

The Bureau of Consular Affairs should require the Office of Consular Systems and Technology to assign a dedicated team to manage the office’s records management program.

The Bureau of Consular Affairs should require the Office of Consular Systems and Technology to implement an action plan with milestones for monitoring the performance of Information System Security Officer required duties at its locations.

The Bureau of Consular Affairs, in coordination with the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, should require the Office of Consular Systems and Technology to implement closing hours checks for its designated areas.

The Bureau of Consular Affairs should require the Office of Consular Systems and Technology to include a review of the organizational structure, staffing, policies, and procedures in its assessment for the annual Management Control Statement of Assurance, and to document this review.

The Bureau of Consular Affairs should require the Office of Consular Systems and Technology to include the reporting of internal deficiencies in attachment 4 of the annual Management Control Statement of Assurance, including control deficiencies in organizational structure, staffing, and procedural management controls.

The Bureau of Consular Affairs should require the Office of Consular Systems and Technology to conduct and document a review of its labor service contract in accordance with the annual Management Control Statement of Assurance, to include the reporting on the status of the acquisition plan, funding, and oversight of this contract.

The Bureau of Consular Affairs should require the Office of Consular Systems and Technology to report reviews on its annual Management Control Statement of Assurance that are limited to the current year.

The Bureau of Consular Affairs should establish a financial management position in the Office of Consular Systems and Technology.

The Bureau of Consular Affairs should require the Office of Consular Systems and Technology to separate the performance of acquisition and contracting duties from financial management duties in the position descriptions of the office.

The Bureau of Consular Affairs should designate an employee in the Office of the Comptroller as the contracting officer’s representatives on the financial management services contract.

The Bureau of Consular Affairs should require the Office of Consular Systems and Technology to reassign the contracting officer’s representative roles for its contracts to multiple qualified personnel to achieve a reasonable division of labor.

The Bureau of Consular Affairs should require the Office of Consular Systems and Technology to develop standard operating procedures for its contract and acquisition processes, including contract close-outs, processing prior year unliquidated obligations, and SharePoint records.

The Bureau of Consular Affairs should require the Office of Consular Systems and Technology to establish a contract monitoring process to ensure contract close outs are processed in a timely manner.

The Bureau of Consular Affairs should require the Office of Consular Systems and Technology to request the Contracting Officer to modify the financial management contract to include required monthly meetings.