Report Contents
What OIG Inspected
OIG inspected the executive direction, program and policy implementation, management controls, and resource management operations of Embassy Georgetown.
What OIG Recommended
OIG made 29 recommendations to improve Embassy Georgetown operations, including 15 related to improving internal controls in the Management Section and 6 related to the Information Management Section.
In its comments on the draft report, the Department concurred with all 29 recommendations. OIG considers the recommendations resolved. The embassy’s response to each recommendation, and OIG’s reply, can be found in the Recommendations section of this report. The embassy’s formal written response is reprinted in its entirety in Appendix B.
What OIG Found
- Embassy Georgetown’s Ambassador advanced U.S. interests in Guyana, a country that has grown more important to the United States with the discovery of large oil reserves.
- The Ambassador and the Deputy Chief of Mission set a positive and professional tone for the embassy, consistent with the Department of State’s leadership principles.
- The Ambassador was inattentive to the embassy's security program. This is inconsistent with the requirement that chiefs of mission advise, protect, and assist U.S. citizens and take direct and full responsibility for the security of the embassy and its personnel.
- Internal controls for some General Services and Facility Management operations did not comply with Department standards and procedures.
- The embassy did not have a consular warden system, and its preparedness for managing crisis situations was poor.
- The embassy’s monitoring of defense articles and equipment supplied to the Government of Guyana did not comply with the Department’s end-use monitoring requirements.
- The Department should vacate and sell the U.S. Government-owned warehouse.
- The embassy did not manage or document public diplomacy grants in accordance with Department standards.
- Information systems security operations and information technology contingency plan testing did not comply with Department requirements.
Report Terms
Report Recommendations
Embassy Georgetown should implement a process for preparing the annual Statement of Assurance that complies with Department guidance.
Embassy Georgetown should comply with the end-use monitoring, reporting, and record-keeping requirements mandated in Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs guidance.
Embassy Georgetown should dispose of Political-Economic Section paper files, in accordance with Department records disposition requirements.
Embassy Georgetown should report public diplomacy program activity through the Public Diplomacy Mission Activity Tracker.
Embassy Georgetown should manage and document grants, in accordance with Department standards.
Embassy Georgetown should establish a warden system, in accordance with Department standards.
Embassy Georgetown should implement a consular crisis preparedness program that complies with Department standards.
Embassy Georgetown should correct line of sight issues in the Consular Section to comply with Department guidance for consular officers to visually monitor all consular operations.
Embassy Georgetown should implement an annual acquisition planning process.
Embassy Georgetown should implement procedures to review and manage its blanket purchase agreements, in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulations.
Embassy Georgetown should designate, certify, and train Contracting Officer’s Representatives, in accordance with Department standards.
Embassy Georgetown should bring its purchase card program into compliance with Department standards.
Embassy Georgetown should implement policies and procedures for its travel card program, in accordance with Office of Management and Budget guidance.
Embassy Georgetown should clear the outstanding balance on its travel card.
Embassy Georgetown should implement a system to store, issue, and return keys for official vehicles, in accordance with Department standards.
Embassy Georgetown should implement a corrective action plan to bring all professional drivers and incidental operators into compliance with the Department’s Overseas Motor Vehicle Safety Management Program.
Embassy Georgetown should implement standard operating procedures for fuel usage, in accordance with Department standards.
Embassy Georgetown should implement a schedule to ensure the alternate cashier works as the principal cashier, in accordance with Department guidelines.
Embassy Georgetown should implement a process to monitor and track the payment of its invoices in order to comply with the Prompt Payment Act’s implementing regulations and the Foreign Affairs Handbook.
Embassy Georgetown should submit the hardship differential survey to the Office of Allowances, in accordance with Department standards.
Embassy Georgetown should require authorizing officials to approve staff requests for overtime in advance, in accordance with Department guidelines.
Embassy Georgetown should implement a preventive maintenance program, in accordance with Department standards.
Embassy Georgetown should vacate the U.S. Government-owned warehouse and notify the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations so it can be sold.
Embassy Georgetown should require that Information Systems Security Officers perform information systems security duties, in accordance with Department guidance.
Embassy Georgetown should update and test the information technology contingency plans, in accordance with Department guidance.
Embassy Georgetown should implement a plan for conducting initial and annual refresher information technology contingency training for employees with information technology contingency planning responsibilities.
Embassy Georgetown should implement standard operating procedures for installing network cabling system components.
Embassy Georgetown, in coordination with the Bureau of Information Resource Management and the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, should correct the network cabling infrastructure issues.
Embassy Georgetown should implement standard operating procedures for recording and tracking help desk requests for the unclassified and dedicated internet networks.