Management Assistance Report: Further Department Attention Needed to Address Overdue Responses on Selected Open Recommendations

The purpose of this Management Assistance Report is to facilitate the prompt closure of selected open, unclassified Office of Audits recommendations by bringing them to the attention of the Under Secretary for Management. As of June 15, 2018, 18 unclassified Office of Audits report recommendations—made to 8 Department of State (Department) entities that had not responded to OIG inquiries concerning the status of actions to implement those recommendations—remained open. In each instance, a response from the Department entity was overdue by 4 months or more.¹

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular No. A-50, “Audit Followup,” requires agencies to promptly and properly resolve and implement audit recommendations. As required by the Foreign Affairs Manual (FAM), the Under Secretary for Management is designated as the Department’s Audit Follow-up Official and is responsible for ensuring that (1) timely responses are made to all OIG recommendations, regardless of implementation responsibilities, (2) disagreements are resolved, and (3) corrective actions are actually taken.² The Under Secretary for Management provides management oversight of the Department’s operational platform and facilities. Accordingly, this individual has particular responsibility for the recommendations discussed in this report.

After issuing a draft of this report, OIG received responses from five separate bureaus that relate to 9 of the 18 recommendations addressed in this report. Based on those responses, OIG was able to close 1 of the 18 recommendations. However, OIG has not received any information pertaining to 9 recommendations discussed in this report.

With respect to the recommendation made to the Under Secretary for Management, OIG considers this recommendation resolved pending further action. The recommendation will be closed when OIG receives documentation demonstrating that the Under Secretary for Management has directed the applicable Department entity to notify OIG of the status of actions taken to implement the recommendations. A synopsis of management’s response to the recommendation and OIG’s reply are presented in the Conclusion section of this report. Management’s response to a draft of this report, received July 3, 2018, is reprinted in its entirety in Appendix A.

_{¹ These 18 recommendations from 11 reports reflect only those open recommendations with responses that are overdue for 120 days or longer and are unclassified. The 18 recommendations are not the totality of open recommendations and reports addressed to Department entities.
² Dept. of State, 1 FAM 044.1 (10).}