Report Contents
What OIG Inspected
OIG conducted a targeted inspection of the executive direction, foreign assistance coordination, consular services, resource management, and information management of Embassy Tirana.
What OIG Recommends
OIG made 10 recommendations: 9 to Embassy Tirana and 1 to the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations. In its comments on the draft report, the Department concurred with all 10 recommendations. OIG considers all 10 recommendations resolved. The Department’s response to each recommendation, and OIG’s reply, can be found in the Recommendations section of this report. The Department’s formal written responses are reprinted in their entirety in Appendix B.
What OIG Found
- Embassy Tirana’s Chargé d’Affaires and acting Deputy Chief of Mission formed a collaborative team committed to developing a positive working atmosphere for the embassy. However, they did not adjust their working relationship and division of labor to better share policy management responsibilities when their roles became long-term rather than temporary.
- Embassy section and agency heads reported that interagency collaboration and cooperation were excellent.
- Foreign assistance activities were well aligned with priority policy goals, and the embassy was taking steps to strengthen coordination and manage the effect of a U.S. Agency for International Development drawdown in Albania.
- The Consular Section’s strong teamwork allowed it to maintain high performance despite staff shortages, but some improvements were needed to the section’s accessibility, line-of-sight control, and signage.
- The embassy lacked seismic and safety mitigation plans for some chancery and residential properties.
Report Terms
Report Recommendations
Embassy Tirana, in coordination with the Bureau of Consular Affairs, should adapt the work spaces of all Fraud Prevention Unit employees to allow for required line-of-sight supervision.
Embassy Tirana, in coordination with the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations and the Bureau of Consular Affairs, should provide a wheelchair-accessible interview window for consular clients as required by Department standards.
Embassy Tirana, in coordination with the Bureau of Consular Affairs, should post adequate signage for the embassy’s public areas to assist and direct consular clients.
Embassy Tirana should establish internal controls to safeguard and control the Facility Management Office’s expendable supplies in accordance with Department standards.
Embassy Tirana should secure and account for all leftover construction materials in accordance with Department standards.
Embassy Tirana, in coordination with the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations, should perform seismic evaluations of embassy residential properties in accordance with Department standards.
The Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations, in coordination with Embassy Tirana, should provide a mitigation plan to address seismic concerns with at-risk embassy compound buildings.
Embassy Tirana should work with landlords to mitigate vulnerabilities with community swimming pools at its leased residential compounds.
Embassy Tirana should dismantle and remove its shipping containers and portable structures in accordance with Department requirements.
Embassy Tirana, in coordination with the Bureau of Human Resources, should update its local compensation plan to reflect current Government of Albania labor law.