Compliance Follow-Up Audit of Bureau of Diplomatic Security Property Management Procedures for Protective Personnel Equipment

What OIG Audited
The Department of State (Department) requires accountable property, such as armored vests included in “high-threat kits” and provided to Bureau of Diplomatic Security (DS) special agents, to be tracked and inventoried in the Department’s property records. In August 2018, OIG reported that DS did not record protective personnel equipment (PPE) in the secure version of the Department’s Integrated Logistics Management System, Asset Management application (S-ILMS-AM), nor did it perform annual physical inventories as required. The Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted this compliance follow-up audit to determine whether actions taken by DS to address a property management recommendation (Recommendation 3) from a previous report^a met the intent of the recommendation and is sufficient to close the recommendation.

What OIG Recommends
With the issuance of this report, OIG is closing Recommendation 3 from its August 2018 report and offering one new recommendation to further improve DS’s management of PPE. Based on DS’s response to a draft of this report, OIG considers the recommendation unresolved. A synopsis of DS’s response to the new recommendation and OIG’s reply follow the recommendation in the Audit Results section of this report. DS’s response to a draft of this report is reprinted in its entirety in Appendix B. OIG’s reply to DS’s general comments is presented in Appendix C.

What OIG Found
OIG found that DS had taken steps to develop and implement a process to manage accountable property, such as PPE contained in high-threat kits. Specifically, OIG found that DS Countermeasures Directorate, Office of Physical Security Programs, Defensive Equipment, and Armored Vehicle Division was recording accountable property contained in high-threat kits in S-ILMS-AM upon receipt. This action was previously recommended by OIG and is now being done in accordance with the Department’s Foreign Affairs Manual (FAM). OIG tested 60 accountable property items from highthreat kits and found that all were properly recorded in SILMS-AM. In addition, OIG confirmed that DS had developed a process for performing an annual inventory of the high-threat kit items recorded in S-ILMS-AM, as required by the FAM. Furthermore, in October 2019, OIG observed that DS was conducting its first annual inventory of accountable PPE contained in high-threat kits.

During the conduct of this audit, OIG noted one compliance area outside of its scope that needed attention. OIG found instances in which Property Transaction Forms were not completed to document the “charge out” of PPE included in high-threat kits. Specifically, OIG tested 32 property charge outs specific to high-threat kits and found 16 instances (50 percent) in which the appropriate form had not been completed. The items provided are sensitive equipment and must be safeguarded. OIG concludes that greater attention to enforcing property management procedures and accountability is needed to correct this deficiency.

_{^a OIG, Management Assistance Report: The Bureau of Diplomatic Security’s Office of Training and Performance Standards Should Improve Property Management Over Equipment Provided During HighThreat Training (AUD-SI-18-49, August 2018).}