Report Contents
What OIG Inspected
OIG inspected the operating environment, executive direction, policy and program implementation, resource management, and information management operations of Embassy Warsaw, Poland. The inspection included Consulate General Krakow and Consular Agency Poznan.
What OIG Recommends
OIG made 38 recommendations: 36 to Embassy Warsaw, 1 to the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, and 1 to the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs. In its comments on the draft report, the Department concurred with 37 recommendations and neither agreed nor disagreed with 1 recommendation. OIG considers all 38 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 responses are reprinted in their entirety in Appendix B.
What OIG Found
- The Ambassador and Deputy Chief of Mission led Mission Poland in a professional and collaborative manner consistent with the Department of State’s leadership and management principles.
- Three areas significantly impacted the mission’s operations: (1) the effects of, and the mission’s response to, Russia’s war against Ukraine; (2) the mission’s outdated and inadequate facilities; and (3) locally employed staff wages not keeping pace with the cost of living and high inflation in Poland.
- Regional bureau guidance on how to expend Ukraine supplemental funds was not always sufficient and clear. Additionally, the embassy lacked some supporting documentation and justifications for its use of Ukraine supplemental funds.
- In response to the increase in foreign assistance due to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the mission created new coordination mechanisms.
- The mission’s public diplomacy grants management record keeping for closed awards did not fully comply with Department standards.
- The mission had deficiencies in the safety, health, and environmental management program and the fire protection program. Additionally, the motor vehicle, property, contracting officer’s representative, and financial management programs did not fully comply with Department standards.
- Mission Poland also had deficiencies related to information security, non-enterprise networks, telephone system operational readiness, and mobile devices management.
- Spotlight on Success: Embassy Poland’s Economic Section automated the production of reporting cables, saving time, improving predictability, and fostering staff collaboration on reporting, resulting in products Washington end users praised.
- Spotlight on Success: Embassy Warsaw’s Strategic Messaging Working Group enabled well-coordinated, timely public messaging for mission-wide deployment.
Report Terms
Report Recommendations
Embassy Warsaw should update and implement planning guidance and processes for official visits.
Embassy Warsaw should bring its public diplomacy award files into compliance with Department standards for federal assistance award monitoring and evaluation.
Embassy Warsaw, in coordination with the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations, should bring all consular spaces into compliance with Department standards.
The Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, in coordination with Embassy Warsaw, should review the letter of agreement guiding the bureau’s activities in Poland, as well as the bureau’s current and planned foreign assistance to Poland, and implement any changes to the letter of agreement as required.
Embassy Warsaw should bring its safety, health, and environmental management program into compliance with Department standards.
Embassy Warsaw, in coordination with the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations, should bring its fire protection program into compliance with Department standards.
Embassy Warsaw, in coordination with the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations, should bring the emergency egress on all floors of the embassy chancery into compliance with Department standards.
Embassy Warsaw should eliminate the safety hazards at its warehouse in accordance with Department safety and fire standards.
Embassy Warsaw, in coordination with the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations, should report all unauthorized construction projects and rectify each project in accordance with Department standards.
Embassy Warsaw should comply with all Department Motor Vehicle Safety Management Program standards for chauffeurs and incidental drivers under chief of mission authority.
Embassy Warsaw should dispose of excess motor vehicle inventory in accordance with Department standards.
Embassy Warsaw should bring its contracting officer’s representative program into compliance with Department standards.
Embassy Warsaw should close out procurement files in accordance with Department standards.
Embassy Warsaw should review its nonexpendable property inventory and dispose of excess inventory in accordance with Department standards.
Embassy Warsaw, in coordination with the Bureau of Administration, should review and update furniture and appliance pool assets records in the Integrated Logistics Management System in accordance with Department standards.
Embassy Warsaw should use the Integrated Logistics Management System to account for all expendable property in accordance with Department standards.
Embassy Warsaw should require its Interagency Housing Board to review living quarters allowance residences leases in accordance with Department standards.
Embassy Warsaw, in coordination with the Bureau of Global Talent Management, should update the mission’s local compensation plan in accordance with Department standards.
Embassy Warsaw should require authorizing officials to approve staff requests for overtime in advance in accordance with Department guidance.
Embassy Warsaw, in coordination with the Bureau of Global Talent Management, should update the locally employed staff handbook in accordance with Department standards.
Embassy Warsaw, in coordination with the Bureaus of Budget and Planning, the Comptroller and Global Financial Services, and European and Eurasian Affairs, should reprogram additional Department-funded information management positions to International Cooperative Administrative Support Services-funded positions in accordance with Department standards, so funds of up to $243,993 over 3 years per position can be put to better use.
The Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs should provide clear guidance on what is authorized to be expended using Ukraine supplemental funds in accordance with Department standards.
Embassy Warsaw should establish administrative and financial controls over the use of Ukraine supplemental funds and retain all relevant documentation according to Department standards.
Embassy Warsaw should reconcile transactions in the suspense deposits abroad account in accordance with Department guidelines.
Embassy Warsaw should bring its cashier operations into compliance with Department standards.
Embassy Warsaw should implement a plan to conduct periodic visits to Consulate General Krakow to assess information management operations in accordance with Department guidance.
Embassy Warsaw should train the locally employed information management staff in accordance with Department standards.
Embassy Warsaw should require all Information Systems Security Officers to perform their duties in accordance with Department standards.
Embassy Warsaw should establish a Local Information Technology Configuration Control Board in compliance with Department standards.
Embassy Warsaw should conduct a risk assessment for all locally procured hardware and software according to Department standards.
Embassy Warsaw should secure and monitor its non-enterprise networks in accordance with Department standards.
Embassy Warsaw should manage mobile devices in accordance with Department standards.
Embassy Warsaw should test Consulate General Krakow’s information technology contingency plan in accordance with Department standards.
Embassy Warsaw, in coordination with the Bureau of Information Resource Management and the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations, should correct the network cabling infrastructure issues at Embassy Warsaw and Consulate General Krakow to comply with Department standards.
Embassy Warsaw should maintain telephone system operational readiness in accordance with Department standards.
Embassy Warsaw should relocate the telecommunications demarcation point outside limited access area communications rooms in accordance with Department standards.
Embassy Warsaw should dispose of excess information technology assets as required by Department standards.
Embassy Warsaw should implement a records management program for the mission that complies with Department standards.