Inspection of Embassy Kabul, Afghanistan

Embassy Kabul should establish a mentoring program for first- and second-tour employees and encourage supervisors to allow them to attend professional development program events during working hours.

Embassy Kabul should determine the appropriate staffing and mission of each field office as part of its rightsizing exercise and in conjunction with decisions on post-2014 troop levels.

Embassy Kabul should implement a procedure for each consulate and platform to prepare a reporting plan and submit it for embassy approval.

Embassy Kabul should designate a senior-level point of contact in the political section to coordinate and integrate the reporting of the consulates and regional platforms with the embassy.

Embassy Kabul should designate a management officer and a public diplomacy officer to coordinate support for the management and public affairs field officers.

Embassy Kabul should implement a schedule of familiarization visits by the political, economic, public affairs, management, and regional security office section chiefs or their deputies to the consulates and regional platforms.

Embassy Kabul should group the political, economic, and rule of law positions at Consulate Mazar-e Sharif into a single political/economic section.

Embassy Kabul, in coordination with the Office of the Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, should, once decisions on the U.S. and international military presence have been made, undertake a fundamental review of embassy programs and staffing, in consultation with other agencies, and rightsize the number of U.S. direct-hire and other personnel accordingly.

The Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, in coordination with the Bureau of Administration, should implement Embassy Kabul’s contract management transition plan as soon as possible prior to the end of 2014.

The Bureau of Budget and Planning, in coordination with Embassy Kabul and the Bureaus of Administration, International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, Diplomatic Security, and South and Central Asian Affairs, should review the full cost recovery method, in light of the security threat, and consider alternative cost models to promote greater use of Embassy Air by embassy and contract personnel.

The Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations, in coordination with Embassy Kabul and the Bureaus of Diplomatic Security and South and Central Asian Affairs, should develop, maintain, and execute a master plan—incorporating phasing and sequencing requirements—of all ongoing and planned projects, including those funded by the Bureau of Diplomatic Security.

Embassy Kabul should upgrade the political and economic sections’ lists of reporting priorities into formal reporting plans and track implementation on a quarterly basis.

Embassy Kabul should reorganize its political section to reduce the levels of clearance and streamline supervisory responsibilities.

Embassy Kabul should develop guidelines for when to use informal emails, record emails, and cables for communication and reporting.

Embassy Kabul should create and use in all offices a standardized (by year and traffic analysis and geography terms) filing system in common-use drives/folders that serve as the default location for officers to save all their work.

Embassy Kabul should revise its procedure for clearing reporting with U.S. Forces-Afghanistan to facilitate timely reporting and the option for a separate military comment paragraph.

The Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, in coordination with the Bureau of Human Resources, should require that first-time economic reporting officers receive the appropriate training before arriving at the embassy.

The Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, in coordination with Embassy Kabul, should prepare monitoring plans that meet embassy criteria as a condition for initiating or extending projects and programs.

The Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, in coordination with Embassy Kabul, should incorporate the sustainability criteria found in the June 2011 Administrator’s Sustainability Guidance for USAID in Afghanistan into all bureau program performance management plans.

Embassy Kabul, in coordination with the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs and the Office of the Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, should determine whether the Law and Order Trust Fund for Afghanistan is capable of managing bureau contributions properly.

Embassy Kabul should take the necessary steps to permit other sections and agencies to use the Gibson Training Center.

Embassy Kabul should evaluate which media monitoring services are needed and eliminate duplicative or excess services and staff.

The Bureau of Consular Affairs should establish a joint “deconfliction unit” with interagency partners that will take the most time-consuming and high-priority visa ineligibility and waiver cases from each agency’s analysts and mediate timely resolutions.

Embassy Kabul should establish regular administrative days for training of nonsupervisory consular staff.

The Bureau of Consular Affairs should make completion of the Foreign Service Institute’s Fraud Prevention for Consular Managers course (PC 541) a prerequisite for officers paneled to Kabul’s fraud prevention manager position.

Embassy Kabul should implement a procedure for the consular chief to review all denials of international visitor visas to verify that case notes are specific, clear, and consistent.

Embassy Kabul should implement a plan to increase the number of Smart Traveler Enrollment Program registrants in Afghanistan.

Embassy Kabul, in coordination with the Bureau of Consular Affairs, should review the existing warden messaging system, determine whether a redundant system is necessary, and, if so, implement one.

Embassy Kabul should revise grants monitoring plans to reflect accurately the limited embassy resources available for support and include alternate monitoring strategies for proper oversight.

The Bureau of Administration, in coordination with Embassy Kabul and the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, should provide Embassy Kabul-specific training for staff managing grants.

The Bureau of Political-Military Affairs should designate qualified staff members in the Embassy Kabul political-military section as grants officer representatives for conventional weapons destruction programs in Afghanistan.

The Bureau of Administration should update the Office of the Procurement Executive’s Federal Assistance Policy Handbook and Recipient Guidebook.

Embassy Kabul, in coordination with the Bureau of Administration, should enter all grantees and contractors into the Synchronized Predeployment and Operational Tracker system.

Embassy Kabul should track eligible temporary duty visitors and prepare partial-year invoices for respective agencies for International Cooperative Administrative Support Services.

Embassy Kabul should conduct periodic, unannounced spot checks of expendable and nonexpendable property.

Embassy Kabul, in coordination with the Bureau of Administration, should prepare an inventory management plan with minimum and maximum stock levels and replacement cycles for expendable and nonexpendable property.

Embassy Kabul should implement an annual advance acquisition plan.

Embassy Kabul, in coordination with the Bureau of Administration, should implement a trafficking in persons monitoring program.

Embassy Kabul, in coordination with the Bureau of Administration and the Foreign Service Institute, should schedule training for Embassy Kabul contracting officers, contracting officer’s representatives, grants officers, grants officer representatives, and government technical monitors on how to monitor contracts and grants for trafficking in persons violations.

The Bureau of Administration should issue a Grants Policy Directive to provide guidance to grants officers and grants officer representatives on responsibilities for monitoring grants for trafficking in persons violations.

Embassy Kabul should maintain complete contracting officer’s representative files.

Embassy Kabul should analyze its experience from the pilot program on Risk Analysis and Management vetting of contractors and grantees and submit a formal report with recommendations to the Bureau of Administration’s Office of Risk Analysis and Management.

Embassy Kabul should implement a process by which it reports mishaps in a timely manner and performs investigation and analysis board responsibilities in accordance with Department of State requirements.

Embassy Kabul should conduct and report driver safety training of all chauffeurs and incidental drivers, as required by the Department of State’s Overseas Motor Vehicle Safety Management Program.

The Bureau of Diplomatic Security should clarify its policy as to whether all drivers assigned to drive an armored vehicle regularly must attend the Diplomatic Service Training Center armored vehicle driver training program.

The Bureau of Diplomatic Security, in coordination with Embassy Kabul, should implement an armored vehicle driver training program for Embassy Kabul employees who drive an armored vehicle.

Embassy Kabul should establish and maintain a full interagency housing board to oversee implementation of housing policies and standards.

Embassy Kabul, in coordination with the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations, should correct and validate its Real Property Application data.

Embassy Kabul, in coordination with the Bureaus of South and Central Asian Affairs and Human Resources, should perform a management review of its internal organization, with the goal of eliminating unnecessary layers of supervision.

Embassy Kabul, in coordination with the Office of the Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan and the Bureaus of Human Resources and South and Central Asian Affairs, should develop a formal plan to address the turnover of locally employed staff.

The Bureau of South and Central Asia, in coordination with Embassy Kabul and the Bureau of Human Resources, should establish a pilot hiring program that would allow eligible family members at other overseas posts to apply for short-term employment at Embassy Kabul and those already at the embassy to extend.

Embassy Kabul, in coordination with the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, should provide incoming eligible family members with appropriate training before their arrival at the embassy.

Embassy Kabul should provide supervisory training to the embassy’s supervisory local employees, either through formal training or temporary duty exchanges with other embassies.

The Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, in coordination with Embassy Kabul, should establish procedures to off-shore the administrative processing of American employee evaluations beginning with the 2014–2015 rating period.

Embassy Kabul should establish procedures to off-shore its awards program.

Embassy Kabul should off-shore portions of the embassy’s locally employed staff recruiting process, including screening of applications.

Embassy Kabul should outsource the locally employed staff medical claim review and approval process.

The Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, in coordination with Embassy Kabul and the Bureau of Human Resources, should update both the Afghanistan Service Recognition Package and Embassy Kabul’s overtime policy to include the requirement for proper justification for all overtime.

Embassy Kabul should enforce a check-in/check-out policy that mandates document completion and submission by all employees.

Embassy Kabul should phase out the use of its Afghanistan Civilian Tracking System now that WebPASS is fully operational.

The Bureau of Consular Affairs, in coordination with Embassy Kabul, should implement procedures that will avoid excessive costs associated with obtaining and renewing visas for American citizen nonpersonal services contractors assigned to Embassy Kabul.

Embassy Kabul should identify an information management employee, along with a backup, charged with oversight of information technology inventories.

Embassy Kabul should repair the post communications center vault door.

Embassy Kabul should repair and test the emergency network communications system.

The Bureau of Information Resource Management, in coordination with the Bureau of Diplomatic Security and Embassy Kabul, should perform a cost-benefit analysis of combining the mission’s two radio programs and take actions according to the results.

Embassy Kabul should conduct and document routine tests of the emergency and evacuation radio program.

Embassy Kabul, in coordination with the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, should implement and enforce a process to verify the need for classified accounts before requesting them for incoming personnel and to notify the information programs center accordingly.

Embassy Kabul should institute the appropriate fiscal internal controls for the Kabul Embassy Employee Association to facilitate proper oversight and management.

Embassy Kabul should implement all Department of State-required inventory and financial reconciliation processes pertaining to the Kabul Embassy Employee Association.

Embassy Kabul should implement the appropriate agreements for all vendors and license agreements associated with the Kabul Embassy Employee Association.

Embassy Kabul should refer the contract between the Kabul Embassy Employees Association and its chief operating officer to the Bureau of Administration, Office of Commissary and Recreation Affairs for determination regarding potential conflicts of interest.

Embassy Kabul should meet U.S. tax withholding requirements for U.S. citizen employees of the Kabul Embassy Employee Association.

The Bureau of the Comptroller and Global Financial Services should identify and collect reimbursement of post allowances from employees who were overpaid.

Embassy Kabul, in coordination with the Bureau of Administration, should regularly identify and dispose of unneeded property and consolidate storage sites before the start of the FY 2015 inventory.

Embassy Kabul, in coordination with the Bureau of Administration, should review its pending unauthorized commitments to determine whether ratification is authorized and take action accordingly.

Embassy Kabul should update its accounts receivable records, attempt to collect outstanding bills, and refer any delinquent collections to the Bureau of the Comptroller and Global Financial Services for collection action.