Report Contents
What OIG Inspected
OIG inspected the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs’ executive direction, program and policy implementation, resource management, and management controls.
What OIG Recommended
This report includes 7 recommendations. OIG made 2 recommendations to build on the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs’ reorganization plan and 5 recommendations to improve strategic planning, foreign assistance tracking, Government Technical Monitor training, and completion of Civil Service employee performance appraisals. In its comments on the draft report, the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs concurred with all seven recommendations. OIG considers the recommendations resolved. The bureau’s response to each recommendation, and OIG’s reply, can be found in the Recommendations section of this report. The bureau’s formal written responses are reprinted in their entirety in Appendix B.
What OIG Found
- Stakeholders from other Federal agencies and Department of State offices and bureaus described the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs as effective in the interagency policy formulation and implementation process.
- The Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Office integrated successfully into the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, but the bureau’s reorganization plan required further refinement. Bureau leadership, structure, and staffing were in transition throughout the inspection as the reorganization plan was designed to take effect in stages spanning several months.
- The bureau had addressed chronic problems in filling its overseas positions with some success, but recruiting for Embassy Dhaka remained especially difficult.
- The bureau lacked senior-level oversight of strategic planning and foreign assistance, as well as a process for measuring performance against goals and objectives.
- Spotlight on Success: The Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs’ Office of Press and Public Diplomacy used a multi-track training and support program to maintain effective grants administration in Afghanistan and Pakistan despite high turnover of U.S. officers and locally employed staff. In addition, the bureau’s customized risk assessment template for overseas public diplomacy grants monitoring merited consideration for Department-wide replication.
Report Terms
Report Recommendations
The Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs should institute a formal, periodic process to measure program and policy performance against strategic goals.
The Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs should conduct a second, more comprehensive review of its staffing and skills inventory to achieve a balance among meeting mission needs, delivering efficient service, and managing employees effectively.
The Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs should implement a bureau-wide process to track foreign assistance that fully obligates foreign assistance appropriations and identifies and reclassifies foreign assistance funds before the funds cancel.
The Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs should complete and file monitoring reports, Grants Officer Representative designation letters, and Grants Officer Representative evaluation reports for its non-public diplomacy grants.
The Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs should measure all its project objectives with indicators that meet Department guidelines and use those indicators in required reports.
The Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs should require all Government Technical Monitors to complete mandatory training.
The Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs should complete the nine remaining Civil Service performance appraisals for the 2016 rating cycle.