Report Contents
What OIG Inspected
OIG inspected the Office of Fraud Prevention Programs in the Bureau of Consular Affairs.
What OIG Recommended
OIG made eight recommendations to improve operations in the Office of Fraud Prevention Programs. The report addressed seven recommendations to the Bureau of Consular Affairs, and one recommendation to the Bureau of Human Resources.
In its comments on the draft report, the Department concurred with all eight recommendations. OIG considers the recommendations resolved. The Department’s responses 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
- The Office of Fraud Prevention Programs’ leadership and staff were committed to advancing an ambitious 5-year strategy to strengthen border security through data analytics.
- Employees supported leadership’s priorities and contributed to the data analytics and training strategic goals.
- The Office of Fraud Prevention Programs evaluated many of its products and programs through an annual stakeholder survey but did not have a similar mechanism in place to assess the value and sustainability of several programs developed primarily for the office’s internal use.
- Several divisions of the Office of Fraud Prevention Programs provided relevant and effective fraud prevention and detection training, but the office lacked a centralized system to record training activities, limiting its ability to track and evaluate its overall training efforts.
- The office’s standalone data analytics test network and internal case management system lacked adequate security controls.
- The Office of Fraud Prevention Programs did not adequately oversee two labor-hour contracts with a total award value of $8.1 million.
- The Office of Fraud Prevention Programs created expanded training opportunities through innovative learning tools.
Report Terms
Report Recommendations
The Bureau of Consular Affairs should require the Office of Fraud Prevention Programs to implement procedures to evaluate internal programs and products.
The Bureau of Consular Affairs should require the Office of Fraud Prevention Programs to implement a centralized repository to record all training activities.
The Bureau of Human Resources, in coordination with the Bureau of Consular Affairs, should conduct a maintenance review of the Office of Fraud Prevention Programs’ position descriptions.
The Bureau of Consular Affairs should require that the Office of Fraud Prevention Programs administer contracts in accordance with Department standards.
The Bureau of Consular Affairs should implement access controls and information security oversight procedures for the Office of Fraud Prevention Programs’ standalone data analytics test network as required by Department standards.
The Bureau of Consular Affairs should perform an assessment to determine the security categorization of the Office of Fraud Prevention Programs’ case management system and implement required security controls in accordance with Federal standards.
The Bureau of Consular Affairs should implement a records management program for the Office of Fraud Prevention Programs that complies with Department standards.
The Bureau of Consular Affairs should implement a website content management process for the Office of Fraud Prevention Programs that includes a dedicated team responsible for the regular updating of website content.