Report Contents
What OIG Inspected
OIG inspected the executive direction, program and policy implementation, and resource management operations of Embassy New Delhi. The inspection included Consulates General Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Kolkata.
What OIG Recommended
This report includes 39 recommendations. OIG made 35 recommendations to improve Mission India’s operations. OIG also made one recommendation to the Office of Policy, Planning, and Resources for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs to address position classification; two to the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations to address facilities management issues; and one to the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs to establish clear roles for the supervision of the Kabul Support Unit.
In its comments on the draft report, the Department concurred with 36 recommendations and neither agreed nor disagreed with 3 recommendations. OIG considers all 39 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 written responses are reprinted in their entirety in Appendix B.
What OIG Found
- The Ambassador, the Deputy Chief of Mission, and the Consuls General established clearly defined goals and priorities for Mission India. They effectively employed a wide variety of mechanisms to communicate and coordinate their activities across the spectrum of internal operations and external engagements with the Government of India and other stakeholders.
- Mission India generally implemented required processes and procedures in accordance with applicable laws and Department of State guidance. However, the embassy’s internal review processes did not consistently identify management control deficiencies throughout the mission. The mission corrected more than 25 specific deficiencies during the on-site portion of OIG’s inspection.
- Human capital management weaknesses, such as lack of training and accurate position descriptions, hindered operations, efficiency, and accountability throughout the mission.
- Staff vacancies, workload, and coordination challenges limited the North India Office’s ability to fulfill its stated mission.
- Mission India had a history of making modifications to U.S. Government-owned buildings without first obtaining approval from the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations. A total of nine unapproved modifications, made between roughly 2004 and 2016, did not receive the benefit of a technical review to ensure the projects conformed to the Department’s building codes.
- The mission developed and used local information technology applications without any required risk assessments and approvals.
- Spotlight on Success: The mission’s Consular Section created innovative programs for planning and managing nonimmigrant visa adjudication.
Report Terms
Report Recommendations
Embassy New Delhi should implement functional training plans for incumbent and incoming staff in the mission’s Political Sections.
Embassy New Delhi, in coordination with the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, should develop and implement an end-use monitoring plan to conduct required end-use monitoring checks in accordance with Department standards.
Embassy New Delhi, in coordination with the Bureau of Counterterrorism and Countering Violent Extremism and the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, should prepare a position description for the regional counterterrorism coordinator position, number 10262001, that contains an accurate statement of responsibilities.
The Office of Policy, Planning, and Resources for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, in coordination with Embassy New Delhi and the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, should update all public diplomacy position descriptions by implementing the Public Diplomacy Locally Employed Staff Initiative at Mission India in FY 2019.
Embassy New Delhi should implement an annual training plan to prioritize and fund mission-wide training needs for all Public Affairs Section positions.
Embassy New Delhi, in coordination with the Office of Policy, Planning, and Resources for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs and the Bureau of International Information Programs, should develop audience and impact metrics for the Public Affairs Section’s magazine, SPAN.
Embassy New Delhi should integrate SPAN into the Public Affairs Section’s broader digital media activities.
Embassy New Delhi should conduct a review of the North India Office structure, staffing, and performance to determine whether it is sufficiently resourced and appropriately structured to carry out its stated mission, and implement any recommended changes resulting from the review.
Embassy New Delhi should comply with the Department standards for crisis preparedness.
Embassy New Delhi should provide a closed-circuit TV monitoring system or other means to enable consular managers to visually observe activities at nonimmigrant and immigrant visa windows within the Consular Section.
Embassy New Delhi should update the position descriptions for consular locally employed staff at Consulate General Kolkata in accordance with Department standards.
Embassy New Delhi should reconcile transactions in the Suspense Deposit Abroad account in accordance with Department guidelines, and put funds of $65,772 to better use.
Embassy New Delhi should clear overdue travel advances in accordance with Department guidelines, and put funds up to $52,385 to better use.
Embassy New Delhi, in coordination with the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs and the Bureau of the Comptroller and Global Financial Services, should reprogram additional Diplomatic and Consular Program-funded Information Management positions to International Cooperative Administrative Support Services-funded positions in order to put funds of $81,331 per position to better use.
Embassy New Delhi should remove the Hindi language requirement from the Kabul Support Unit locally employed staff position descriptions.
Embassy New Delhi should update its locally employed staff handbook in accordance with Department standards.
Embassy New Delhi should submit all hardship differential surveys to the Bureau of Administration in accordance with Department standards.
Embassy New Delhi should require that all chauffeurs and incidental drivers under Chief of Mission authority comply with applicable Department overseas motor vehicle safety requirements.
Embassy New Delhi should bring its motor vehicle fleet into compliance with Department standards.
Embassy New Delhi should review its fleet reports in accordance with Department standards.
Embassy New Delhi should document nonexpendable property transfers in accordance with Department standards.
Embassy New Delhi should bring expendable supplies management into compliance with Department standards.
Embassy New Delhi, in coordination with the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs and the Bureau of Administration, should ratify all unauthorized commitments in accordance with Department standards.
Embassy New Delhi should submit its hotel and restaurant reports to the Bureau of Administration.
Embassy New Delhi, in coordination with the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations, should implement an action plan to resolve the mission’s safety, health, and environmental management deficiencies and bring the program into full compliance with Department standards.
Embassy New Delhi should submit design plans to the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations for the unapproved modifications to property numbers X9990, X9991, X9992, X9993, X9999, and X29001 in Kolkata, and R1007 and R1012 in Mumbai.
The Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations should conduct a technical review of the design plans for property numbers X01021 in New Delhi; X9990, X9991, X9992, X9993, X9999, and X29001 in Kolkata; and R1007 and R1012 in Mumbai, in accordance with Department standards, and work with Embassy New Delhi to remedy any modifications that OBO is unable to retroactively approve.
The Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations, in coordination with Embassy New Delhi, should install access controls for Consulate General Mumbai’s on-compound warehouse, in accordance with Department standards.
Embassy New Delhi should bring its method and procedures for procuring fuel from the American Community Support Association into compliance with the Federal Acquisition Regulation.
Embassy New Delhi should establish roles and responsibilities for the mission’s Information Systems Security Officers in accordance with Department standards.
Embassy New Delhi should complete a security assessment and obtain an authorization to operate for each locally developed application in accordance with Department standards.
Embassy New Delhi should implement a standard operating procedure for application development.
Embassy New Delhi should implement standard operating procedures to inventory, manage configurations, and monitor the mission’s dedicated internet networks in accordance with Department standards.
The Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, in coordination with Embassy Kabul and Embassy New Delhi, should revise the Service Level Agreement to establish clear roles for the supervision of the Kabul Support Unit.
Embassy New Delhi should implement a detailed plan that includes a cost-benefit analysis to consolidate its two print and graphics operations.
Embassy New Delhi should assign roles and responsibilities for management of the centralized classified networks.
Embassy New Delhi should develop and implement knowledge management procedures for capturing, sharing, transferring, and retaining information related to the mission’s information management programs, in accordance with Department standards.
Embassy New Delhi should annually test the information technology contingency plans for the unclassified and classified networks in the embassy and Consulate General Hyderabad in accordance with Department standards.
Embassy New Delhi should implement a plan to conduct initial and annual refresher information technology contingency training for employees with information technology contingency planning responsibilities in the embassy and Consulate General Hyderabad.