Tag Archives: Office of Evaluations and Special Projects

State/OIG Releases Report on Pompeos Personal Use of USG Resources During Foggy Bottom Tenure

April 19, 2021 By in Mike Pompeo, Oversight, Pompeo, Regulations, Secretary of State, Spectacular, Staffing the FS, State Department, Trends Tags: , , , , , ,
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It’s a wonder they did not create an Office of the First Lady of the State Department in Foggy Bottom.

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State/OIG Work Plan 2020-2021: Reports of Interest to Look Forward To

October 21, 2019 By in Oversight, State Department, U.S. Missions Tags: , ,
State/OIG released its work plan for FY2020-2021. Below are some interesting audits/reviews coming our way in the next couple of years. This is not an exhaustive list. You may view the complete list here.

OBO/US Embassy Mexico City

Audit of the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations’ Contract Administration for the Design and Construction of the New Embassy Compound Mexico City
The New Embassy Compound (NEC) in Mexico City is being built as part of a larger overhaul of embassy facilities across the globe spurred by the Secure Embassy Construction and Counterterrorism Act of 1999. The new embassy complex will be built on 8 acres and will cost almost $895 million. The main building will be about 515,000 square feet, making it one of the largest embassies owned by the Department. Construction on the project began in February 2018 and is expected to reach substantial completion in April 2022. The objective of this audit is to determine whether the Department has administered the design and construction contract for NEC Mexico City in accordance with Federal acquisition regulations and whether the contractor has fulfilled the contract terms and conditions.

OBO, Consulate Erbil, Embassy Baghdad

Audit of the Bureau of Overseas Building Operations’ Construction of the New Consulate General in Erbil, Iraq
In September 2013, the Department and the head of the Department of Foreign Relations for the Kurdistan Regional Government signed an agreement allocating land for the construction of a new consulate general building and compound in Erbil. In March 2014, the Department issued a pre-solicitation notice for the design and construction of offices, housing, and support facilities. In June 2018, it awarded the contract, valued at $422.5 million, to B.L. Harbert International. The objectives of the audit are to determine 1) whether the Department administered the design and construction contract in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation and 2) whether B.L. Harbert fulfilled the contract terms and conditions.

OBO/Administration

Audit of Heritage Assets at Selected Overseas Posts
The Department maintains collections of arts and furnishings, known as heritage assets, that are held for public exhibition, education, and official functions. Items can be donated, loaned, or purchased (using donated or appropriated funds). The Department uses this property to promote national pride and the distinct cultural diversity of American artists, as well as to recognize the historical, architectural, and cultural significance of America’s holdings overseas. Although the Department does not report a value of these assets, one curator said that the value could be $500 million. Many pieces of heritage assets are placed overseas. The Department provides protection and preservation services to maintain all heritage assets. The objective of this audit is to determine whether selected posts protected and preserved heritage assets in accordance with Department requirements and whether the Department administered selected heritage asset programs in accordance with Federal and Department requirements

AQM

Audit of Use of Sole Source Contracts in Overseas Contingency Operations
In the last 3 fiscal years, the Department has used over $1 billion in sole source contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Commission on Wartime Contracting reported that agencies have failed to set and meet goals for competition in Iraq and Afghanistan. In particular, agencies have awarded task orders for excessive durations without adequate competition, failed to set and meet goals for competition, and have repeatedly awarded long-term task orders that were not recompeted when competitive conditions improved and used cost-reimbursable contract types even though simpler, fixed-price contracts could expand the competitive pool. The objectives of the audit are to determine whether (1) acquisition policy was followed in awarding sole source contracts, (2) there were urgent and compelling needs to justify awarding sole source contracts, and (3) the Department is paying more by having sole source contracts than it would pay if contracts were competitively awarded.

Consular Affairs

Audit of IT Security Controls for the Passport Information and Electronic Records System
The Passport Information and Electronic Records System (PIERS) is a CA system housed on the Department’s network. PIERS is a suite of web and desktop applications that is used to manage passport records. These records include personally identifiable information, making the system a potential target for malicious actors, both internal and external. During a prior audit, OIG found control weaknesses—including a general lack of policies, procedures, guidance, and training—relating to the prevention and detection of unauthorized access to passport and applicant information and the subsequent response and disciplinary processes when a potential unauthorized access is substantiated. The objective of this audit is to determine whether the IT security controls that were designed and implemented for PIERS meet Federal and Department standards and are working as intended.

Embassy Baghdad, Embassy Kabul, Bureau of South Central Asian Affairs (SCA), Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs (NEA), M/PRI, DS

Audit of Rightsizing of U.S. Embassies Kabul and Baghdad
The U.S. Missions to Afghanistan and Iraq have undergone significant reconfiguration in recent years. In November 2018, the Department decided to decrease the U.S. footprint in Afghanistan because of the Administration’s shifting priorities; Embassy Kabul subsequently submitted a proposal to reduce embassy personnel by 50 percent. Similarly, in February 2019, the Department directed U.S. Embassy Baghdad to reduce its staffing profile by 30 percent. OIG issued the Audit of U.S. Mission Iraq Staffing Process (AUD-MERO-13-33) in 2013 that found that the Department did not fully consider U.S. priorities in Iraq as set forth in rightsizing frameworks developed by M/PRI and the Government Accountability Office. OIG also issued the Audit of the Department’s Implementation of Vital Presence Validation Process (AUD-SI-15-37) in 2015 that found that the Department periodically reviewed the balance between acceptable risk and expected outcomes in high-threat highrisk posts, but that the analysis did not explicitly address the attainability of the posts’ missions or goals. The objective of the audit is to determine whether the Department used established procedures, guidance, and best practices when undertaking its rightsizing approach and whether the approach takes into consideration the alignment of resources invested at these missions with U.S. priorities

Consular Affairs, Embassy Baghdad, Embassy Kabul

Audit of the Special Immigrant Visa Program for Iraq and Afghanistan
The Department’s authority to issue Special Immigrant Visas (SIV) to Afghan nationals falls under Section 602(b) of the Afghan Allies Protection Act of 2009, as amended. The act authorizes the issuances of SIVs to Afghan nationals who worked on behalf of the U.S. Government in Afghanistan or the International Security Assistance Force. The Consolidated Appropriations Act for FY 2019 authorized 4,000 additional visas for Afghan principal applicants. The act also created additional reporting requirements. Similarly, Section 1244 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 authorized the issuance of up to 5,000 SIVs annually through FY 2013 to Iraqi nationals who were employed by, or on behalf of, the U.S. government in Iraq and who meet certain requirements. The Department’s authority to issue SIVs to Iraqi nationals under the National Defense Authorization Act of 2008 was subsequently extended. The objective of the audit is to determine whether the Department is administering the SIV program in accordance with Federal law.

Selected Posts in Bureau of African Affairs (AF), Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs (EUR), NEA

Audit of Remote Mission Operations in Contingency Environments
For security reasons, the Department operates a number of embassies and consulates outside the borders of the nation. For example, Mission Somalia operates remotely from Kenya, with the Department providing $275 million in foreign assistance to Somalia in FY 2017. Other examples include Mission Libya operating from Tunisia and programs for the stabilization of Syria from Turkey, Jordan, and Kuwait. The objectives of the audit are to determine the extent to which the Department 1) oversees its mission in locations where it does not have a permanent presence, 2) has policies and procedures in place for operating remotely, and 3) has assessed best practices that could be applied to other missions to reduce the number of personnel incountry and reduce the U.S. Government’s footprint.

Special Projects/Department

Evaluation of the Department of State Authorities Act Implementation
In 2016, Congress enacted the Department of State Authorities Act, which requires each Department head to report to OIG within 5 business days any allegations of: (1) waste, fraud, or abuse in a Department program or operation; (2) criminal or serious misconduct on the part of a senior employee; (3) criminal misconduct on the part of any employee; and (4) serious, noncriminal misconduct on the part of any law enforcement officer. The objective of this evaluation will be to review the Department’s compliance with this provision and will examine whether the Department is reporting all the required allegations and whether they are doing so in a timely fashion. OIG will also evaluate whether the Department’s guidance on this requirement is clear and whether the Department has sufficiently notified Department heads of their responsibilities.

 

 

Be On The Lookout Alert: State/OIG’s Inspection Reports FY2015 (Corrected)

September 16, 2015 By in Consular Work, Defense Department, Digital Diplomacy, Follow the Money, Foreign Assistance, Foreign Service, Functional Bureaus, Oversight, Security, Social Media, Spouses, Staffing the FS, Technology and Work Tags: , , , , ,

Posted: 12:43  am EDT
Corrected: 1:19 pm EDT
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The Office of Evaluations and Special Projects (ESP) in the Office of Inspector General (OIG) was established in 2014 “to strengthen OIG’s oversight of the Department and BBG, and to improve OIG’s capabilities to meet statutory requirements of the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2012.”  ESP is also responsible for special evaluations and reviews, including responses to congressional inquiries. The work of this new office reportedly complements the work of OIG’s audits, investigations, and inspections by developing a capacity to focus on broader, systemic issues.

Note: We are correcting this post to indicate that the following reports are done by OIG’s Office of Inspection (ISP). That directorate is focused on three broad areas set forth in the Foreign Service Act of 1980: policy implementation, resource management and management controls. The following reports fall under OIG/ISP’s Special Projects and Areas of Emphasis. 

With the end of the fiscal year just two weeks away, here is a recap of the scheduled evaluations by OIG’s Office of Inspection for FY2015 (pdf). The start date of these evaluations was this fiscal year but the final reports may not necessarily be released this month.   We don’t know when these reports will be available and if all will be available publicly, but we’re on the lookout for them. State/OIG says that “our folks are committed to posting them and making them public as soon as we can.”

Cross-Functional: Program Evaluation | Inspectors will determine whether Department bureaus and missions have conducted program evaluations of foreign assistance programs, consistent with OMB Memorandum M-11-29 and the Foreign Affairs Manual (FAM), 18 FAM 300.

Executive: Annual Statement of Assurance on Management Controls | Inspectors will determine whether Chiefs of Mission and Assistant Secretaries understand statement-of-assurance guidance; conduct reviews consistent with guidance; and demonstrate their support for controls verbally and through other means, communicating the importance of ethical behavior and management controls.

Political/Economic: Foreign Assistance Oversight  | Inspectors will determine whether oversight responsibilities are clearly reflected in the position descriptions, work requirement statements, and evaluations of grant officer representatives or contracting officer representatives that spend more than 25 percent of their time overseeing foreign assistance programs.

Public Diplomacy: Social Media Guidance and Clearances | Inspectors will determine whether missions have a strategic plan to guide missions’ use of various types of social media and the level of policy content in that media with respect to target audiences.

Consular: Eligible Family Member Employment in Consular Sections  | Inspectors will examine the effectiveness of eligible family member employment in consular sections and its impact on mission morale.

Information Technology: Key-Loggers  | Inspectors will determine if missions and bureaus have controls in place to detect the existence of key-loggers on mobile computing devices used with the fob.

Security: Regional Security Officer Access to Threat Information  | Inspectors will determine whether Regional Security Officers have access to all required sources of threat information, as recommended in the classified Benghazi Accountability Review Board report.

Security: Department of Defense Support for Embassy Personnel Emergencies  | Inspectors will determine whether DoD is complying with Benghazi Accountability Review Board recommendations related to supporting mission personnel in emergencies.

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Office of Inspector General Adds Evaluations and Special Projects Office, Launches New Website

October 31, 2014 By in Functional Bureaus, Govt Documents, State Department Tags: , , , , , , 2 Comments

— Domani Spero
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The State Department Office of Inspector General has been recruiting and hiring new staffers the last several months. The latest change is the addition of a new directorate and the relaunching of its website.  The snazzy, new website includes a video with IG Steve Linick.  The new site also includes a better search function to locate reports by category, topic, location or bureau/office.

Screen Shot 2014-10-30 at 9.18.21 PM
New org chart below. Note that Emilia DiSanto is no longer in an acting capacity but has been formally appointed as IG Linick’s deputy.

Screen Shot 2014-10-20

 

Perhaps the most notable addition is that of Evaluation and Special Projects:

The Office of Evaluations and Special Projects (ESP) was established in 2014 to strengthen OIG’s oversight of the Department and BBG, and to improve OIG’s capabilities to meet statutory requirements of the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2012. ESP will fulfill OIG’s whistleblower protection duties by educating Department and BBG employees and contractors on the protections from retaliation for disclosing fraud, waste, or abuse. ESP is also responsible for reviewing allegations of administrative misconduct by senior officials, and issuing management alerts to highlight urgent need for corrective actions and capping reports on thematic areas of concern. Additionally, ESP is responsible for special evaluations and reviews, including responses to congressional inquiries. The work of this new office complements the work of OIG’s audits, investigations, and inspections by developing a capacity to focus on broader, systemic issues.

ESP has issued a Management Alert on Grant Management Deficiencies (MA-14-03), which highlights significant deficiencies in Department grants management oversight. It also produced a Review of Selected Internal Investigations Conducted by the Bureau of Diplomatic Security (ESP-14-01), which examined allegations of undue influence and favoritism in eight high-profile internal investigations conducted by the Bureau of Diplomatic Security (DS).

Also, the new website includes the State OIG Winners for 2014 CIGIE Annual Awards including an Award of Excellence in Investigation for an Individual that went to Special Agent Jeff Whitney:

The Office of Investigations received the Award of Excellence in Investigations, Individual awarded to Special Agent (SA) Jeff Whitney for his exceptional performance in the conduct of investigations supporting contingency operations in Southwest Asia and the protection of high-risk Department resources. SA Whitney led two complex investigations in Kabul, Afghanistan, which resulted in a $1.7 million cost savings to the Department and a combined debarment of at least 26 contractor entities. These investigations involved schemes relating to bid rigging, antitrust violations, bribery, conflict of interest, and violations of the Procurement Integrity Act. SA Whitney diligently and effectively worked with prosecutors from the Department of Justice and Special Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigations, Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service to interview several witnesses and subjects, write and serve multiple search warrants and travel to dangerous environments within Afghanistan in order to accomplish investigative objectives. SA Whitney also met with numerous Department and Embassy Officials to aide them in their efforts to improve their processes to ensure these types of schemes are not replicated in the future.

Check it out!

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