Recommendation: The Attorney General should ensure that the Department of Justice fully implements the category management activity to reduce unaligned IT spending, by performing an analysis of alternatives to justify the agency's unaligned IT contracts. (Recommendation 9)

Agency: Department of Justice
Status: Open

Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Recommendation: The Attorney General should ensure that the Department of Justice fully implements the category management activity to share prices paid, terms and conditions for purchased IT goods and services. (Recommendation 10)

Agency: Department of Justice
Status: Open

Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Recommendation: The Attorney General should ensure that the Department of Justice fully implements the category management activity to engage the workforce in training regarding category management principles and practices, by tracking its workforce's attendance in the training. (Recommendation 11)

Agency: Department of Justice
Status: Open

Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Recommendation: The Attorney General should ensure that the Department of Justice uses a spend analysis to identify opportunities to reduce IT contract duplication. (Recommendation 12)

Agency: Department of Justice
Status: Open

Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Recommendation: The Attorney General should ensure that the Department of Justice develops and implements strategies to address duplication identified through the use of spend analyses. (Recommendation 13)

Agency: Department of Justice
Status: Open

Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Recommendation: We recommend that the Attorney General ensure that additional guidance is provided to federal agencies to clarify Fix NICS Act certification requirements for record submissions and reporting. (Recommendation 1)

Agency: Department of Justice
Status: Open

Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Recommendation: The Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division should work with Education's Office for Civil Rights to provide state educational agencies and school districts with online information, technical assistance, or training materials related to federal accessibility requirements specific to public school facilities. (Recommendation 1)

Agency: Department of Justice
Status: Open

Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Recommendation: The Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division should work with Education's Office for Civil Rights to provide state educational agencies and school districts with online information, technical assistance, or training materials related to federal accessibility requirements in public school facilities in the context of safety and security. This may include leveraging recent, online federal initiatives on school safety and physical security. (Recommendation 2)

Agency: Department of Justice
Status: Open

Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Recommendation: The Attorney General of the United States should develop and implement policies and procedures for assessing the impact of training provided to agency hiring managers and human resources staff on Schedule A hiring authority. This includes assessing the impact of its training on agency performance goals related to increased hiring of individuals with disabilities and targeted disabilities. (Recommendation 2)

Agency: Department of Justice
Status: Open

Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Recommendation: The Attorney General of the United States should develop and implement policies and procedures for obtaining employee feedback about the agency's reasonable accommodations efforts and use such information to evaluate the ongoing effectiveness of the program. This may include identifying any effects on employee retention, identifying potential risks, and determining any improvements that may be warranted. (Recommendation 3)

Agency: Department of Justice
Status: Open

Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Recommendation: The Attorney General should ensure that the agency fully implements each of the eight key IT workforce planning activities it did not fully implement. (Recommendation 7)

Agency: Department of Justice
Status: Open

Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Recommendation: The Attorney General should ensure that relevant DOJ offices update information about religious-based hate crimes on college campuses, practices to address them, and available DOJ resources to help colleges, campus law enforcement, and other stakeholders monitor and address these crimes. (Recommendation 1)

Agency: Department of Justice
Status: Open

Comments: DOJ has taken a number of steps to address this recommendation, including creating a campus-specific brochure that highlights the Community Relations Service's (CRS) hate crimes prevention and response resources for campus stakeholders. CRS is also in the process of developing a comprehensive guide with best practices for and tools to aid in the planning and implementation of Campus SPIRIT programs and a "spotlight" article for the Department's hate crimes website. DOJ noted that the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) is developing hate crimes-specific training curriculum to provide technical assistance to law enforcement agencies, including those on campus. These are important steps to implement this recommendation, but because these resources are currently under development, this recommendation remains open.

Recommendation: The Attorney General should ensure that relevant DOJ offices share more information about available DOJ resources with colleges, campus law enforcement, and other stakeholders to help them monitor and address religious-based hate crimes on college campuses. (Recommendation 3)

Agency: Department of Justice
Status: Open

Comments: DOJ outlined steps it will take to work with campus-based law enforcement organizations such as the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators, the International Association of Chiefs of Police's University and College Police Section, and the National Association of Student Affairs Professionals. This includes participating in a conference in June 2020 and contacting the groups to increase awareness of its hate crimes website. GAO has requested documentation to demonstrate this outreach has occurred.

Recommendation: The Attorney General of the United States should update the department's environmental justice strategic plan. (Recommendation 6)

Agency: Department of Justice
Status: Open

Comments: In April 2020, the department agreed to review its environmental justice strategy and to revise it if needed. It also stated that as part of that review, it will consider any guidance issued by the Interagency Working Group on Environmental Justice (EJ IWG) concerning what agencies should include in environmental justice strategic plans. The department stated that it anticipated receiving such guidance by the end of 2020. We will continue to review the department's actions and update this information.

Recommendation: The Attorney General should direct the Bureau of Justice Assistance to enhance quality checks to ensure the accuracy of information in its 180-day reports about Public Safety Officers' Benefits claims related to public safety officers affected by 9/11. (Recommendation 1)

Agency: Department of Justice
Status: Open

Comments: The Bureau of Justice Assistance agreed with this recommendation. The agency said it will develop and implement quality checks to confirm the accuracy of information reported in the 180-day reports related to PSOB 9/11 claims. We will consider closing this recommendation when this effort is completed.

Recommendation: The Attorney General should develop a cybersecurity risk management strategy that includes the key elements identified in this report. (Recommendation 21)

Agency: Department of Justice
Status: Open
Priority recommendation

Comments: In its comments on our draft report, the Department of Justice did not state whether it concurred with this recommendation. As of January 2020, . the department reported that it had an integrated strategy for identifying, prioritizing, assessing, responding to, monitoring, and reporting on cybersecurity risks. Once the department states that it has taken action, we plan to verify whether implementation has occurred.

Recommendation: The Attorney General should fully establish and document a process for coordination between cybersecurity risk management and enterprise risk management functions. (Recommendation 22)

Agency: Department of Justice
Status: Open
Priority recommendation

Comments: In its comments on our draft report, the Department of Justice did not state whether or not it concurred with this recommendation. As of January 2020, the department stated that it is developing an ongoing mechanism to institutionalize coordination between its cybersecurity and ERM functions in fiscal year 2020. Once the department states that it has taken action, we plan to verify whether implementation has occurred.

Recommendation: The Attorney General should develop and document goals that explain the common outcomes DOJ seeks to achieve through its elder justice efforts. (Recommendation 1)

Agency: Department of Justice
Status: Open

Comments: In its comments on a draft of our report in May 2019, DOJ did not explicitly state whether or not it concurred with the two recommendations we directed to the department, but stated that it is taking our recommendations under serious review. Specifically, DOJ stated that it planned to form a subcommittee within its Elder Justice Working Group to consider the development or clarification of goals and the development of outcome measures. In a follow-up response dated December 17, 2019, DOJ noted that the subcommittee had been formed, and had met to explore the development of additional---or clarification of present---goals, including those referenced in our report. We will continue to monitor DOJ's efforts towards implementing this recommendation.

Recommendation: The Attorney General should develop and document outcome measures to track the progress the agency is making toward achieving its elder justice goals. (Recommendation 2)

Agency: Department of Justice
Status: Open

Comments: In its comments on a draft of our report in May 2019, DOJ did not explicitly state whether or not it concurred with the two recommendations we directed to the department, but stated that it is taking our recommendations under serious review. Specifically, DOJ stated that it planned to form a subcommittee within its Elder Justice Working Group to consider the development or clarification of goals and the development of outcome measures. In a follow-up response dated December 17, 2019, DOJ noted that the subcommittee had been formed, and had met to begin developing and documenting appropriate outcome measures that can better track the Department's progress on its overall elder justice efforts. This will include consideration of the specific suggestions cited in our report, as well exploring opportunities for additional data collection to enhance the Department's efforts and better measure outcomes. We will continue to monitor DOJ's efforts towards implementing this recommendation.

Recommendation: The Attorney General should take action to meet the data center optimization metric targets established for Justice under DCOI by OMB. (Recommendation 15)

Agency: Department of Justice
Status: Open

Comments: In comments on our report, the Department of Justice (Justice) agreed with our recommendation and began taking action to implement it. After the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released the updated Data Center Optimization Initiative policy in June 2019, the department established new data center optimization targets. The department subsequently reported meeting its targets for the virtualization and advanced energy metering metrics. However, the department did not have an established target for the server utilization metric. Justice stated that, due to OMB issuance of the revised DCOI guidance and metrics, the department had not developed a baseline and target for server utilization. Once it can track server utilization for a few reporting periods, the department stated that it will finalize its definition for underutilized severs and establish an appropriate target for the metric. We will continue to monitor the department's progress in implementing this recommendation.

Recommendation: The Attorney General of the United States should ensure that the CIO of Justice completes an assessment of all IT investments for suitability for migration to a cloud computing service, in accordance with OMB guidance. (Recommendation 18)

Agency: Department of Justice
Status: Open

Comments: The Department of Justice (Justice) concurred with our recommendation, and stated that it would require components to assess all investments for cloud. However as of April 2020, based on our review of IT Dashboard data, Justice had not yet completed cloud assessments for 80 investments. We will continue to monitor Justice's progress with this effort.

Recommendation: The Attorney General of the United States should ensure that the CIO of Justice establishes a consistent and repeatable mechanism to track savings and cost avoidances from the migration and deployment of cloud services. (Recommendation 19)

Agency: Department of Justice
Status: Open

Comments: The Department of Justice (Justice) concurred with our recommendation and stated that it would take action to address it. In December 2019, Justice officials reported that the department had taken steps to identify cloud investments and related savings data as part of an integrated data call required by OMB. However, the department still needs to establish a consistent and repeatable mechanism to track savings for all IT investments. We will continue to monitor Justice's progress in implementing this recommendation.

Recommendation: The Attorney General should revise DOJ's process for conducting improper payment risk assessments for Law Enforcement to help ensure that it results in a reliable assessment of whether the program is susceptible to significant improper payments. This should include preparing sufficient documentation to support DOJ's risk assessments. (Recommendation 4)

Agency: Department of Justice
Status: Open
Priority recommendation

Comments: The Department of Justice (DOJ) did not concur with this recommendation. In January 2020, DOJ reiterated that it continues to not concur with the recommendation. DOJ stated that its risk assessment methodology provides DOJ management with a reasonable basis for determining whether the law enforcement program, as well as DOJ's other four mission-aligned programs, are susceptible to significant improper payments. In addition, DOJ reiterated that it continues to not concur with GAO's conclusion that DOJ's risk assessment documentation is not adequate. DOJ stated that its documentation meets all of the requirements in the Improper Payments Information Act of 2002 (IPIA), as amended, and the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) implementing guidance. Therefore, DOJ stated that it does not believe it would be a prudent use of limited resources to expand on the documentation that already exists. DOJ stated that notwithstanding its differences from GAO on the recommendation, it will continue to examine its risk assessment methodology. Finally, DOJ stated that its goal has been, and continues to be, meeting the requirements of IPIA, as amended, and OMB's implementing guidance in a cost effective manner. We continue to believe this recommendation is appropriate because DOJ's risk assessment documentation did not adequately demonstrate how DOJ determined the weighting of the risk factors or the numerical risk level ranges or whether a program is or is not susceptible to significant improper payments. We will continue to monitor the agency's actions to address the recommendation.

Recommendation: The Attorney General should ensure that the Office of the CIO and other offices, as appropriate, address gaps in the department's FITARA plans by developing and implementing policies and procedures that include the CIO as a member of governance boards that inform decisions regarding all IT resources, including component-level boards. (Recommendation 31)

Agency: Department of Justice
Status: Open

Comments: The department agreed with the recommendation and has taken steps towards implementing it. Specifically, in October 2019, the DOJ CIO issued a memorandum requiring component CIOs to establish a process for providing IT investment information to the DOJ CIO. The component CIO's process is to either include the DOJ CIO as a member of component investment review boards or provide an alternative mechanism for obtaining the DOJ CIO's input on component IT investments. We will continue to monitor the department's progress in implementing our recommendation.

Recommendation: The Attorney General should direct Justice's members of the interagency working group for protection of Native American cultural property to implement selected leading collaboration practices, such as taking steps to agree on outcomes and objectives, clarify roles and responsibilities, and document these decisions. (Recommendation 3)

Agency: Department of Justice
Status: Open

Comments: As of August 2019, we have reached out to the Department of Justice and are awaiting a response on actions they may have taken in response to this recommendation.

Recommendation: The Attorney General should direct Justice's members of the interagency working group for protection of Native American cultural property to identify and externally communicate to tribes points of contact within the agency that are responsible for responding to tribes' requests for assistance with repatriating cultural items from overseas auctions. (Recommendation 7)

Agency: Department of Justice
Status: Open

Comments: As of August 2019, we have reached out to the Department of Justice and are awaiting a response on actions they may have taken in response to this recommendation.

Recommendation: The Attorney General should direct Justice's members of the interagency working group for protection of Native American cultural property to collaborate with the interagency working group members from other agencies to assess, in consultation with Indian tribes, whether and how amending the U.S. legal framework governing the export, theft, and trafficking of Native American cultural items would facilitate the repatriation of these items from auctions overseas and report its findings to Congress. (Recommendation 11)

Agency: Department of Justice
Status: Open

Comments: As of August 2019, we have reached out to the Department of Justice and are awaiting a response on actions they may have taken in response to this recommendation.

Recommendation: The Attorney General should ensure that the department's IT management policies address the role of the CIO for key responsibilities in the five areas we identified. (Recommendation 13)

Agency: Department of Justice
Status: Open

Comments: Justice concurred with our recommendation and started work to address it. When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Recommendation: The Attorney General of the United States should take steps to develop and document a plan that fully addresses best practices with regards to reduction of backlogged FOIA requests. (Recommendation 11)

Agency: Department of Justice
Status: Open

Comments: In August 2018, the Department of Justice acknowledged that it plans to reexamine its progress and take steps for continued improvement in reducing its backlog. Currently, GAO is awaiting a response from the Department on a publication date.

Recommendation: The Attorney General should, in consultation with its relevant components such as the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Executive Office for United States Attorneys (EOUSA), establish goals and outcome oriented performance measures for its Strategy to Combat the Opioid Epidemic. (Recommendation 5)

Agency: Department of Justice
Status: Open
Priority recommendation

Comments: In its 60 Day-letter, dated June 26, 2018, DOJ officials reported a number of output measures, such as conviction rates, that they will use to assess the effectiveness of the department's efforts to respond to the opioid epidemic. However, it is unclear how, if all, these measures have been incorporated into the department-wide strategy or if additional outcome-oriented metrics are being developed. In October 2018, DOJ officials reported that while they have not updated the strategy, then-Attorney General Sessions had issued a memo to the U.S. Attorneys that communicated some goals for their efforts, such as reductions in overdose deaths, and called for the U.S. Attorneys Office's Regional Opioid Coordinators to develop metrics specific to their regions. In October 2019, DOJ officials reported that the department is currently working on finalizing its Annual Priority Goals and related performance measures with respect to opioids, however they could not provide additional details nor a timeline for when these efforts are to be completed. We reached out in January 2020 to receive additional details and the Department did not have any further information to provide. We will continue to coordinate with DOJ to learn more about these efforts and when officials expect them to be implemented.

Recommendation: To improve oversight of the collection of restitution, the Attorney General should develop and implement performance measures and goals for each USAO related to the collection of restitution, and measure progress towards meeting those goals. (Recommendation 2)

Agency: Department of Justice
Status: Open

Comments: In March 2019, the Department of Justice (DOJ) reported that Executive Office for United States Attorneys developed a core set of performance measures for evaluating collection activities. Further, DOJ officials reported that DOJ was in the process of developing an analytical tool to allow DOJ and U.S. Attorneys Offices' (USAOs) to assess USAO restitution collection efforts and results based on relevant factors. In November 2019, DOJ officials reported that DOJ had begun piloting the analytical tool and expected that it would be fully implemented by July 2020. However, in July 2020, DOJ officials reported that the technical challenges they encountered, as well as the impacts to government operations as a result of the 2019 COVID pandemic, have directly impacted their operations and resulted in delays. While DOJ's initial completion time frame was scheduled for October 2020, the challenges they have encountered have resulted in the timeline for implementation now expected to take place during the first quarter of FY 2021. We will continue to monitor DOJ's progress and time frames for implementation.

Recommendation: The Attorney General, in collaboration with other agencies through the planned interagency working group or another mechanism, should identify further opportunities to more effectively publicize resources to reach additional colleges. (Recommendation 3)

Agency: Department of Justice
Status: Open

Comments: In early 2020, the federal government created the schoolsafety.gov clearinghouse website to compile and publicize emergency preparedness resources from across multiple agencies including the Departments of Education, Homeland Security, and Justice. The website houses key emergency preparedness resources we identified during our work as well as newer information that was not part of our review, such as guidance related to the Coronavirus Pandemic. DOJ issued a press release when the website was launched, but does not prominently publicize it on it website, including on its webpages that are specifically focused on colleges and universities. We will monitor the agency's efforts to publicize these resources and consider closing it at that time.

Recommendation: The Attorney General should study the implementation of federal accessibility requirements in the context of early in-person voting and make any changes to existing guidance that are determined to be necessary as a result of the study. (Recommendation 1)

Agency: Department of Justice
Status: Open

Comments: The Department of Justice (DOJ) agreed with this recommendation and stated it would make any changes to existing guidance that it determines to be necessary as a result of the study. DOJ also outlined its efforts to enforce the protections for voters with disabilities found in federal law. As of October 2019, DOJ indicated that the agency planned to study these issues and has not made any changes to its guidance. We will consider closing this recommendation when the agency has completed these efforts.

Recommendation: To enhance management attention to closing out contracts, the Attorney General should direct the Senior Procurement Executive to ensure the development of a means to track data on the number and type of contracts eligible for closeout and where the contracts are in the closeout process, as well as a means to assess--at the agency or component level--progress by establishing goals and performance measures for closing contracts. (Recommendation 4)

Agency: Department of Justice
Status: Open

Comments: The Department of Justice agreed with the recommendation and in early fiscal year 2020 enhanced its financial management system to allow the Bureaus to assess whether a contract needs to be closed out. The Department anticipates that the associated guidance, which includes performance measures, will be issued in late summer 2020.

Recommendation: To help identify what domestic CVE efforts are to achieve and the extent to which investments in CVE result in measureable success, the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Attorney General--as heads of the two lead agencies responsible for coordinating CVE efforts--should direct the CVE Task Force to develop a cohesive strategy that includes measurable outcomes for CVE activities.

Agency: Department of Justice
Status: Open

Comments: As of August 2019, DOJ has not provided a response to our recommendation. In June 2019, DHS indicated that CVE-style prevention work would fall under a newly formed Office for Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention under which it will be part of a broad counterterrorism strategy that DHS plans to have ready by this fall. We will continue to monitor DOJ's involvement in these efforts as DHS it develops its plan.

Recommendation: To help identify what domestic CVE efforts are to achieve and the extent to which investments in CVE result in measureable success, the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Attorney General--as heads of the two lead agencies responsible for coordinating CVE efforts--should direct the CVE Task Force to establish and implement a process to assess overall progress in CVE, including its effectiveness.

Agency: Department of Justice
Status: Open

Comments: As of August 2019, DOJ has not provided a response to our recommendation. In June 2019, DHS indicated that CVE-style prevention work would fall under a newly formed Office for Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention under which it will be part of a broad counterterrorism strategy that DHS plans to have ready by this fall. We will continue to monitor DOJ's involvement in these efforts as DHS develops its plan.

Recommendation: To help the department effectively manage spending on mobile devices and services, the Attorney General should ensure procedures to monitor and control spending are established department-wide. Specifically, ensure that (1) procedures include assessing devices for zero, under, and over usage; (2) personnel with authority and responsibility for performing the procedures are identified; and (3) the specific steps to be taken to perform the process are documented.

Agency: Department of Justice
Status: Open

Comments: As of January 2020, the Department of Justice has made progress implementing this recommendation; however, more remains to be done. Specifically, in response to our findings, in April 2015, the department's Chief Information Officer issued a memo that required components to establish procedures for regular reviews of invoices for wireless services to identify unused and underused devices or services, as well as any over-usage charges to service plans. One of the components we reviewed, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, established procedures in July 2016 to monitor mobile device usage. In addition, the Justice Management Division (JMD) established procedures in May 2019 that apply to JMD as well some but not all other components. The other component we reviewed in our report, the Drug Enforcement Agency, had not established procedures that address our recommendation. We will continue to monitor the department's progress.

Recommendation: To better ensure that FBI whistleblowers have access to recourse under DOJ's regulations should the individuals experience retaliation, and to minimize the possibility of discouraging future potential whistleblowers, the Attorney General should clarify in all current relevant DOJ guidance and communications, including FBI guidance and communications, to whom FBI employees may make protected disclosures and, further, explicitly state that employees will not have access to recourse if they experience retaliation for reporting alleged wrongdoing to someone not designated in DOJ's regulations.

Agency: Department of Justice
Status: Open
Priority recommendation

Comments: In response to our report, in December 2016, Congress passed and the President signed the FBI Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2016, Pub. L. No. 114-302, which, among other things, provides a means for FBI employees to obtain corrective action for retaliation for disclosures of wrongdoing made to supervisors and others in the employees' chain of command. Following this, the FBI worked closely with the Department of Justice's Office of Inspector General (DOJ-OIG) to develop a training that clearly identifies to whom FBI employees may make protected disclosures. In addition, the FBI issued an aligned policy directive and two fact sheets detailing whistleblower rights. In October 2018, a DOJ official reported to us that the department was in the process of updating its regulations and, in February 2020, DOJ officials confirmed that the updated regulation was in the departmental clearance process but they could not provide an estimate for when it would be finalized. As a result, as of February 2020, DOJ's regulations have not been updated and are inconsistent with the current statute and FBI's guidance and training; as such, the problem of unclear or conflicting guidance to FBI employees still needs to be addressed. To address this recommendation, DOJ would need to update its regulations and ensure that all relevant guidance is clear and consistent across the department.

Recommendation: To improve the department's implementation of PortfolioStat, the Attorney General should direct the CIO to reflect 100 percent of information technology investments in the department's enterprise architecture.

Agency: Department of Justice
Status: Open

Comments: In October 2019, the department stated that its budget formulation process ensures that all investments are included in its enterprise architecture (EA). Specifically, the department stated that, as part of the budget formulation process, the EA group reviews investments and aligns them to the business areas within the EA framework by assigning them business reference model codes. To support its claims, in November 2019, the department provided a list of investments showing their alignment with the business reference model codes for the fiscal year 2021 budget formulation process. However, the department did not provide evidence of the EA group's review process. As of January 2020, we were following up with the department to obtain this evidence.