Recommendation: Congress should consider requiring Ginnie Mae to evaluate the adequacy of its current guaranty fee for single-family mortgage-backed securities and report to Congress with recommendations, if any, on revising the fee, such as by adopting standards under which the fee should be determined. (Matter for Consideration 1)
Agency: Congress
Status: Open
Comments: As of September 2020, Congress had not enacted legislation to require Ginnie Mae to evaluate the adequacy of its current guaranty fee for single-family mortgage-backed securities and report to Congress with recommendations.
Recommendation: Congress should consider requiring Ginnie Mae to evaluate its reliance on contractors and report to Congress on how it would use fee revenue available to hire contractors to also hire in-house staff. (Matter for Consideration 2)
Agency: Congress
Status: Open
Comments: As of September 2020, Congress had not enacted legislation to require Ginnie Mae to evaluate its reliance on contractors and report to Congress on its findings.
Recommendation: Congress should consider requiring Ginnie Mae to provide a report on how it would use greater flexibility or broader authority to set the compensation of its in-house staff. (Matter for Consideration 3)
Agency: Congress
Status: Open
Comments: As of September 2020, Congress has not enacted legislation to require Ginnie Mae to report on how it would use greater flexibility or broader authority to set the compensation of its in-house staff.
Recommendation: Congress should consider reforms to Ginnie Mae's oversight structure that can help address its increasing risks. (Matter for Consideration 4)
Agency: Congress
Status: Open
Comments: As of September 2020, Congress has not enacted legislation that considers reforms to Ginnie Mae's oversight structure that can help address its increasing risks.
Recommendation: The Chief Risk Officer of Ginnie Mae should periodically conduct an actuarial or similar analysis that includes a stress test to evaluate the extent to which the current level of the guaranty fee for single-family MBS provides Ginnie Mae with sufficient reserves to cover potential losses under different economic scenarios. (Recommendation 1)
Agency: Department of Housing and Urban Development: Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae)
Status: Open
Priority recommendation
Comments: Ginnie Mae (HUD) agreed with this recommendation. As of September 2020, Ginnie Mae took steps to address this recommendation. First, according to its 2020 budget justification, Ginnie Mae has concluded that it would be advantageous to have the authority to administratively adjust its guarantee fee and requested that the permissible guarantee fee be established within a range. Upon receipt of this authority, Ginnie Mae would then establish an administrative process through which an adjustment could be made. Second, Ginnie Mae has developed a stress test framework and solicited public comment. According to officials, by early 2021, Ginnie Mae plans to have its contractor develop an economic model to explore the current level of the guaranty fee under different economic scenarios including variations in issuer types and across Ginnie Mae programs. To fully implement this recommendation, Ginnie Mae needs to follow through on this effort and provide additional detail on changes to the existing models and its plan to periodically conduct this analysis. We will continue to monitor Ginnie Mae's progress in implementing our recommendation.
Recommendation: The Senior Vice President of Ginnie Mae's Office of Management Operations should analyze the costs of using contractors for its operations and develop a plan to determine the optimal mix of contractor or in-house staff for operations. (Recommendation 2)
Agency: Department of Housing and Urban Development: Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae)
Status: Open
Priority recommendation
Comments: Ginnie Mae (HUD) agreed with this recommendation. As of September 2020, Ginnie Mae said it procured a contractor to do this analysis on their behalf at the end of fiscal year 2020. Officials expected the cost analysis to commence in early 2021. To fully implement this recommendation, Ginnie Mae should ensure the analysis and plan are completed. We will continue to monitor Ginnie Mae's progress in implementing our recommendation.
Recommendation: The Senior Vice President of Ginnie Mae's Office of Management Operations should assess its contract administration options to determine the most efficient and effective use of funds. (Recommendation 3)
Agency: Department of Housing and Urban Development: Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae)
Status: Open
Priority recommendation
Comments: Ginnie Mae (HUD) agreed with this recommendation. As of October 2020, Ginnie Mae stated it assesses procurement approaches on a per contract basis on whether to administer a contract within HUD or outsource the contract administration. However, GAO recommends Ginnie Mae comprehensively evaluate whether the outsourcing of its contract administration has met its intended purposes and is the most efficient and effective use of funds. In order to implement this recommendation, Ginnie Mae should reevaluate its decision to use an external provider.
Recommendation: The Chief Financial Officer of Ginnie Mae and Senior Vice President of Ginnie Mae's Office of Management Operations should finalize efforts to assess the costs and benefits of options to revise its compensation structure within current authority and submit proposals, if warranted, to HUD for review and consideration. (Recommendation 4)
Agency: Department of Housing and Urban Development: Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae)
Status: Open
Priority recommendation
Comments: Ginnie Mae (HUD) agreed with this recommendation. As of September 2020, Ginnie Mae has taken steps to assess options to revise its compensation structure. More specifically, according to Ginnie Mae, in the development of its fiscal year 2020 budget request, Ginnie requested authority to develop alternative pay options, such as premium pay, pay bands and critical pay. In August 2020, Ginnie Mae was given authority to proceed with implementing critical pay by the Office of Personnel Management. Critical Pay authority permits an agency to set a higher rate of basic pay than would otherwise be payable for a position that requires expertise of an extremely high level in a scientific, technical, professional, or administrative field and is critical to the successful accomplishment of an important mission. As of September 2020, Ginnie Mae is working with HUD on developing an implementation plan to implement critical pay within its Office of Enterprise Risk. In addition, Ginne Mae is working with OMB to ensure program execution and outcomes are aligned between the agencies. We will continue to monitor Ginnie Mae's progress in implementing our recommendation.
