Recommendation: The Director of ORR should clarify in its grant announcements the information and supporting documentation applicants are required to provide in their grant applications with respect to their state licensing status, eligibility, and allegations and concerns. (Recommendation 1).

Agency: Department of Health and Human Services: Administration for Children and Families: Office of Refugee Resettlement
Status: Open

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

Recommendation: The Director of ORR should take steps to develop, and ensure that officials reviewing grant applications implement, a process to verify the accuracy and completeness of information reported by grant applicants on state licensing status, eligibility, allegations and concerns. (Recommendation 2).

Agency: Department of Health and Human Services: Administration for Children and Families: Office of Refugee Resettlement
Status: Open

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

Recommendation: The Director of ORR should ensure that the grant review process includes a documented review of applicants' past performance on ORR grants for those that have previously received grants to care for unaccompanied children. This could include, for example, a systematic review of previous quarterly and annual performance reports and a review of corrective actions issued by all ORR monitoring staff to all ORR-funded facilities previously operated by the applicant. (Recommendation 3).

Agency: Department of Health and Human Services: Administration for Children and Families: Office of Refugee Resettlement
Status: Open

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

Recommendation: The Director of ORR should clarify in its instructions to grantees the information they are required to report on state licensing citations in their quarterly performance reports. (Recommendation 4).

Agency: Department of Health and Human Services: Administration for Children and Families: Office of Refugee Resettlement
Status: Open

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

Recommendation: The Director of ORR should take steps, such as through guidance or training, to ensure that project officers clearly understand the requirement that grantees report state licensing citations at any of their facilities within 24 hours and include state licensing citations in their quarterly performance reports. (Recommendation 5).

Agency: Department of Health and Human Services: Administration for Children and Families: Office of Refugee Resettlement
Status: Open

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

Recommendation: The Director of ORR should work with state agencies that license ORR-funded facilities to develop a plan for mutual information sharing, including processes for ORR outreach to states during the grant application review process and ongoing information sharing on ORR and state monitoring processes and identified deficiencies. (Recommendation 6).

Agency: Department of Health and Human Services: Administration for Children and Families: Office of Refugee Resettlement
Status: Open

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

Recommendation: The Director of ORR should ensure that ORR provides and maintains a current point of contact for each state agency that licenses ORR grantees to facilitate information sharing regarding ORR-funded facilities. (Recommendation 7).

Agency: Department of Health and Human Services: Administration for Children and Families: Office of Refugee Resettlement
Status: Open

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

Recommendation: The Director of ORR should develop a plan—including roles, responsibilities, and timeframes—to guide and focus ORR's efforts to meet its goals to:

• conduct an audit of each facility's compliance with ORR standards on preventing and responding to sexual assault, as required under the Interim Final Rule,
• conduct on-site monitoring visits to each facility at least every 2 years in accordance with ORR policy, and
• report any noncompliance to the facility within 30 days of the site visit, in accordance with ORR policy.

(Recommendation 8).

Agency: Department of Health and Human Services: Administration for Children and Families: Office of Refugee Resettlement
Status: Open

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

Recommendation: The Under Secretary for Health should ensure VA's key offices, such as OAA and ORD, provide VA medical centers with examples of successful practices for strengthening research relationships with academic affiliates and that such information reflects the lessons learned from VA medical centers that have successfully cultivated these relationships. (Recommendation 1)

Agency: Department of Veterans Affairs
Status: Open

Comments: VA concurred with this recommendation. VA stated that they will establish a working group with representatives from both VA's Central Office and the field to identify and share best practices by December 31, 2020.

Recommendation: The Under Secretary for Health should ensure ORD, in consultation with the field, develops tools, such as a decision tree and successful practices, to help local VA medical center officials decide which entity—NPCs or academic affiliates—should administer extramural funding based on providing optimal support for the research. (Recommendation 2)

Agency: Department of Veterans Affairs
Status: Open

Comments: VA concurred with this recommendation. VA stated that the working group established to address GAO's first recommendation, which will include representatives from both VA's Central Office and the field, will develop and share tools to assist VA medical centers and their academic affiliates in determining how federal awards should be administered by December 31, 2020.

Recommendation: The Associate Administrator of the Office of Entrepreneurial Development should reevaluate the SBDC funding application requirements, including reexamining the funding estimate SBDCs are required to use and considering other changes that could reduce administrative burdens on SBDCs. (Recommendation 1)

Agency: Small Business Administration
Status: Open

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

Recommendation: The Secretary of Transportation should direct the Administrator of FTA to identify and develop controls, such as methods to more easily identify transit expenses within applications submitted by larger entities, such as a city, county, or state government, to address the risk of duplicate funding. (Recommendation 1)

Agency: Department of Transportation
Status: Open

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

Recommendation: The Secretary of Homeland Security should direct the Administrator of FEMA to identify and develop controls, such as methods to more easily identify transit expenses within applications submitted by larger entities such as a city, county, or state government, to address the risk of duplicate funding. (Recommendation 2)

Agency: Department of Homeland Security
Status: Open

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

Recommendation: The Secretary of Veterans Affairs should ensure that the Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs update its cost-estimating procedures for cemetery construction projects to fully incorporate the 12 steps identified in the GAO Cost Estimating and Assessment Guide: Best Practices for Developing and Managing Capital Program Costs.

Agency: Department of Veterans Affairs
Status: Open

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

Recommendation: During the next reauthorization for surface transportation programs, Congress should consider including language in the reauthorization bill that would require DOT to develop and implement transparency measures for DOT's review and selection process for discretionary grants. Such measures should, at a minimum, help to ensure that the evaluation process is clearly communicated, that applications are consistently evaluated, and that the rationale for DOT's decisions are clearly documented. Such measures should be developed in line with Office of Management and Budget guidance, federal internal control standards, and recommended practices for evaluating and selecting discretionary grant awards (Matter for Consideration 1)

Agency: Congress
Status: Open

Comments: As of November 2019, Congress has not enacted a reauthorization measure for surface transportation programs. The current authorization expires on September 30, 2020.

Recommendation: The Secretary of Transportation should ensure that DOT, in its notice of funding opportunity and evaluation plan for each remaining INFRA-funding cycle, clarify the circumstances under which DOT may select applicants to receive requests for additional information. (Recommendation 1)

Agency: Department of Transportation
Status: Open

Comments: As of November 2019, DOT told us that, for the fiscal year 2020 INFRA awards, it plans to provide information in the Notice of Funding Opportunity and evaluation plan explaining under the circumstances under which additional information may be sought from applicants. DOT stated that it plans to complete these actions by March 2020. We will continue to monitor DOT's actions.

Recommendation: The Secretary of Transportation should develop procedures for each remaining INFRA-funding cycle to ensure that when additional information is requested from an applicant, the specific rationale behind the request is documented (for example, to promote geographic diversity among projects), as well as to ensure that DOT documents the rationale if similar projects were not afforded an opportunity to provide additional information. (Recommendation 2)

Agency: Department of Transportation
Status: Open

Comments: As of November 2019, DOT told us it will document the basis for seeking additional information from applicants and describe the procedures for doing so in the evaluation plan for the FY 2020 INFRA awards, which it expects to conclude by September 2020. We will continue to monitor DOT's actions.

Recommendation: The Secretary of Transportation should ensure that DOT provides information to applicants in its notice of funding opportunity for each remaining INFRA-funding cycle regarding: (1) how scores on merit criteria are used, if at all, to determine whether projects advance to the Secretary for selection, and (2) how, if at all, DOT plans to use merit scores to determine which projects should receive an award. (Recommendation 3)

Agency: Department of Transportation
Status: Open

Comments: As of November 2019, DOT told us that, for the fiscal year 2020 INFRA awards, it plans to provide information in the Notice of Funding Opportunity that will more clearly state (1) that projects are advanced to the Secretary based on how they are evaluated against the selection criteria and (2) how evaluations against the selection criteria are used to determine which projects should receive awards. DOT stated that it plans to issue the Notice of Funding Opportunity by March 2020. We will continue to monitor DOT's actions.

Recommendation: The Secretary of Transportation should clarify in the SCASDP evaluation plan how reviewers should assess a grant application's alignment with the priority and secondary selection criteria and assign the application rating categories. (Recommendation 1)

Agency: Department of Transportation
Status: Open

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

Recommendation: The SBA Administrator should establish a process that ensures documentation of states' compliance with the total match requirement before grant closeout. (Recommendation 1)

Agency: Small Business Administration
Status: Open
Priority recommendation

Comments: SBA generally agreed with GAO's findings and concurred with our recommendations. In response to our draft report, agency officials said SBA will establish a process that ensures documentation of state recipients' compliance with the total match requirement before grant closeout. In September 2019, officials told us this process will include assigning SBA program office responsibilities for ensuring recipient compliance related to the cost match. In March 2020, SBA officials said they were still working on implementing changes to address our recommendation. GAO will continue to monitor the agency's implementation of this process.

Recommendation: The SBA Administrator should develop a process to determine states' compliance with the cash match requirement. (Recommendation 2)

Agency: Small Business Administration
Status: Open
Priority recommendation

Comments: SBA generally agreed with our findings and concurred with our recommendations. In response to our draft report, agency officials said they would develop a process to determine state's compliance with the cash match requirement. In September 2019, officials told us the process will apply to both grants specialists and program officers, and ensure the cost match is appropriately applied. In March 2020, SBA officials said they were still working on implementing changes to address our recommendation. GAO will continue to monitor the agency's implementation of this process.

Recommendation: The Under Secretary of Transportation for Policy should ensure that the Build America Bureau develop a detailed implementation plan that sets goals and a timeline for the Bureau's continued efforts, fills vacancies in the Bureau, and prioritizes and sequences work to carry out the multiple responsibilities given to the Bureau in the FAST Act. (Recommendation 1)

Agency: Department of Transportation
Status: Open

Comments: As of July 2020, DOT is planning to develop a strategy with goals and objectives to guide the Bureau's work and to complete this action by August 2020. DOT stated it does not plan to create a detailed implementation plan as that would detract from higher priority efforts. We will continue to monitor DOT's actions and the extent to which they fulfill our recommendation.

Recommendation: The Under Secretary of Transportation for Policy should ensure that the Build America Bureau develop performance indicators to assess the Bureau's progress toward meeting its guiding principles or mission as a "one-stop shop." (Recommendation 2)

Agency: Department of Transportation
Status: Open

Comments: As of July 2020, DOT is planning to establish a baseline that tracks the average amount of time that projects spend in each of the key developmental phases to assess how long projects take to reach financial close and to complete this action by August 2020. This planned baseline and measure would align with one of the Bureau's four guiding principles, but additional measures would be needed to gauge its overall progress in meeting the Bureau's other guiding principles. We will continue to monitor DOT's actions and the extent to which they fulfill our recommendation.

Recommendation: The Under Secretary of Transportation for Policy should ensure that the Build America Bureau develop a mechanism to assess the Bureau's application evaluation process for TIFIA and RRIF and identify and address opportunities to improve and further streamline the process. This evaluation should include mechanisms to solicit feedback from project sponsors that sought financing. (Recommendation 3)

Agency: Department of Transportation
Status: Open

Comments: As of July 2020, the Bureau is planning to develop a survey to solicit feedback from project sponsors on their experience with the Bureau and to have an approved survey ready for use by August 2020. We will continue to monitor DOT's actions and the extent to which they fulfill our recommendation.

Recommendation: The Under Secretary of Transportation for Policy should ensure that the Build America Bureau develop and adopt a public statement that outlines DOT's and the Bureau's policy goals and appetite for risk for the TIFIA and RRIF financing programs. (Recommendation 4)

Agency: Department of Transportation
Status: Open

Comments: As of July 2020, DOT is planning to develop a strategy that outlines the Bureau's policy goals, but does not intend to issue a public statement that outlines DOT's and the Bureau's appetite for risk. According to DOT, a risk appetite statement would not be feasible given that the loan programs in the Bureau cover a diverse portfolio of publicly and privately funded projects covering a range of transportation modes that range widely in size, complexity, and financial structure. We informed DOT that we continue to believe that a risk appetite statement is both feasible and needed. DOT plans to provide an updated response in October 2020. We will review the Department's response and continue to monitor its actions and determine the extent to which they fulfill our recommendation.

Recommendation: The Director of OMB, working with CFOC, should (1) collect data metrics regularly on the Career Roadmap Builder online tool and Grants Training 101 to determine how widely the resources are being used, and (2) obtain periodic feedback from federal agencies on the usefulness of these tools and any needed improvements. (Recommendation 2)

Agency: Executive Office of the President: Office of Management and Budget
Status: Open

Comments: OMB staff provided us with oral comments stating that the agency partially concurred with our recommendations. For our second recommendation, OMB agreed that user feedback data regarding the Career Roadmap Builder and Grants Training 101 is useful. However, OMB stated that while it will continue to collect data on the number of users, it believes that federal agencies should be responsible for collecting specific, detailed user data if they are using those resources. We continue to believe that OMB and CFOC would benefit from collecting specific, detailed user data on these tools, which they devoted time and multiple resources to developing. Collecting detailed data metrics that go beyond the number of users can help OMB and CFOC to better evaluate the effectiveness of these grants training tools. Additionally, OMB stated the agency is committed to working with CFOC to review the Grants Training 101 module to determine how useful it is and if any improvements or adjustments are needed. In May 2019, OMB staff said that no action had been taken to date in response to this recommendation. In January 2020, OMB responded in writing to this recommendation stating that it was continuing to collect data on usage for both training tools on the CFO.gov site. OMB specified, however, that the usage data was for the number of visitors on the two sites and on users by agency. OMB went on to say that each agency is responsible for the professional development of its own workforce, and that Federal agencies can, at their discretion, collect user data if the Roadmap and Grant Training 101 are part of their official training program. In addition, OMB stated it had made the Grants Training 101 available publicly for federal and non-federal personnel on CFO.Gov, and that collecting specific user data is not considered by them to be beneficial to demonstrate the usefulness of the materials. Based on this response, we will continue to inquire as to the availability and use of metrics and effectiveness measures for the Career Roadmap and the Grants Training 101 modules.

Recommendation: The Secretary of HHS should establish a process to monitor and evaluate HHS's grants training at the central office level. This process should include (1) a method for identifying all employees working on grants across the agency, and (2) oversight procedures to evaluate the sufficiency of sub-agencies' grants training efforts including the incorporation of leading practices related to assessing competencies, training approaches, accountability, and training results. (Recommendation 3)

Agency: Department of Health and Human Services
Status: Open

Comments: HHS concurred with our findings and recommendation. In its comment letter, HHS stated that its Office of Grants Policy, Oversight, and Evaluation, within the Office of Grants and Acquisition Policy and Accountability, Division of Grants, in conjunction with the HHS ReInvent Grants Initiative would be developing and implementing a department-wide financial assistance training and certification program to improve the functional effectiveness of the financial assistance management workforce in the areas of internal controls and risk mitigation. The program is designed to support the professional development of the HHS grants management workforce through both instructor-led and online courses. HHS' ReInvent Grants Management (RGM) staff and GAO held a conference call on November 30th, 2018 to discuss how RGM intended to address the recommendation in GAO-18-491 by developing a generalized framework for the Grants Management Training and Certification (GMTC) program for HHS. An HHS official reported that at its December 2019 quarterly meeting, the HHS Division of Workforce Development (DWD) reported they had in the past quarter: briefed the HHS Executive Committee on Grants Administration Policy (ECGAP) on the DWD mission and goals for training the grants workforce; developed briefing documents and presentations based on a RGM developed framework to develop competencies and outline curriculum of the GMTC program; continued to review and refine the program framework to incorporate DWD mission and goals; drafted the initial policy to further inform the structure and procedures of the GMTC program (e.g. certification levels, required coursework, career development requirements), which should be issued by HHS Office of Grants within Federal Fiscal Year 2020; and collaborated with the HHS Grants Closeout Business Process Reengineering Team to discuss current grants closeout status and how DWD can support grant staff and grant recipient closeout training efforts. Given the ongoing nature of HHS efforts, GAO will continue to monitor progress on a quarterly basis.