Catch up with State OIG! In our February issue:
- Making a Difference
- Spotlight on Success
- Ukraine and Afghanistan Oversight
- Notable Open Recommendation
- New Work Started
- Recommendations Status
February 2025
MAKING A DIFFERENCE
In July 2022, State OIG offered fourteen
recommendations to improve the management of
$164 million worth of nonexpendable U.S.
government personal property at Embassy Baghdad
(Audit of Nonexpendable Personal Property at U.S.
Embassy Baghdad, Iraq; AUD-MERO-22-44).
> Of the fourteen recommendations offered, eleven have been
fully implemented, strengthening Embassy Baghdad’s
management processes and oversight for the Personal
Property Program.
> State OIG inspections continue to pay off long after
reports are issued.
Recent examples of funds put to
better use at U.S. missions and embassies include:
• $731,939 was put to better use by Embassy
Brussels following our 2023 report (ISP-I-23-11)
which recommended reprogramming information
management positions to ICASS-funded positions.
• $85,020 was put to better use by Embassy Abuja
after our 2023 report (ISP-I-23-09) identified
overdue travel advances which were subsequently
cleared.
• $75,556 was put to better use by Embassy Warsaw
after our 2024 report (ISP-I-24-18), identified excess
inventory of nonexpendable property, which was
subsequently auctioned.
• $49,433 was put to better use by Embassy Kuala
Lumpur after inspectors recommended a review of
unliquidated obligations without activity for more
than one year.
Our 2024 report (ISP-I-24-14) found
the potential of up to $109,000 in invalid
unliquidated obligations. U.S. Embassy Baghdad, Iraq
UKRAINE AND AFGHANISTAN
OVERSIGHT
Special Inspector General for Operation Atlantic
ResolveFinal Quarterly Report to the United States
Congress
October 1, 2024 - December 31, 2024
This fifth quarterly report submitted by the Special
Inspector General for Operation Atlantic Resolve (OAR)
summarizes U.S. Government support to Ukraine and
the broader response to Russia’s full-scale invasion,
including
- support for the Ukrainian Armed Forces(UAF),
- support for NATO partners, and
- U.S. military, diplomatic, and humanitarian activity
OIG MONTHLY UPDATE February 2025
4,236 to 4,746. The seminar series also provided
opportunities for U.S. companies to conduct work
globally.
Furthermore, it fostered public-private
dialogue between the UN and U.S. industry leaders
such as Google Cloud Services and Microsoft. I
t served
to align U.S. businesses with the Secretary-General’s
United Nations Global Compact, which seeks to uphold
UN values in the private sector.
Increased U.S. business
participation in the UN Global Compact helps to
protect U.S. competitiveness.
NOTABLE OPEN RECOMMENDATION
In the September 2016 report, Audit of the
Department of State Travel Card Program
(AUD-CGI-16-48), State OIG found that by failing to
ensure that Department-issued travel card holders use
the charge card for all travel-related expenses, the
Travel Card Program may have indirectly reduced the
Department’s sales refund.
For demonstration
purposes, OIG highlighted one category of official
travel expenses: total lodging expense paid for
Department travelers from October 1, 2013, through
March 31, 2015.
If 100% of the $118 million in
expenses had been applied to Department-issued
travel cards, the Department could have earned up to
$47,291 in sales refunds.
OIG recommended that the
Bureau of the Comptroller and Global Financial
Services (CGFS) develop and implement split
disbursement procedures as required by the Office of
Management and Budget for all Department-issued
travel card holders.
In response, CGFS funded a project
to develop and implement split disbursement
procedures, but halted implementation in anticipation
of a planned transition to a travel service application,
ETSNext, in February 2027.
As a result, CGFS remains
without split disbursement procedures more than 8
years after OIG issued its recommendation.
NEW WORK STARTED
• Inspection of Embassy Port Louis, Mauritius
• Classified Inspection of Embassy Port Louis,
Mauritius
The Office of Inspector General conducts independent oversight of the Department of State and the U.S. Agency for
Global Media on behalf of American taxpayers to:
• Promote economy, efficiency, and effectiveness.
• Prevent and detect fraud, waste, and abuse.
• Identify vulnerabilities and recommend constructive solutions.
Click here for a complete list of completed, ongoing,
and planned work related to Ukraine.
Click here for a complete list of completed, ongoing,
and planned work related to Afghanistan.
