U.S. Department of State Fiscal Year 2019 Agency Financial Report

The proper documentation of property transfers to residences has also been an ongoing challenge. Data in the electronic inventory system at Embassy Port-au- Prince showed the embassy did not document more than 20 percent of nonexpendable property transfers to residences over nearly 2 years, increasing the risk of theft. 48 Embassy New Delhi failed to consistently document such transfers for both FY 2016 and FY 2017. 49 As in years past, several reports noted issues with embassy management of fuel, an asset that is particularly vulnerable to theft given its significant value. At Embassy Dakar, spot checks of residential fuel deliveries were not conducted, and local staff oversaw deliveries, contrary to Department standards. 50 Similarly, at Embassy Port-au-Prince, INL did not adequately supervise its fuel, allowing Haitian Government personnel to accept deliveries, which risks waste, fraud, and mismanagement of the asset. 51 Relatedly, we noted frequent internal control deficiencies affecting the Department’s fleet of official vehicles. For example, Embassy Bogota did not track motor pool expendable supplies, such as motor oil and oil filters, in the Department’s electronic inventory system. 52 Also, neither Embassy Bogota nor Embassy Libreville monitored the operating costs of their official vehicles, and Embassy Libreville and Embassy Vienna did not control access to motor vehicle keys. 53 In addition, Embassy Vienna did not establish adequate internal controls over the credit cards used to purchase fuel for its motor vehicle fleet. 54 At Embassy Dakar, incidental American drivers garaged or parked official vehicles at their residences without prior specific authorization from the Chief of Mission. 48 ISP-I-19-18, June 2019. 49 ISP-I-19-10, December 2018. 50 ISP-I-19-03, November 2018. 51 ISP-I-19-18, June 2019. 52 ISP-I-19-14, April 2019. 53 ISP-I-19-14, April 2019; ISP-I-19-16, June 2019; OIG, Management Assistance Report: Embassy Vienna, Austria, Lacks Adequate Internal Controls Over Motor Vehicle Keys and Fuel Credit Cards (AUD-SI-19-42, September 2019). 54 AUD-SI-19-42. 55 ISP-I-19-03, November 2018. 56 OIG, Audit of the Department of State Purchase Card Program (AUD-CGI-19-24, March 2019). 57 OIG, Audit of Cost Management of Embassy Air in Afghanistan and Iraq (AUD-MERO-19-33, September 2019). Without such approval, policy requires official vehicles to be parked overnight on an embassy compound for security, accountability, and safekeeping purposes. 55 Further, although we found that Department purchase cardholders generally used their Government cards for purchases allowed by laws and regulations, we noted other internal control issues related to the Department’s purchase card program. For example, we found that purchase cardholders did not always record and document purchases or reconcile monthly statements in accordance with Department policy. We also found that 10 percent of bureaus and posts had not completed a required annual review of their purchase card programs. 56 Collecting, Analyzing, and Applying Financial Information Flaws in the Department’s collection, use, and analysis of financial information continue to be an aspect of this management challenge. These weaknesses are often attributable to the use of outdated or weak methods of collecting, analyzing, and applying financial and related data. For example, we identified several concerns regarding the cost management of the Department’s Embassy Air program, which was established to provide aviation support for the U.S. missions in Afghanistan and Iraq. 57 Beginning in 2012 in Afghanistan and 2011 in Iraq, the Department had incrementally increased ticket fees with the goal of covering a larger percentage of operational costs. In our assessment of these decisions, we found that when ticket fees increased, ridership declined and Embassy 120 | U nited S tates D epartment of S tate 2019 A gency F inancial R eport OTHER INFORMATION | INSPECTOR GENERAL’S STATEMENT ON THE DEPARTMENT’S MAJOR MANAGEMENT AND PERFORMANCE CHALLENGES