Speeches Shim
I am pleased to provide the formal response of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to the draft report produced by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) titled, State and USAID: Status of GAO Recommendations Made in 2017, (GAO- 19-524R).
USAID is committed to the timely implementation of the GAO's recommendations. Beginning in December of 2017, the USAID Transformation Task Team (T3) instituted new procedures and best practices that have led to a 40-percent reduction in our response time to adopt and close GAO recommendations when compared to Calendar Years 2015 to 2017.
I am pleased to provide the formal response from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to the draft report produced by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) titled, "EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE FOR ZIKA: USAID Supported Activities Overseas but Could Improve Funds Tracking and Response Planning," (GAO-19-356). The International Health Regulations (2005) (IHRs) define a "Public Health Emergency of International Concern" (PHEIC) as "an extraordina1y event which is determined ... to constitute a public health risk to other States through the international spread of disease and to potentially require a coordinated international response." The DirectorGeneral of the World Health Organization (WHO) has only declared four PHEICs since the IHRs entered into force on June 15, 2007: H1N1 Influenza, in 2009; Poliomyelitis, in 2014; Ebola, in 2014; and Zika Virus, in 2016. USAID has gained extraordinary knowledge as a result of the unprecedented battle to contain Ebola and Zika, and is committed to strengthening the aspects of reporting and coordination highlighted by the GAO, pa1iicularly the Agency's policies and practices to prepare for, respond to, and learn from public health crises around the globe, including PHEICs.
The purpose of this letter is to provide an update on the overall status of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) implementation of GAO’s recommendations and to call your personal attention to open recommendations that should be given high priority. In November 2018, we reported on a government-wide basis that 77 percent of our recommendations made in fiscal year 2014 had been closed as implemented. USAID’s recommendation implementation rate for the same time frame was 85 percent. As of March 2019, USAID had 15 open recommendations. Fully implementing these open recommendations could significantly improve USAID’s operations.
I am pleased to provide the formal response of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to the draft report produced by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) titled, Information Technology: Effective Practices Have Improved Agencies' Federal Information Technology Acquisitions Reform Act (FITARA) Implementation (GAO-19- 131). We would like to thank the GAO for including our effective practices in this report. I hope our practices will be beneficial to other Federal Departments and Agencies. In addition to the effective practices documented in the draft report, I am pleased that we have taken a major step forward in our compliance with the FITARA's requirement to enhance the authority of our Chief Information Officer (CIO) by proposing in our Agency Transformation that the CIO report directly to the Administrator. The Congressional Notification for this proposal, submitted in August 2018, is pending with our Committees of jurisdiction.
I am pleased to provide the formal response of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to the draft report of the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) entitled, "SECURITY ASSISTANCE: US. Agencies Should Establish a Mechanism to Assess Caribbean Basin Security Initiative Progress" (GAO-19-201). USAID worked closely with the U.S. Department of State, as part of the interagency effort to formulate the formal response to this draft report.
USAID concurs with the GAO's recommendation to the Department of State to create an initiative-wide planning and repo1ting mechanism for the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI) that includes the ability to monitor, evaluate, and report the results of our collaborative effo1ts. USAID will cooperate fully in this process. USAID's Bureau for Latin American and Caribbean Affairs currently tracks the progress of our programs under the CBSI through the indicator data we collect from each Mission in preparation for inputs to the Department of State's Performance Plan and Report (PPR). We take monitoring, evaluating, and repo1ting very seriously, and fully support updating the CBSI Results Framework and developing an initiative- wide mechanisms for planning and reporting. We look forward to drawing upon the practices we already have in place, such as compiling indicator data from each of our Missions, to contribute to the implementation of the GAO's report recommendation.
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