Efforts to Prevent, Identify, and Recover Improper and Erroneous Payments
by Selected Department of Justice Components

Audit Report 07-17
January 2007
Office of the Inspector General


Appendix IX
DEA Response to the Draft Report

January 18, 2007

MEMORANDUM

TO: Guy K. Zimmerman
Assistant Inspector General for Audit
Office of the Inspector General

FROM: Gary W. Oetjen
Deputy Chief Inspector
Office of Inspections

SUBJECT: DEA’s Response to the OIG’s Draft Report: Effort to Prevent, Identify and Recover Improper and Erroneous Payments by Selected Department of Justice Components

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has reviewed the Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General’s (OIG) draft audit report, entitled Effort to Prevent, Identify and Recover Improper and Erroneous Payments by Selected Department of Justice Components. We appreciate the opportunity to provide comments on the report and its recommendations.

Concurrence is made with the one recommendation directed to the DEA and steps will be taken to implement the recommendation for future risk assessments.

DEA Response to OIG Recommendation

Recommendation #8:  Ensure risk assessments include: (1) an assurance statement of an unqualified, or no-assurance opinion; (2) the reason for the opinion and its effect on the component’s risk of making improper payments; and (3) any corrective actions being taken to address the opinion and the component’s risk.

During the period covered by the audit, the requirements of OMB Circular A-123, Appendix A, related to the assessment of internal controls over financial reporting, were not yet enacted. Thus the assurance statement could not be included in the FY 2006 Improper Payment Information Act (IPIA) risk assessment. We concur that future IPIA risk assessments should consider A-123 results. Beginning in FY 2007, DEA will include the A-123 Appendix A assurance statement, reason for the opinion, effect on the possibility of improper payments, and corrective actions in IPIA risk assessments.

DEA also provides the following technical comment on the draft report.

Page 11, paragraph 2:  “However, in order for DOJ to provide the assurance in its PAR, according to JMD management, individual components were required to provide assurances to them by June 2006.
The date of June 2006 should be deleted as the date that assurances were required to be provided to JMD management. DOJ components were required to make assurance statements as of June 30, 2006, and for the period July 1, 2006 through September 30, 2006. The assurance statements were then requested in October 2006, to be provided to JMD management.

DEA will continue to keep OIG apprised of its actions to implement the report’s recommendation. If you have any questions regarding this information, please contact Janice Hewitt, Audit Liaison, at 202-307-5411.

cc: Michele Leonhart
Deputy Administrator

Richard Theis
Director
Audit Liaison Group



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