Develop ALU engagement standards and incorporate them into acquisition policies and procedures.

Update guidance to clarify the different roles and responsibilities of the ALU, CO, CS, and COR.

We recommend that the Chief Procurement Officer develop, implement, and communicate requirements for program offices to establish written minimum roles and responsibilities for their respective procurement management functions, including but not limited to CORs, PMs, and SMEs.

We recommend that HUD’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity update protocols to promote consistent expectations for timely supervisory, legal, and headquarters reviews of complex cases.

We recommend that HUD’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity review and update the MOUs with OGC for each region to identify and remove inefficiencies that can lead to longer FHEO investigation times and OGC review times and identify best practices that can be implemented across all regions.

We recommend that HUD’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity review and update investigative processes followed by each regional office to identify best practices that can be implemented across all regions and identify and remove inefficiencies that can lead to longer investigation times.

Develop a standard operating procedure for the monthly transaction review that aligns with the HUD policy and includes specific procedures on how to (1) identify and review common transactions that raise the level of risk in the program (for example, personal use purchases, other prohibited purchases, unauthorized purchases or services, split purchases, fraudulent purchases, FAR violation purchases, etc.), (2) methodically select transactions for investigation, and (3) follow up on identified potential improper transactions, including record-keeping requirements.

We recommend that HUD’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Enforcement require the Commission to update its intake policy and procedure to clarify which inquiries are to be recorded in HEMS.

We recommend that HUD’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Enforcement require the Commission to develop an internal agency intake training guide, distribute it to all agency housing staff members, and ensure that all intake staff members participate in HUD-approved training related to intake.

We recommend that HUD’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Enforcement require the Commission to implement a record retention policy to ensure that decisions on inquiries are sufficiently supported.

We recommend that HUD’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Enforcement require the Commission to implement a plan to ensure that it has sufficient staff to meet its obligations under FHAP cooperative agreement.

We recommend that HUD’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Enforcement require the Commission to implement a system to better track the intake and processing of potential fair housing inquiries.

We recommend that the Chief Procurement Officer direct the contracting officers to review the current FSM contracts’ QASP and update accordingly to ensure that all minimum contract requirements are included.

We recommend that the Chief Procurement Officer direct the contracting officers to oversee the implementation of the current FSM contracts’ QASP.

We recommend that the Chief Procurement Officer require the contracting officers to implement the policies and procedures in the HUD Acquisition Policy and Procedure Handbook for completion of HUD’s FSM contractor performance assessment reports in CPARS to ensure that Government past performance is documented properly and in a timely manner, at least annually, for use by all Federal agencies and maintained in the contract files.

We recommend that the Chief Procurement Officer require all staff involved in the oversight of FSM contracts to maintain the required documentation in the official contract file identified by HUD policy to support the contracts.

We recommend that the Chief Procurement Officer require the contracting officers to formally designate CORs in a timely manner and maintain the required documentation in the proper location identified in the relevant HUD policies and procedures, which fully supports the CORs’ oversight of the FSM contract.

Provide more detailed guidance to HUD reviewers on benchmarks for each performance standard.

Update the PAR template to ensure that HUD reviewers include required information.

Assess HUD reviewers’ skills and readiness to determine the appropriate frequency of training.