Open Recommendations

Recommendation 1: EXIM’s Office of External Engagement, in coordination with the Office
of the Chairman, should establish consistent nomination processes for all award categories
that delineate roles and responsibilities.

Recommendation 2: EXIM’s Office of External Engagement, in coordination with the Office
of the Chairman, should establish criteria for selecting awardee(s) for each award category,
including special award categories.

Recommendation 3: EXIM’s Office of External Engagement, in coordination with the Chief
Risk Officer, should complete a risk profile, or assessment, to identify all potential risks to
the awards program.

Recommendation 4: EXIM’s Office of External Engagement should identify and implement
due diligence activities, as needed, to mitigate the potential risks based upon its risk profile,
such as determining when character, reputational, and transaction integrity (CRTI) reviews
or other ethical, legal, law enforcement, Office of Inspector General, or non-public source
reviews are needed.

The Office of the General Counsel (OGC) should issue and communicate guidance to the agency on ensuring and documenting how EXIM will comply with Section 2(k) of EXIM’s Charter throughout the transaction process, including timeline adjustments and delays.

The Office of Board Authorized Finance (OBAF) should develop and implement a formalized system for electronically tracking pending transactions and documenting the rationale behind timeline changes and delays for pending transactions. This process should include structured reporting mechanisms to provide non-sensitive, public-facing updates on major transactions, strengthening stakeholder engagement, increasing transparency, and ensuring compliance with EXIM’s statutory obligations under Section 2(b)(1)(J) of the EXIM Charter. Additionally, EXIM should consider establishing performance benchmarks for different transaction types to help manage processing expectations while accounting for necessary due diligence and risk assessments.

The Chair should coordinate with the Board to implement a process for advancing transactions for a vote that includes criteria that are objective, transparent, and compliant with Section 2(k) of EXIM’s Charter.

Recommendation withheld based on applicable Freedom of Information Act exemptions.

Recommendation withheld based on applicable Freedom of Information Act exemptions.

Recommendation withheld based on applicable Freedom of Information Act exemptions.

The Portfolio Risk Management Office should enhance transparency in decision-making by establish a formal process for documenting rationales behind timeline changes and delays and provide public-facing updates on major transactions through a structured reporting mechanism.

The Office of General Counsel should update the Watch List procedures to include examples of risks warranting mitigating measures and what mitigating measures can be applied to parties when there is a match.

The Office of General Counsel should implement documentation requirements for actions taken as a result of Watch List matches, to include support for taking mitigating measures.

The Office of General Counsel should update the Watch List procedures to include examples of a suspicion and reputation of untrustworthy behavior and to add parties based on referrals from other agencies.

The Office of General Counsel should update the Watch List procedures to align with actual practices regarding parties EXIM determines should no longer be on the Watch List; the standards for deactivation or removal, including when there is a match to a party that should be deactivated or removed; and in the case of deactivation what the implications are for future searches and reactivation.

The Office of General Counsel, in coordination with the Office of the Chief Information Officer, should implement a process for automatically deactivating or removing parties that have been on the Watch List over 10 years without a match.

The Office of General Counsel should state and implement a requirement in the procedures and develop a process to concurrently notify OIG whenever there are new parties added to the Watch List, there are true matches on the Watch List, and there are parties removed or deactivated from the Watch List.

The Office General Counsel, in coordination with the Office of Communications, should upload the Watch List system of record notice to EXIM’s public website.

Enhance risk assessment procedures to enable proper identification of processes and controls over Guarantee Loan Cancellations to insure all loans canceled in [redacted language] are completely and accurately recorded in [redacted language].

Reinforce controls over the review of the subsidy rates inputted into [redacted language] to address gaps identified in this NFR.

Enhance processes and controls over insurance cancellations to ensure all transactions are recorded by [redacted language] and are completely and accurately recorded in [redacted language].

We recommend that EXIM management design and implement monitoring controls to help ensure that password configurations for the [redacted language] are in compliance with the Standard Operating Procedures for [redacted language] Procedures and NIST SP 800-53, Revision 5.1, Release 5.1.1.

We recommend that EXIM management design and implement monitoring controls to help ensure that access to develop and implement changes into production is appropriately segregated.

EXIM’s Engineering and Environment Division, in coordination with the Asset Management Division/Special Assets Group, should update EXIM’s enhanced monitoring plan for the Sasan Power Limited Project to incorporate and require more robust compliance monitoring, to include onsite monitoring, of environmental, health, and safety standards, as required by the credit agreement.

EXIM’s Engineering and Environment Division, in coordination with the Asset Management Division/Special Assets Group and the independent consultants, should identify additional information sources about activities or concerns related to the Sasan Project to help provide more robust enhanced monitoring, such as input from the local community.

EXIM’s Asset Management Division/Special Assets Group, in coordination with the Engineering and Environment Division and the Office of General Counsel, should conduct a review of the Sasan Project to determine what additional accountability mechanisms could be included in credit agreements on future EXIM-financed projects to allow for additional accountability or enforcement authority when a borrower or project sponsor does not comply with the terms of the credit agreement.

EXIM’s Engineering and Environment Division, in coordination with Asset Management Division/Special Assets Group, should incorporate routine maintenance and operations into its update of the enhanced monitoring plan, to include clarifying roles and responsibilities, for the Sasan Power Limited Project.

EXIM’s Asset Management Division/Special Assets Group should require Sasan Power Limited, in coordination with Reliance Power Limited as the project sponsor, to have the original manufacturer perform detailed inspections of all transformers at the Sasan Power Limited Project.

EXIM’s Asset Management Division/Special Assets Group should identify any potential financial risks associated with Sasan Power Limited’s ongoing efforts to comply with India’s flue-gas desulfurization requirement and develop risk mitigation actions, as appropriate.

EXIM’s Office of Board Authorized Finance should conduct a review of the Samalkot Power Limited Project’s transaction approval to determine if EXIM properly identified and accounted for the financial risks specific to the absence of a confirmed source of gas to support the project, and if any lessons learned can be applied to future EXIM transactions.

EXIM’s Asset Management Division/Special Assets Group should develop an action plan to assist in the identification of potential buyers for the <redacted> remaining power modules.

EXIM’s Asset Management Division/Special Assets Group should require verification of equipment inspections at a frequency determined by industry standard, Samalkot Power Limited, Reliance Power Limited, and the independent consultants to ensure the equipment is maintained in a manner that allows the equipment to be sold.

EXIM’s Office of Policy Analysis and International Relations should consider conducting a study with existing EEP exporters, to identify the key factors resulting in the decision to utilize EXIM for financing the EEP export. These key factors should then be assessed for potential inclusion into future outreach efforts with potential U.S. exporters to expand EEP transaction opportunities.

EXIM’s Chief Banking Officer should consider establishing periodic internal reporting of specific EEP outreach efforts by their office such that those efforts can be assessed for effectiveness in identifying and securing EEP authorizations. The reporting should include the type of outreach held, the attendees and any follow up meetings resulting from the outreach.

EXIM’s Office of Human Capital should conduct a staffing needs analysis for its office to determine the appropriate staffing levels needed to support a human capital function in alignment with federal regulations and guidance and develop a plan to implement the results of its assessment.

Pursuant to the Federal Workforce Priorities Report and in coordination with EXIM senior leadership, EXIM’s Office of Human Capital should conduct a risk assessment to identify the most critical workforce and organizational risks facing the agency and develop an interim monitoring and evaluation program that informs the establishment of a Human Capital Operating Plan and Human Capital Evaluation Framework.

EXIM’s Office of the Chair, in coordination with the Office of Human Capital, should direct an agency-wide organizational and workforce study used to develop a strategic workforce plan that accurately identifies and portrays actual, current, and future workforce needs that align to EXIM’s work requirements in furtherance of its mission.

EXIM’s Office of the Chair, in cooperation with the Office of Human Capital, should conduct an agency-wide technical, functional, and leadership competency assessment and gap analysis, and develop mitigation strategies for any identified gaps in accordance with 5 CFR Part 250.203 Subpart B.

EXIM’s Office of Human Capital should consolidate the agency’s Performance Management programs into a singular program according to federal benchmarks and organization design principles and develop a plan to expand the Performance Management program through programs that link human capital initiatives to organizational performance.

EXIM's Office of Human Capital should conduct an EXIM-wide workforce analysis, which may include analysis of grade distribution, career path opportunities, supervisory ratios, delayering, and position management to form the basis of a plan for career progression, pathways, and succession planning.

EXIM’s Office of the Chair, in cooperation with the Office of Human Capital, should establish a Workforce Development Plan, as outlined in the Office of Personnel Management’s Human Capital Framework, to provide structured pathways for EXIM employees to enhance their skills, advance their careers, and ultimately contribute more effectively to EXIM's mission and objectives.

EXIM’s Office of Chair, in coordination with its senior leadership and the Office of Human Capital, should develop an agency-wide succession plan, using relevant agency workforce data and evidence such as vacancy, hiring, retirement, and current and future skills gaps, which includes identifying and defining “key vacancies,” to ensure compliance with 5 CFR Part 412.

EXIM’s Office of Human Capital should develop curriculum and deliver supervisor training that is tailored to EXIM’s specific human resource management needs.

In coordination with EXIM senior leadership, EXIM’s Office of Human Capital should establish and document leadership, supervisor, Office of Human Capital, and employee roles and responsibilities with regard to human resource management, ensuring compliance with 5 CFR Part 410 and 412.

EXIM’s Office of Human Capital should develop a workforce succession plan to support the continuity of the agency’s human capital operations, to include a comparative assessment of required specialist and generalist tasks and skills and identification of single points of failure.

EXIM’s Office of Human Capital should establish an EXIM working group to research and provide recommended solutions to standardize, streamline, and track processes, including the hiring process.

EXIM’s Office of Human Capital, in coordination with the Office of the Chief Information Officer, should conduct a business case analysis to assess the return on investment of acquiring and utilizing a Human Resources Information System or human resource platforms that can integrate with EXIM’s existing human capital systems.

EXIM’s Office of the Chair should identify the human capital functions that affect EXIM’s ability to achieve its mission and develop a plan to measure and mitigate risks.

EXIM’s Office of the Chair, in collaboration with EXIM’s Office of Human Capital, should conduct an agency-wide culture assessment to identify ways to improve EXIM’s culture, retention, and employee engagement.

EXIM's Office of the Chair should implement an advisory group, led by the Office of Human Capital, to identify cultural issues affecting EXIM’s workforce and make appropriate recommendations aimed at mitigating the agency's human capital challenges.

EXIM’s Office of Human Capital should develop and formalize in writing human capital strategies and strategic goals that align with the Human Capital Framework and the Federal Workforce Priorities Report to meet regulatory compliance with 5 CFR Part 250.

EXIM’s Office of Human Capital should develop a Human Capital Operating Plan in compliance with 5 CFR Part 250 Subpart B.

EXIM’s Office of the Chair, in coordination with the China and Transformational Exports Program (CTEP) office, should establish policy and procedures that clearly define the authorities, roles, and responsibilities across EXIM for CTEP implementation.

EXIM’s Office of the Chair should provide direction to the China and Transformational Exports Program office and the Office of Policy and International Relations on resuming development of a framework to implement the Content Policy Flexibility for Transformational Exports Memorandum, as previously directed by the Board of Directors in December 2020.

EXIM’s China and Transformational Exports Program office, in coordination with the Office of the Chair, should review the functions, roles, and responsibilities of program officials and determine whether the program is sufficiently staffed and whether obstacles exist for recruitment and retention.

EXIM’s China and Transformational Exports Program office should establish a performance management framework, including measurable goals and indicators to assess program success and progress in achieving its intended purpose.

EXIM’s China and Transformational Exports Program (CTEP) office should assess how existing policies and practices may be adapted to maximize CTEP’s effectiveness and potential including whether the program has the necessary tools it requires to address Transformational Export Areas and then develop a plan to implement these policies.

The Security Services Office determines the number of pending investigations, including pending investigations awaiting a PD update and PDT.

The Security Services Office communicates and coordinates with the Human Resources Office to obtain the PDs and PDTs needed for reinvestigations.

The Office of the Chief Management Officer and Security Services Office assign the staffing and resources necessary to conduct pending reinvestigations.

The Security Services Office develops and implements adequate internal policies and standard operating procedures.

The Security Services Office develops and implements a required training framework for its Security Specialists and program personnel.

The Security Services Office implements an internal database to house investigation and clearance documentation.

EXIM's Office of the Chair should designate a lead office or officials responsible for coordinating development, oversight, and implementation of a sub-Saharan Africa specific strategy to address the Sub-Saharan Africa Mandate (hereafter referred to as the "Lead Office or Officials"). The Lead Office or Officials should have an explicit responsibility and authority to coordinate and guide the mandate's implementation across all relevant EXIM offices, liaise with external stakeholders, including but not limited to the Sub-Saharan Africa Advisory Committee (SAAC) and other U.S. Government agencies and between sub-Saharan Africa importers and U.S. exporters to rebuild relationships, establish and monitor key performance indicators, and report regularly to the Board of Directors, EXIM Chair, and SAAC.

The Lead Office or Officials should develop a sub-Saharan Africa specific strategy to address the Sub-Saharan Africa Mandate. This strategy should provide a unified direction and shared vision of EXIM offices and staff and communicate EXIM’s commitments and strategy to interagency partners in the U.S. Government and other stakeholders with a focus to promote the expansion of EXIM’s financial commitments in sub-Saharan Africa.

EXIM’s Office of the Chair should integrate the Sub-Saharan Africa Mandate strategy within the broader EXIM Strategic Plan to re-enforce that the Sub-Saharan Africa Mandate is central to EXIM’s overall strategic planning.

The Lead Office or Officials should develop an actionable plan to enhance collaborative efforts with the Department of Commerce, the Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee (TPCC), and other relevant government agencies, such that EXIM could play a more prominent role in trade discussions and initiatives concerning sub-Saharan Africa.

The Lead Office or Officials should establish effective metrics to measure EXIM’s Sub-Saharan Africa Mandate performance to inform the growth strategy (e.g., the number of U.S. exporters, lenders, and importers in sub-Saharan Africa reached, relationships established, total commitments and authorizations, and export value). The Sub-Saharan Africa Mandate performance metrics should also be incorporated within the next EXIM Annual Performance Plan.

EXIM’s Office of Board Authorized Finance and Office of General Counsel should conduct a comprehensive review of the post-authorization process to identify the primary factors within the documentation phase that contribute to the lag between authorization and disbursements and devise strategies to remedy these shortcomings.

EXIM’s Office of Global Business Development should devise a detailed plan to directly engage importers in sub-Saharan Africa that are not already engaging with EXIM’s sub-Saharan Africa programs. The office must ensure that the plan is incorporated as an integral part of the overarching strategy devised by the Lead Office or Officials.

The Lead Office or Officials should devise a plan to directly engage U.S. businesses that are not already engaging with EXIM’s sub-Saharan Africa programs.

EXIM’s Office of Policy Analysis and International Relations should conduct an analysis of the potential impacts of lowering the mandated domestic content policy for EXIM programs targeted to sub-Saharan Africa on U.S. jobs and present its findings to EXIM’s Board of Directors.

The Chief Management Officer should update purchase card, convenience check, and travel card program policies and procedures to ensure training, reporting, and micro-purchase threshold requirements are accurate.

The Chief Management Officer should develop and implement a process for tracking purchase and travel cardholder activity status and training due dates.

The Chief Management Officer should develop and implement a process to ensure compliance with the requirements of OMB Circular No. A-123, Appendix B, including, but not limited to, convenience checks, data analytics, sustainability and environmental purchasing, maintaining narrative and statistical reports for agency’s own use, and reporting statistical data to GSA.

The Chief Management Officer should develop and implement a process to ensure that travel vouchers are completed properly.

EXIM’s Office of Human Capital, in coordination with the Office of General Counsel, should revise the Conduct, Performance, and Discipline Policy to either define the standards of conduct or cite EXIM’s Code of Business Conduct and Ethics as well as clarify policy language to ensure that all EXIM employees are held to the same standards of conduct, regardless of the employee's appointment status.

The Chief Ethics Officer, in coordination with other EXIM senior officials, should conduct an analysis to determine whether EXIM’s practice of soliciting sponsorship fees sufficiently mitigates the appearance of favoritism towards any potential conference sponsor.

The Chief Ethics Officer, in coordination with other EXIM senior officials, should consider developing updated criteria for reviewing sponsorship applications to mitigate potential favoritism concerns.

The Chief Ethics Officer, in coordination with other EXIM senior officials, should update its procedures to include steps for documenting the decision to accept or reject each potential sponsor.

The Chief Ethics Officer, in coordination with other EXIM senior officials, should develop and implement a process to ensure that the office’s involvement in matters pertaining to conference sponsorship is consistent with its role as described in the EXIM Charter.

EXIM’s Chief Management Officer, in coordination with the Vice President for Administrative Services Division, should develop an action plan, including a cost benefit analysis, to address the EXIM headquarters turnstile access issues identified in this report.

EXIM’s Chief Management Officer, in coordination with the Vice President for Administrative Services Division, should finalize the updated EXIM Building Security Policy and ensure the final version of the revised Policy mandates EXIM employee use of the turnstiles at EXIM headquarters.

Direct staff to conduct an analysis to determine suggested policy changes to further reduce the impact of a potential future loss of a Board quorum on EXIM’s medium- and long-term lending.

In advance of EXIM’s next reauthorization, engage with interagency stakeholders to develop legislative proposals that would modify the agency’s charter to address the limitation in Sec. 2(a)(2), which prevents EXIM from matching recent updates to the OECD Arrangement.

Have the Office of General Counsel support efforts to consider recommendation of revisions to the Board’s delegated authority policy to allow for expedited reviews of larger deals, particularly when there is no Board quorum.

Support a study led by the Office of Human Capital, strategic planning, and other internal stakeholders, to identify specific factors impacting EXIM’s ability to attract and retain staff and implement recommendations to address workforce recruitment, retention, and succession planning needs in this area.

Direct staff to conduct an analysis to determine what changes should be made to further mitigate the risks to EXIM’s medium- and long-term export credit financing that were generated by the lack of Board quorum.

Direct staff to conduct a study exploring the potential for varying EXIM’s domestic content requirement by industry or sector for all exporters—not just those that qualify under the narrow exceptions of the CTEP program—and adopt policy changes to reflect any modifications or revisions to domestic content requirements based on the results of the study.

Direct the Senior Vice President for Policy Analysis and International Relations to seek updates to EXIM’s MOU with MARAD to reflect changes in EXIM’s policies and priorities and consider revisiting the $20 million threshold for U.S.-flagged shipping.

Develop a comprehensive plan, in coordination with MARAD, to provide clearer and more effective guidance on EXIM’s website for U.S. exporters to assist them in complying with EXIM’s domestic shipping requirements and procedures, including processes for requesting a MARAD waiver on the use of U.S. flagged vessels.

In advance of EXIM’s next reauthorization, engage with interagency stakeholders to develop proposals that address the challenges associated with the impact on EXIM’s competitiveness of requiring exporters to use U.S. flagged shipping vessels.

Develop and implement procedures to ensure that travelers have complied with all pre-travel training requirements.

Develop and implement procedures to ensure that travel vouchers are submitted within five business days upon return from travel.

Develop and implement training that ensures all staff and approving officials are aware of their roles, responsibilities, and requirements for the travel process.

Develop and implement a process to communicate travel policy and requirement updates to staff in a periodic manner.

Update the additionality guidelines and checklist to: a) explicitly state the minimum documentation requirements for establishing additionality whether that be source documentation or contemporaneous memos with the required elements of source, timing, and context

We recommend that the SAO and EXIM’s DATA Act Working Group determine the root cause of the errors in EXIM-provided data identified during the testing of the second quarter FY 2021 Files D1 and D2, and take necessary corrective action to: (a) correct the errors for records shown in USASpending.gov; (b) identify the risk of reporting incorrect data for each data element containing the error; and (c) update the policies and procedures for recording data in Comprizon, FPDS, and FABS to address the risks and include adequate verification and validation review processes performed by the data owner and a supervisor or other independent party.

We recommend that the SAO in coordination with the OCFO continue to implement its corrective action plan to ensure that object class codes are accurately and completely reported in all financial and award data submissions (Files B and C).

We recommend that the SAO and EXIM’s DATA Act Working Group continue to improve the design of its review of the procurement award data in FPDS and financial assistance award data submissions to FABS by identifying the root cause for the exceptions in those data elements for which EXIM is responsible, and by developing more effective review procedures for those data elements, as well as the data elements that the SAO and DATA Act Working Group identify as having a high risk of not being accurate, complete, or reported timely.

We recommend that the SAO and EXIM’s DATA Act Working Group review EXIM’s policies and procedures for submitting contract award data in FPDS, including procedures for reviewing and confirming the accuracy of the CAR, to ensure proper design and compliance with FAR guidelines for timeliness. Update the policies and procedures based on this review, as necessary, to ensure EXIM meets FAR timeliness guidelines.