The House has joined the Senate in passing S-2133, to require OMB to set guidelines for agencies to establish financial and administrative controls to identify and assess fraud risks.
Agencies also would have to design and implement control activities in order to prevent, detect, and respond to fraud including improper payments, under the bill.
That would include: conducting an evaluation of fraud risks and using a risk-based approach to design and implement financial and administrative control activities to mitigate identified fraud risks; collecting and analyzing data from reporting mechanisms on detected fraud to monitor fraud trends and using that data and information to continuously improve fraud prevention controls; and using the results of monitoring, evaluation, audits, and investigations to improve fraud prevention, detection, and response.
Each agency also would have to submit as part of its annual financial report a report on its progress in: implementing the financial and administrative controls and the fraud risk principles in the Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government and OMB Circular A-123; identifying risks and vulnerabilities to fraud; and steps it is taking to curb fraud.
OMB meanwhile would have to improve the sharing of financial and administrative controls and other best practices and submit a plan for a federal interagency library of data analytics and data sets to facilitate the detection, prevention, and recovery of fraud.
