The Orange Book: Program and Management Improvement Recommendations (2001-2002)

The Orange Book is a compendium of significant, unimplemented, nonmonetary recommendations for improving departmental operations. The Office of Inspector General (OIG) believes that implementation of these recommendations will benefit the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and its customers through increased operational effectiveness and assurance that governmental resources are controlled by reliable financial management and accounting systems. Generally, these recommendations can be implemented by an administrative action, while some call for a change of legislation. Although these recommendations generally have a nonmonetary impact when implemented, the Department may achieve some programmatic savings. The OIG recommendations for proposed legislation are not removed until the law has been enacted – not just proposed. For administrative issues, recommendations are not removed until the action has been substantially completed. The Orange Book supplements other OIG reports. The Inspector General Act requires that OIGs ’ semiannual reports to the Congress include “…an identification of each significant recommendation described in previous semiannual reports on which corrective action has not been completed.” In compliance with the Act, significant recommendations are highlighted in the semiannual reports. Because of the abbreviated nature of these reports and the potentially significant impact of OIG recommendations, we prepare the Orange Book to elaborate further on our most significant nonmonetary issues. Orange Book, HHS officials, Office of Management and Budget officials, and the Congress have in one document significant program and management improvement recommendations. We hope that this 2001-02 Orange Book will be an asset to decision-makers as they continue in their efforts to improve HHS program efficiency.

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