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Steel and Aluminum Tariffs: Agencies Should Ensure Section 232 Exclusion Requests Are Needed and Duties Are Paid
GAO-23-105148
Jul 20, 2023
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4 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Commerce The Secretary of Commerce should ensure that the Under Secretary for Industry and Security fully assesses the effectiveness of the quantity certification requirement BIS put in place and takes further actions, as needed, to improve the Section 232 exclusion request process. (Recommendation 1)
Open
In commenting on the report, Commerce concurred with this recommendation. The comments noted the known challenges in administering the Section232 Exclusions Portal and that prior and ongoing work was being taken proactively by Commerce - begun prior to the release of the report - to limit the amount of unutilized and underutilized exclusions in the Section 232 Exclusions Process.. GAO continues to monitor Commerce's actions in response to this recommendation.
Department of Commerce The Secretary of Commerce should ensure that the Under Secretary for Industry and Security, in consultation with CBP, explores the development of a data transfer process that reduces the potential for inconsistencies between the two respective agency systems. (Recommendation 2)
Open
In commenting on the report, Commerce concurred with this recommendation. The comments noted the known challenges in administering the Section232 Exclusions Portal and that prior and ongoing work was being taken proactively by Commerce - begun prior to the release of the report - to improve the transfer of information with U.S. Customs and Border Protection.. GAO continues to monitor Commerce's actions in response to this recommendation.
United States Customs and Border Protection The Commissioner of CBP should ensure that additional steps are taken, as appropriate, to recover the duties owed by importers as a result of invalid use of Section 232 exclusions, including for liquidated entries beyond CBP's 90-day re-liquidation period. (Recommendation 3)
Open
In commenting on the report, CBP concurred with this recommendation. Officials said that CBP's Office of Trade (OT) will issue guidance to the CBP Office of Field Operations (OFO) on the appropriate steps to recover duties owed when an importer exceeds approved quantities of Section 232 exclusions, or makes any other invalid use of Section 232 exclusions. For liquidated entries beyond CBP's 90-day re-liquidation period, CBP OT said it will evaluate its authority under 19 U.S.C. ? 1592(d), "Penalties for fraud, gross negligence, and negligence; Deprivation of lawful duties, taxes, or fees," to recover such duties, and issue appropriate guidance to OFO to use this authority when an importer exceeded approved quantities of Section 232 exclusions. They estimated the completion date would be December 29, 2023. GAO will continue to monitor CBP's actions in response to this recommendation.
United States Customs and Border Protection The Commissioner of CBP should ensure that controls are implemented either to prevent importers from exceeding the approved quantities of their Section 232 exclusions or to promptly assess duties owed because of overages before CBP's 90-day re-liquidation period expires. (Recommendation 4)
Open
In commenting on the report, CBP concurred with GAO's recommendation. Officials said that CBP OT will issue updated guidance to OFO to ensure that duties are assessed on overages of Section 232 exclusions before CBP's 90- day re-liquidation period expires. In addition, they said CBP OT submitted a request for development of the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) entitled, "Automate the Inactivation of Section 232 Product Exclusions," that was entered on April 21, 2023, to the Product Management Committee, which will ensure that there are automated controls in place to prevent importers from exceeding the approved quantities of their Section 232 exclusions. CBP OT's request for development to automate these controls in ACE is the first step to determine the resources needed for this programming. They estimated that the completion date was December 29, 2023. GAO will continue to monitor CBP's actions in response to this recommendation.

COVID Relief: Fraud Schemes and Indicators in SBA Pandemic Programs
GAO-23-105331
May 18, 2023
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2 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Small Business Administration The Administrator of SBA, in coordination with the Fraud Risk Management Board, should ensure that SBA has mechanisms in place and utilizes them to facilitate cross-program data analytics. (Recommendation 1)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Small Business Administration The Administrator of SBA, in coordination with the Fraud Risk Management Board, should ensure that SBA has identified external sources of data that can facilitate the verification of applicant information and the detection of potential fraud across its programs. It should then develop a plan for obtaining access to those sources, which may involve pursuing statutory authority or entering into data-sharing agreement to obtain such access. (Recommendation 2)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Export Promotion: Commerce Should Improve Workforce Planning and Management of Its Global Markets Unit
GAO-23-105369
May 11, 2023
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4 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Commerce The Secretary of Commerce should ensure that the Director General of Global Markets fully documents how to use the staffing models and the process for updating the models, including changes to the variables and weights. (Recommendation 1)
Open
The Department of Commerce, the International Trade Administration (ITA), and Global Markets (GM) concurred with our recommendations. Officials said that, in addition to establishing internal control to memorialize current procedures and regularize justification reviews, GM will codify the ORAM and DRAM data model processes in a way that fully describes the relationships between the data models and how they relate to the staffing and resource allocation decision making process. We will continue to monitor their progress.
Department of Commerce The Secretary of Commerce should ensure that the Director General Global Markets regularly reviews the allocation of Foreign Commercial Service Officers and U.S. Field staff, including the justifications of positions that continue to exceed modeled projections for domestic and overseas posts. (Recommendation 2)
Open
The Department of Commerce, the International Trade Administration (ITA), and Global Markets (GM) concurred with our recommendations. Officials said the process for updating GM's staff allocation models began in earnest in May of 2021, but that they still had work to do. They said they conducted an internal study on how to bridge human capital gaps across GM and transformed GM's staffing plan into a table of organization that would help them link budget to staffing and sharpen their understanding of how to measure productivity enhancements. They reported that a cross-organizational approach would be an intense and ongoing multi-year effort. We will continue to monitor their progress.
Department of Commerce The Secretary of Commerce should ensure that there is a workforce plan that comprehensively and strategically considers GM's entire overseas and domestic workforce and describes leadership action to improve diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility. (Recommendation 3)
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The Department of Commerce, the International Trade Administration (ITA), and Global Markets (GM) concurred with our recommendations. They said that GM must manage the relationships between its three workforce segments to ensure the systemic linkages between them remain in balance and have upward productivity gains, aligned with their ongoing desire to invest in technology enhancements. They believed this work will allow GM to deliver a comprehensive, iterative workforce plan, which they will map out this fiscal year. In the process, they planned to document linkages with ITA-level efforts related to employees hired using Title 5 authorities. They reported recent success in standardizing and linking its position descriptions for almost all client-facing Civil Service and Locally Employed Staff overseas as a notable starting point. In addition, ITA and GM are working on an ITA wide table of organization which will maintain position information and employee data that will provide a complete picture of filled and vacant positions across ITA. We will continue to monitor their progress.
Department of Commerce The Secretary of Commerce should ensure that the Director General of Global Markets takes steps to address staffing vacancies in the Office of Global Talent Management. (Recommendation 4)
Open
The Department of Commerce, the International Trade Administration (ITA), and Global Markets (GM) concurred with our recommendations. Officials responded that addressing staff vacancies in the Office of Global Talent Management has been a priority for the organization, as they recognize the need to have a solid backbone of support for officers and staff overseas. GM officials reported they have made progress filling these vacancies and are now 87% staffed (with 4 remaining vacancies) toward the authorized target of 30 FTE. Officials said they will continue to fill the remaining vacancies, budget permitting. If funding resources are unavailable, they plan to document the vacancies in their staffing plan as unfunded. We will continue to monitor their progress.

Federal Trade Commission: Actions Needed to Improve Education Efforts and Awareness of Complaint Process for Franchise Owners
GAO-23-105338
Apr 17, 2023
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3 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Federal Trade Commission The Director of FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection should enhance FTC's efforts to educate prospective franchisees on the importance of reviewing and understanding the franchise disclosure document and the franchise agreement. (Recommendation 1
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Federal Trade Commission The Director of FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection should increase efforts to publicize FTC's consumer guide among prospective franchisees. (Recommendation 2)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Federal Trade Commission The Director of FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection should take steps to improve franchisees' awareness and understanding of FTC's complaint process. These steps could include expanding FTC's franchisee outreach and education efforts in this area and working with a variety of stakeholders to encourage reporting of complaints. (Recommendation 3)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
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