Office of Workers' Compensation Programs (OWCP)

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Division of Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation (DLHWC)

CHAPTER 9-600 — ACCOUNTABILITY REVIEWS

1. Purpose and Scope. This Chapter outlines the process for National Office accountability reviews of District Offices. It incorporates and augments the procedures contained in Chapter 4-300, Accountability Reviews, of the Federal (OWCP) Procedure Manual.
2. Definitions.
   1. Accountability Review. An accountability review is an assessment of the movement towards excellence, effectiveness, and efficiency of an individual office. This assessment is made primarily by applying the accountability standards contained in the Accountability Review Manual (ARM) in terms of making findings and determinations about the quality, quantity and timeliness of actual performance.
   2. Performance Period. The review focuses on performance over the last four fiscal quarters preceding the review date, or the period since the date of the last National Office accountability review, whichever is less.
3. Schedule. Each year the Longshore Division issues the schedule of District Offices to be reviewed during the fiscal year. The OWCP Procedure Manual (Chapter 4-300) provides that each OWCP division should try to review its district offices biannually with National Office review teams (contingent on staff and funding availability). The following outline provides a schedule of the pre and post accountability review activities:
   1. At least thirty days prior to the review the Regional Director is provided with a notice of the review confirming the on-site review dates, identifying the accountability review team members and providing any other pertinent information concerning the review. The notice also transmits the Off-Site Accountability Report, (Exhibit 25, PM 10-300) which contains relevant statistical data about the office to be reviewed.
   2. At the on site close-out conference the review team will provide a comprehensive oral report, a list of proposed corrective actions and a completed copy of the Accountability Review Summary Sheet which contains the sample size, errors, and percent correct for each of the standards reviewed. A written accountability review report will be sent to the regional director within 10 days of the on-site review completion date (see OWCP Procedure Manual Chapter 4-300.6.b.).
   3. Within 15 days of receipt of the accountability review report, the regional director reviews the report and provides the team leader with any comments, including any reasons for disagreeing with the report. The team leader has 15 days from receipt of the regional director's response to prepare and issue a response to the regional director, district director, and National Office program head over the signature of the Director, Division of Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation. This response clearly states the reasons for agreement or disagreement with the regional office's position. Copies of the Final Report are sent to the Director, OWCP, the Division of Planning, Policy and Standards, and the Office of Management, Administration and Planning
4. Tracking of Corrective Actions. The AR-10, Corrective Actions Report (Exhibit 54, PM 10-200), is a part of the final review report. The team leader lists the final recommendations which resulted from the accountability review. The reviewed office is then required to complete the AR-10 indicating the actions taken to implement the accountability recommendations. The AR-10 should be submitted with the Quarterly Review and Analysis Report until all recommendations have been implemented.