Recommendation: To help ensure access to federal programs and services for LEP populations, as well as to promote greater transparency for LEP stakeholders, the Attorney General should direct the appropriate DOJ officials to issue a letter to the heads of all federal agencies reminding them of their obligations under the Executive Order. Specifically, the letter's content should encourage federal agencies to (1) complete and submit their LEP plans and recipient guidance to DOJ for review and approval, and (2) make their completed LEP plans available to the public.

Agency Affected: Department of Justice

Status: Closed - Implemented

Comments: Executive Order 13166 directs each federal agency to improve access to federal programs and services for persons with limited English proficiency (LEP). Using guidance issued by the Department of Justice (DOJ), agencies are generally required to develop recipient guidance and/or an LEP plan outlining steps for ensuring that LEP persons can access federal services and programs. The Executive Order set a deadline of December 11, 2000 for agencies to develop and implement their LEP plans and to submit their recipient guidance to DOJ for review and approval. Our April 2010 report determined that several federal agencies had not yet met this deadline. As such, our report recommended that DOJ issue a letter to the heads of all the federal agencies reminding them of their obligations under the Executive Order. In response to our recommendation, the Attorney General issued a memorandum on February 17, 2011 asking each federal agency to update their LEP plans by August 17, 2011. The memorandum also asked agencies that have not already done so to issue its recipient guidance by August 17, 2011. Finally, the memorandum encouraged agencies to notify the public, and LEP communities specifically, about the agency's LEP plans.

Recommendation: To promote more efficient improvements to LEP persons' access across the government, the Attorney General should direct the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights to work with members of the Federal Interagency Working Group on LEP to explore possible sharing of resources and foreign language capabilities. For example, members of the working group may consider leveraging their shared resources to produce routine and frequently used documents needing to be translated in less common foreign languages.

Agency Affected: Department of Justice

Status: Closed - Implemented

Comments: Our April 2010 report noted that approximately 24 federal agencies actively participate in the Federal Interagency Working Group on LEP, established in 2002 by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to help foster governmentwide collaboration for serving communities of limited English proficiency (LEP). The working group meets approximately twice a year to discuss topics such as language access services in emergency preparedness and other cross-cutting language access issues. The working group also shares information through informational brochures and videos as well as though its web site, which contains best practices, planning and technical assistance tools, and links to resources on topics such as interpretation, translation, and civil rights. The web site also includes information on Executive Order 13166, a list of links to agency recipient guidance, as well as some of the published LEP plans that agencies have sent to DOJ for review and approval. In additional to these efforts, the working group has begun exploring how agencies might share resources to improve LEP persons' access to federal programs and services. Our prior work has shown that a shared services approach enables agencies to leverage their resources by allowing multiple agencies to use the same service provider to meet a common need rather than each agency individually identifying and managing those services. As such, we recommended that the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights work with members of the Federal Interagency Working Group on LEP to explore possible sharing of resources and foreign language capabilities. For example, members of the working group may consider leveraging their shared resources to produce routine and frequently used documents needing to be translated in less common foreign language. In response to our recommendation, the Attorney General issued a memorandum on February 17, 2011 asking each federal agency to actively participate in the Federal Interagency Working Group?s efforts to develop options to produce high quality and effective translations. For written translations, the memorandum states that agencies collaborate with other agencies to share resources, improve efficiency, standardize federal terminology, and streamline processes for obtaining community feedback on the accuracy and quality of professional translations intended for mass distribution.

Recommendation: To improve service to LEP populations, the National Taxpayer Advocate should determine whether any potential service improvements could be derived from requiring Low Income Tax Clinics to collect more detailed data on LEP populations they serve.

Agency Affected: Department of the Treasury: Internal Revenue Service

Status: Closed - Implemented

Comments: Executive Order 13166 requires federal agencies to examine how to improve access for persons of limited English proficiency (LEP) to programs, services, and activities conducted by both federal agencies as well as state, local, and regional entities that receive federal financial assistance (a group referred to in the Executive Order as "recipients"). IRS' Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) provides funding to 162 Low Income Taxpayer Clinics (LITC) that offer tax preparation services to the public, including LEP communities. Our April 2010 report found that although the IRS and the Taxpayer Advocate Service collect data from its funding recipients on the overall number of LEP customers served, reports from the funding recipients that we reviewed did not include details on the specific language groups served or their particular service needs. To improve taxpayer preparation services to LEP persons, our report recommended that the National Taxpayer Advocate determine whether any potential service improvements could be derived from requiring LITCs to collect more detailed data on LEP populations they serve. In response to our recommendation, the National Taxpayer Advocate included a requirement within its revised LITC Grant Application Package and Guidelines (issued on May 31, 2011) that all applicants provide geographic and demographic information, including the number of taxpayers who speak English as a Second Language (ESL). Additionally, the applicant (e.g., LITC) must provide information on the number of ESL taxpayers that reside in the proposed service area and the languages in which the clinic will provide services, and whether interpreters are available. In addition, all applicants must describe the type of ESL outreach and education activities that will be provided, including educational topics to be addressed, the target population for ESL outreach and education services, and the plans for tracking the number of ESL taxpayers served.

Recommendation: To comply with the Executive Order and provide recipient guidance for DHS's components such as FEMA to follow when assessing the need to provide language access services for their programs, services, and activities, the Secretary of Homeland Security should finalize and issue the department's LEP plan and recipient guidance.

Agency Affected: Department of Homeland Security

Status: Open

Comments: Executive Order 13166 directs each federal agency to improve access to federal programs and services for persons with limited English proficiency (LEP). Using guidance issued by the Department of Justice (DOJ), agencies are generally required to develop recipient guidance and/or an LEP plan outlining steps for ensuring that LEP persons can access federal services and programs. To comply with the Executive Order and in responses to our recommendation, the Department of Homeland Security published its LEP recipient guidance on April 18, 2011. DHS officials reported that it plans to submit is final LEP Plan to DOJ in August 2011 and plans to provide GAO with a copy of the final plan in early September 2011.

Recommendation: To provide more meaningful access for LEP communities, the Administrator of FEMA should develop criteria for determining vital documents needed for translation, and make available general disaster information in the regularly encountered languages.

Agency Affected: Department of Homeland Security: Directorate of Emergency Preparedness and Response: Federal Emergency Management Agency

Status: Open

Comments: In compliance with Executive Order 13166, FEMA has implemented translation and interpretation services for persons with limited English proficiency (LEP) during national emergencies. The Department of Justice's (DOJ) guidelines for implementing the Executive Order encourages agencies to create a plan for consistently determining, over time and across its various activities, what documents are "vital" to provide meaningful access for the LEP populations they serve. Additionally, our prior work has identified the importance of classifying documents as vital and has recommended that agencies develop policies to ensure that vital documents are translated, as appropriate. Although FEMA translates materials and makes them available to disaster victims based on the languages identified at that disaster, it does not necessarily provide the public with general disaster information uniformly in all of the 13 frequently encountered languages it identified. While FEMA officials cited resource limitations as the reason for this, our April 2010 report determined that FEMA's lack of criteria for determining vital documents, and the large number of identified languages, are likely contributing factors for not providing disaster information uniformly in different languages. As such, our report recommended that FEMA develop criteria for determining vital documents needed for translation, and make available general disaster information in the regularly encountered languages. On March 10, 2010, FEMA issued a standard operating procedure for serving LEP persons during national emergencies which included creating and maintaining an online resource library for storing commonly used disaster assistance information material in the most commonly encountered languages. Although this effort could improve LEP access to disaster assistance, FEMA's procedures do not include a set of criteria for identifying vital material that should be included in this on-line library.

Recommendation: To provide more meaningful access for LEP communities, the Administrator of FEMA should develop mechanisms to monitor and evaluate services provided to LEP persons.

Agency Affected: Department of Homeland Security: Directorate of Emergency Preparedness and Response: Federal Emergency Management Agency

Status: Closed - Implemented

Comments: The Department of Justice's (DOJ) guidelines for implementing Executive Order 13166 encourages agencies to monitor the performance of their efforts to provide meaningful access to federal programs and services to persons with limited English proficiency (LEP). Specifically, the guidance suggests that agencies systematically monitor the effects of their services by receiving stakeholder feedback, ongoing measurement of resources used and program outputs and outcomes achieved, and compliance with civil rights requirements. According to FEMA officials, they use informal feedback from voluntary organizations and community groups following disasters to evaluate FEMA's efforts to meet the needs of LEP persons. Although FEMA has received feedback from these organizations and groups, it does not obtain this information in a structured and consistent manner. Without such a structured feedback process, FEMA is missing an opportunity to collect data that could be used to assess and improve services. Therefore, our April 2010 report recommended FEMA develop mechanisms to monitor and evaluate services provided to LEP persons. On March 10, 2010, FEMA issued a standard operating procedure for serving LEP persons during national emergencies, which included two tools for monitoring and evaluating the services offered to LEP persons. One tool, to be used by field staff, is a questionnaire to gather information from organizations that serve LEP communities for the purpose of creating a database for outreach activities during disaster and non-disaster periods. The tool's objective is to strength FEMA's relationships with these organizations, maintain the communication flow with these organizations and collect input on potential improvements to FEMA's services. The second tool focuses on receiving feedback and evaluating the language services FEMA offers. This tool will request from individuals, families, and organizations feedback about the information they received in other languages, the formats presented and the accuracy of the content provided.

Recommendation: To provide more meaningful access to LEP populations, the Administrator of SBA should finalize and issue its LEP plan and recipient guidance.

Agency Affected: Small Business Administration

Status: Open

Comments: SBA officials have not responded to our requests for a status on the implementation of this recommendation.

Recommendation: To provide more meaningful access to LEP populations, the Administrator of SBA should complete a comprehensive national needs assessment which should include data from its existing funding recipients on the number of LEP persons served and how they are served.

Agency Affected: Small Business Administration

Status: Open

Comments: SBA officials have not responded to our requests for a status on the implementation of this recommendation.

Recommendation: In cases when an agency has determined that it is not required to draft recipient guidance or an LEP plan, the Assistant Attorney General should request agencies to report the results of this determination to DOJ.

Agency Affected: Department of Justice

Status: Closed - Implemented

Comments: Executive Order 13166 directs each federal agency to improve access to federal programs and services for persons with limited English proficiency (LEP). Using guidance issued by the Department of Justice (DOJ), agencies are generally required to develop recipient guidance and/or an LEP plan outlining steps for ensuring that LEP persons can access federal services and programs. Under the Executive Order, agencies are responsible for determining whether there is a need to develop recipient guidance based on whether they provide financial assistance to entities that provide federal services to LEP populations. Likewise, agencies are responsible for determining if they must draft LEP plans by assessing whether they have frequent or significant contact with LEP persons. If an agency determines that it is not required to draft recipient guidance, an LEP plan, or both, the agency is not required to report that determination to DOJ. As such, the extent to which agencies are complying with the Executive Order cannot be determined. Therefore, to help ensure that agencies are appropriately focused on the needs of LEP communities, we recommended that in cases when an agency has determined that it is not required to draft recipient guidance or an LEP plan, the Assistant Attorney General should request agencies to report the results of this determination to DOJ. In response to our recommendation, the Attorney General issued a February 17, 2011 memorandum instructing agencies that do not provide federal financial assistance and, therefore, do not need to issue recipient guidance, make a statement of this determination within its LEP plan.