Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Quality Standards For Inspection and Evaluation: January 2012
Quality Standards For Inspection and Evaluation: January 2012
for
Inspection and Evaluation
January 2012
Council of the Inspectors General
on Integrity and Efficiency
Authority
Section 11 of the Inspector General Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. app. 3.), as amended (IG Act).
Mission
The mission of the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE) shall
be to address integrity, economy, and effectiveness issues that transcend individual Government
agencies; and increase the professionalism and effectiveness of personnel by developing policies,
standards, and approaches to aid in the establishment of a well trained and highly skilled
workforce in the Offices of Inspectors General (OIG).
Since it was first issued in 1993, the “Quality Standards for Inspections”
has provided a solid framework for inspections and evaluation work by
Federal Offices of Inspector General (OIG). Over the years, these
standards have been broadly embraced by OIGs and have thus been
instrumental in building our strong reputation for impartiality, reliability,
and credibility.
The Inspector General Reform Act of 2008 (IG Reform Act) provided
that members of the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and
Efficiency (CIGIE) “shall adhere to professional standards developed by
the Council” (§ 11(c)(2) of the IG Reform Act). In June 2010, CIGIE
officially adopted the “Quality Standards for Inspections” as the
professional standards for all inspection and evaluation work performed
by member organizations. The IG Reform Act requires compliance with
these standards.
For this 2012 edition of the “Quality Standards for Inspection and
Evaluation,” the Inspection and Evaluation (I&E) Committee has made
technical changes that bring the document into full compliance with the
IG Reform Act, including replacing all references to the “PCIE”
(President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency) and the “ECIE”
(Executive Council on Integrity and Efficiency) with CIGIE. However,
except for these technical changes and mandating adherence to the
“Quality Standards” when conducting I&E work, the standards as
revised in 2005 are largely unchanged.
Page
PREFACE i
STANDARDS
Competency 1
Independence 2
Professional Judgment 6
Quality Control 8
Planning 9
Evidence 12
Records Maintenance 14
Timeliness 15
Reporting 16
Followup 18
Performance Measurement 18
APPENDIXES
ii
QUALITY STANDARDS FOR INSPECTION AND
EVALUATION
COMPETENCY
1
The Inspector General community has developed a guide
regarding core competencies for inspection organizations and
inspectors, as well as a guide for general skill levels for
inspectors, which are included as appendixes to this document.
Inspection organizations should have a process for recruitment,
hiring, continuous development, and evaluation of staff to assist
the organization in maintaining a workforce that has adequate
competence. The nature, extent, and formality of the process will
depend on various factors, such as the size of the inspection
organization, its work, and its structure. These factors will also
affect the staffing needs of an organization. For example, an
inspection organization may need to employ personnel or hire
specialists who are knowledgeable, skilled, or experienced in
such areas as accounting, statistics, law, engineering, information
technology, public administration, economics, or social sciences.
INDEPENDENCE
2
situations that could lead reasonable third parties with knowledge
of the relevant facts and circumstances to conclude that the
inspection organization or inspectors are not independent and,
thus, are not capable of exercising objective and impartial
judgment in conducting and reporting on an inspection.
Impairments to independence, either in fact or appearance, need
to be resolved in a timely manner. The actions of OIG staff
should adhere to the “Standards for Ethical Conduct for
Employees of the Executive Branch” and Federal conflict-of-
interest laws. Inspection organizations should have internal
policies and procedures for reporting and resolving real or
perceived impairments to independence.
1. Personal Impairments
3
their respective inspection organizations if they have any
personal impairment to independence. It is impossible to
identify every situation that could result in a personal
impairment, but the following are examples of personal
impairments:
2. External Impairments
4
objective opinions and conclusions. External
impairments to independence occur when inspectors are
deterred from acting objectively and exercising
professional skepticism by pressures, actual or perceived,
from management or employees of the inspected entity or
oversight organizations. For example, if any of the
following conditions exist, the OIG would not have
complete freedom to make an independent and objective
judgment, which could adversely affect the work:
5
limitation, the inspector should report the limitation in
accordance with the respective OIG’s internal policies
and procedures.
3. Organizational Impairments
PROFESSIONAL JUDGMENT
6
• Evidence is gathered and reported in a fair, unbiased, and
independent manner and report findings, conclusions, and
recommendations are valid and supported by adequate
documentation.
7
inspection organization to exercise professional judgment in
planning and performing an assignment, it does not imply
unlimited responsibility or infallibility on the part of either the
individual inspector or the inspection organization.
QUALITY CONTROL
8
• the inspection findings, conclusions, and re-
commendations are adequately supported by the evidence.
PLANNING
• Coordination
Inspection planning includes coordinating planned
activities with other inspection, audit, and investigative
entities, as well as appropriate organizations that could be
affected by the activities. Internal and external
constraints should be considered when planning
inspection activities. Inspectors should be flexible in their
plans, within reasonable limits. Any internal reviews
performed by the entity to be inspected or by outside
professional organizations should be considered and
reviewed to determine applicability to the inspection. In
addition, when an inspection addresses a topic that is
cross-cutting or affects other governmental organizations,
the OIG may consider conducting a joint or coordinated
review with those other organizations’ OIGs.
• Research
Consistent with the inspection objectives, inspection
research includes a review of existing data, discussions
9
with program and other appropriate officials, literature
research, and a review of pertinent Web sites and other
Internet-accessible materials to gather information that
will facilitate understanding of the program or activity to
be inspected. Research should help to identify the criteria
applicable to the evaluation of the program or activity.
Examples of possible criteria include: laws, regulations,
policies, procedures, technically developed standards or
norms, expert opinions, prior periods’ performance,
performance of similar entities, performance in the private
sector, and best practices of leading organizations.
Research should attempt to identify the results of previous
reviews that may be relevant to the inspection, and
inspectors should follow up on known significant findings
and recommendations that directly relate to the current
inspection. Inspectors need to assess the validity and
reliability of the data gathered.
• Work plan
An inspection work plan should be developed that clearly
defines the inspection objective(s), scope, and
methodology. It may also include inspection time frames
and work assignments. Adequate planning also entails
ensuring that sufficient staff with the appropriate
collective knowledge, skills, abilities, and experience is
assigned to the inspection effort. As work on an
inspection progresses, the work plan may need revision to
address new information.
10
DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
11
implement procedures for maintaining the confidentiality
of individuals providing information. Inspectors must
carefully monitor their actions and words to not
inappropriately reveal the source of information.
EVIDENCE
12
Evidence may take many forms, including physical, testimonial,
documentary, and analytical. Physical evidence is obtained by an
inspector’s direct review or observation of people, property, or
events and should be appropriately documented. Testimonial
evidence is obtained through inquiries, interviews, or
questionnaires. Documentary evidence consists of created
information, such as letters, contracts, grants, memorandums, and
files. Analytical evidence includes computations, benchmarking,
trending, comparisons, and rational arguments.
13
• Relevance refers to the relationship of evidence to its use.
The information used to prove or disprove an issue must
have a logical relationship with, and importance to, the
issue being addressed.
RECORDS MAINTENANCE
14
TIMELINESS
15
Inspectors should be aware of vulnerabilities to fraud and abuse
associated with the area under review in order to be able to
identify possible or actual illegal acts or abuse that may have
occurred. In some circumstances, conditions such as the
following might indicate a heightened risk of fraud:
REPORTING
16
Inspection reporting normally should describe the objective(s),
scope, and methodology of the inspection and state that the
inspection was conducted in accordance with the “Quality
Standards for Inspection and Evaluation.” Also, inspection
reporting should provide the reader with the context in which the
subject matter being inspected should be viewed, such as the
impact or significance of the program/activity being reviewed, to
help ensure the focus is not too narrowly drawn and to give
clearer understanding of the impact of any report
recommendations. Reporting language should be clear and
concise and, while recognizing that some inspections deal with
highly technical material, should be written in terms intelligible
to the intended recipients and informed professionals.
17
FOLLOWUP
PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT
18
established that capture inspection results and recommendations
collectively with those of other OIG components. Performance
measurement for inspections should focus on the outputs (i.e.,
number of implemented recommendations), and the resultant
outcomes (i.e., changes in policy). Optimum performance
measurement captures the impact of an inspection and may
include such things as monetary savings, enforcement of laws, or
legislative change.
19
needs or priorities management may have regarding the
reviews to be conducted by the OIG.
20
APPENDIX A
Organizational Competencies
• Leadership
Vision
Continual Learning
Results Orientation
Integrity
• Team Skills
• Management
Accountability
Customer Service
Strategic Thinking
• Occupational Mastery
• Leadership
Results Orientation
Integrity
• Team Skills
21
APPENDIX A
• Management
Project Management
Strategic Thinking
• Occupational Mastery
• Leadership
Vision
Political Skills
Influencing/Negotiation with External Groups
Results Orientation
Leading People
Integrity
• Team Skills
• Management
Accountability
Decisiveness
Strategic Thinking
• Occupational Mastery
22
APPENDIX B
GS Grade
Skills 5 7 9 11 12 13 14
*This appendix is intended as a guide only. It is recognized that, among other things,
grade structure and position descriptions for staff vary between OIGs, which can affect
the applicability of this guidance.
23