State Department: Wide Range of Emergency Services Provided to American Citizens Overseas, but Improved Monitoring Is Needed

In June and July 2012, in response to GAO's recommendation, the Bureau of Consular Affairs issued new guidance through its Foreign Affairs Manual (FAM), making it explicit that information related to cases such as welfare and whereabouts or arrests must be entered into the ACS system, whereas in the previous version of the FAM this was not the case. As a result, it is now clear to ACS staff what work must be entered into the ACS system, which will now allow posts to more accurately reflect their workload, and thus have improved information for making management decisions.

State concurred with the recommendation. In response, on December 11, 2009, State noted that it was developing a new system to replace ACS by the end of 2014 and that it was revising the Foreign Affairs Manual with clearer guidelines on what information should be entered into ACS. In 2012, State provided an update on the system that will replace ACS, ConsularOne. In addition, State noted that it had made improvements to ACS, including more rigorous and efficient processing of citizenship applications and passports and enhanced interaction between ACS and the data management and reporting software used for workload calculations and staffing adjustments. In June 2013, Stated noted that it continued to improve ACS by adding various enhancements. For example, in October 2012, a major update began providing direct integration of ACS with State's fraud case and lookout tracking application form "wizards" to improve data entry were also updated. Finally, State noted, in June 2013, its ConsularOne effort progressed, with the first module of ConsularOne slated for development in the coming year.

State concurred with the recommendation. In response, in December 2009, State sent all posts a cable noting that it agreed with GAO's recommendation and that posts should review their consular Web sites to ensure that emergency contact information was prominently displayed. In July 2012, GAO conducted a review of a sample of posts' Web sites and found that some still did not have emergency contact information prominently displayed on their homepages. Subsequently, the Bureau of Consular Affairs conducted a review of 35 post Web sites and found that each site contained emergency contact information. Also in July 2012, State sent another cable to all posts requesting that they ensure emergency contact information was prominently displayed on their Web sites. Finally, State sent another cable to all posts in April 2013 that repeated this instruction, noting that GAO's July 2012 spot check of posts' Web sites found that such information was still not easy to locate on some posts' Web sites. The cable further had underlined the importance of providing Americans abroad with clear emergency contact information prominently displayed on posts' Web site homepages. State also provided a copy of a April 2013 template posts are required to use in designing Web sites to ensure uniformity and that emergency contact information is easily accessible.

State concurred with the recommendation. In response, in December 2009 State sent a cable to all posts with instructions to review their consular Web sites to ensure that emergency contact information was prominently displayed. In July 2012, GAO conducted a review of a sample of posts' Web sites and found that some still did not have emergency contact information prominently displayed on their homepages. Subsequently, State conducted a review of 35 post Web sites and found that each site contained prominently displayed emergency contact information. In August 2012, State noted that it had formed a working group to develop best practices for sharing emergency information on posts' Web site homepages. In May 2013, State sent instructions to American Citizen Services (ACS) country officers to contact their posts to request written confirmation that posts were in compliance with previous guidance on prominently displaying emergency contact information on posts' Web site homepages. According to a State document, every post Web site that State's ACS reviewed listed emergency contact information. Finally, in June 2013, State revised its Country Specific Information (CPI) template to incorporate instructions related to periodic testing of emergency contact information on posts' Web sites. The instructions require consular officers at posts and ACS country officers to confirm biannually that emergency contact information on posts' Web sites is both operational and easily accessible. The Foreign Affairs Manual, 7 FAM 054 a, also states that State's Bureau of Consular Affairs will work with posts to update CPI document at least biannually.