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Awardee Guide to Developing 

Corrective Action Plans

Office of Monitoring

March 2023
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Overview

The AmeriCorps Office of Monitoring Corrective Action Planning (CAP) process 

provides grant recipients with a standard approach to reviewing and 

addressing identified findings of noncompliance. The process can assist 

awardees in validating compliance, identifying breakdowns in processes and 

systems that may have contributed to noncompliance, as well as identifying 

preventative measures to reduce and eliminate findings in future monitoring 

activities. The CAP is structured to support the grantee in facilitating an internal 

process to identify the root causes of the event that resulted in a finding, while 

fostering a timely, concise, and technically adequate corrective action 

proposal for submission to the Office of Monitoring (OM) for review and 

approval.

Grantees may use this guide to assist in the development of responses to each 

CAP element for findings of noncompliance that were identified within the 

monitoring summary results. As a reminder, the Office of Monitoring receives 

CAP submissions from awardees within the Excel Based Tool used for monitoring 

activities. Each finding of noncompliance requires a response to four elements 

of the CAP. More details on the four CAP elements are described below.

CAP Element: Root Cause Analysis

Grantees should describe the results of an analysis of contributing factors that 

led to the underlying process and system issues (root causes) of the noncompliant finding. A root cause analysis identifies the underlying cause of the 

issue by collecting data/evidence related to the problem. This section should 

focus on what happened, why it happened, and what to do to reduce or 

eliminate any reoccurrences. 

• What is causing the problem at hand? 

• What flaws in the work processes led to the issues? 

• Has this type of issue occurred before and, if so, what caused it to recur?

• What should be happening?

CAP Element: Corrective Measures

Grantees should describe the proposed corrective changes to the processes 

and systems that will eliminate the root cause and reduce the likelihood of a 

reoccurrence of noncompliance, as well as how these changes will be 

implemented. The key is to choose corrective actions that address each root 

cause. These actions will generally require creating a new process or making a 

change to a current process. Corrective actions that change the system and do 

not allow errors to occur are the strongest. If a particular corrective action or 
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change cannot be completed due to current constraints (e.g., lack of 

resources), the awardee should look for other ways of changing the process to 

prevent a similar event from occurring in the future. Doing nothing is not an 

appropriate option.

• How can the problem be fixed?

• Re-evaluate the policy/procedure.

• Determine who will conduct training on the correct way to do the tasks?

• Identify checks and balances to be strengthened to ensure issues do not 

recur? 

• What improved protocols will be established? 

CAP Element: Required Plan of Action

Grantees should clearly state what is to be done, by whom, and when. Some 

action plans may be short-term interventions that can be accomplished quickly, 

while others may require a longer implementation period. Consider how to 

effectively implement the plan so people are complying with the proposed 

changes and if the changes have made a difference. Create SMART (specific, 

measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound) goals and allot feasible 

deadlines. Make sure these goals or solutions are centered around the root 

cause, detailing every step necessary to eliminate the underlying cause of a 

problem.

• Who is doing what? 

• How will the plan be implemented? 

• What supporting documentation will be needed?

CAP Element: Evaluation/Follow-Up

Grantees should describe how successful implementation of corrective actions 

will be evaluated and measured. This should include details on how the 

organization will know that the proposed corrective actions are effectively 

implemented during the anticipated timeframe, including an assessment of 

individuals responsible for adhering to changes and whether the CAP is 

achieving the desired results. Evaluating the success of the corrective actions 

usually becomes the responsibility of the person designated to oversee the 

corrective actions. 

Satisfactory implementation of the corrective actions will be reviewed by 

AmeriCorps staff, so it is important to have a clearly defined plan and to be able 

to demonstrate that measures of success were monitored by organizational staff 
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over time and that each responsible individual or party is confident that the 

change is permanent.

• What is the plan/procedure to evaluate the plan implemented?

• How often will the plan be evaluated? 

• What are the desired results?

Additional Fields for Completion by Grantee

Enter the Planned Completion or Implementation Date - Enter the expected 

date to complete the plan and submit documentation. If the plan must be 

implemented over time, enter the date the documentation/evidence will be

submitted to OM for review.

Person(s) Responsible for Implementation - Identify the person or persons who

will be responsible for evaluating/monitoring the implementation of the plan.

Monitoring Officer Fields

OM Review Status

The Monitoring Officer will indicate if the CAP information meets the required 

standards by selecting one of the following options:

• Resolved- Grantee has submitted a CAP with supporting documentation

to confirm the work has been completed. Grantee is now in compliance 

with regulation and no more action is required.

• Approved In-Progress- Grantee has submitted approved CAP and 

documentation will need to be submitted to establish once the work is 

completed or implemented.

• Insufficient- The submitted CAP is not approved as the information 

provided by the grantee in their CAP is insufficient to achieve approval.

OM Review Notes

Notes section for Monitoring Officer to communicate information about the 

finding to Grantee.