When the department responds to one of our recommendations, we assess the response to see if there is a plan, timelines. We also have to see if the plan implemented will actually address the reported deficiency. If so, the response is assessed as “satisfactory intent”, which means that, if the plan is implemented, it will address the deficiency and the risks we had identified.
Quite often, if we find progress is too slow, we change this rating. Two years ago, for example, we informed the department that we were no longer prepared to wait years. After a certain amount of time, we reduce the rating to “unsatisfactory intent”. We did this for a number of recommendations, simply because it was taking too long.