Audit 176652

Criteria and Condition: The Commission is prohibited from contracting with parties that are suspended or debarred. Under the guidelines, before contracting with a non-federal entity, the grantee must verify that the non-federal entity is not suspended, debarred, or otherwise excluded from participating in the transaction. Cause: While suspension and debarment policies and procedures are in writing, they were not implemented by staff or documented in accordance with the Uniform Guidance and the method used by management to procure new services under the National Endowment for the Arts funding did not follow all the required elements. Effect: Without verifying that vendors are not suspended or debarred prior to entering into a covered transaction, procurements under federal awards may not have been made in compliance with applicable Federal regulations, and covered transaction payments could have been made to parties that were federally suspended, debarred, or otherwise disqualified. Context: Program expenditures made to certain vendors exceeded either the micro-purchase or covered transaction threshold, triggering the testing of this compliance area during the audit. Questioned costs: This finding did not result in any questioned costs. Identification of Repeat Findings: This is not a repeat finding. Recommendation: We recommend that the Commission update their suspension and debarment policy to reflect current staff roles and responsibilities that relate to maintaining vendor files for all procurements over the Commission?s micro-purchase threshold or that are considered to be a covered transaction and to implement redundancies as needed. Vendor files should include documentation that a search was performed on the SAM.gov website to verify that the vendor is not suspended or debarred. Management should periodically review suspension and debarment support and document the review. Views of Responsible Officials and Planned Corrective Actions: The Commission is in the process of updating their suspension and debarment policy and procedures to ensure that all elements required are clearly documented in accordance with Uniform Guidance. Full implementation will occur no later than December 31, 2023.

Criteria and Condition: The Commission is prohibited from contracting with parties that are suspended or debarred. Under the guidelines, before contracting with a non-federal entity, the grantee must verify that the non-federal entity is not suspended, debarred, or otherwise excluded from participating in the transaction. Cause: While suspension and debarment policies and procedures are in writing, they were not implemented by staff or documented in accordance with the Uniform Guidance and the method used by management to procure new services under the National Endowment for the Arts funding did not follow all the required elements. Effect: Without verifying that vendors are not suspended or debarred prior to entering into a covered transaction, procurements under federal awards may not have been made in compliance with applicable Federal regulations, and covered transaction payments could have been made to parties that were federally suspended, debarred, or otherwise disqualified. Context: Program expenditures made to certain vendors exceeded either the micro-purchase or covered transaction threshold, triggering the testing of this compliance area during the audit. Questioned costs: This finding did not result in any questioned costs. Identification of Repeat Findings: This is not a repeat finding. Recommendation: We recommend that the Commission update their suspension and debarment policy to reflect current staff roles and responsibilities that relate to maintaining vendor files for all procurements over the Commission?s micro-purchase threshold or that are considered to be a covered transaction and to implement redundancies as needed. Vendor files should include documentation that a search was performed on the SAM.gov website to verify that the vendor is not suspended or debarred. Management should periodically review suspension and debarment support and document the review. Views of Responsible Officials and Planned Corrective Actions: The Commission is in the process of updating their suspension and debarment policy and procedures to ensure that all elements required are clearly documented in accordance with Uniform Guidance. Full implementation will occur no later than December 31, 2023.