Fiscal year finding initially occurred: 2022
CDBG – Entitlement Grants Cluster (14.218)
B-20-MW-22-0002
CRITERIA: The Uniform Guidance requires a grant recipient to establish and maintain effective controls in order to ensure compliance with the federal award regulations, statutes, and terms and conditions of the grant.
CONDITION: A sample of 30 disbursement transactions was selected for testing from a population of 125 transactions. The test found the following: 20 transactions totaling $205,617 for service contracts that the organization did not obtain and maintain written price and/or rate quotations from an adequate number of qualified sources when the contract ranged between $10,000 - $250,000; 2 transactions totaling $5,049 appeared to be sponsorships/donations; 2 transactions totaling $27,083 were duplicated in another reimbursement request; 1 transaction in the amount of $11,220 for an event had multiple line items identified on the invoice without sufficient cost detail on each to determine if the amounts were reasonable and necessary; 1 transaction totaling $5,000 didn’t have sufficient detail on the invoice to determine if the activity was allowable and if the amounts were reasonable and necessary; 1 transaction totaling $4,910 for 11 hotel rooms to a conference had no supporting documentation justifying the allowability of the conference or justification for the community roles for each attendee; and 1 reimbursement for a contract payment did not have support for $5,294. The total questioned costs amounted to $264,173. The sample was nonstatistical.
CAUSE: The Organization does not have internal controls in place to ensure compliance with the allowable costs and allowable activities requirements.
EFFECT: The Organization was unable to provide relevant documentation to support compliance with the federal award regulations, statutes, and terms and conditions of the grant.
RECOMMENDATION: The Organization should establish and maintain effective internal controls to ensure compliance with federal award regulations, statutes, and terms and conditions of the grant.
MANAGEMENT’S CORRECTION ACTION PLAN: The Mayor’s Healthy City Initiative grew rapidly as the need for services provided by the organization were in high demand. The group worked to meet the needs of the community and simultaneously create an infrastructure to support the growing demand. While all disbursements made related to appropriate initiatives and programs, instances did occur in which the vendor was unable to provide the specific documentation required by the grant in the required timeframe. The Mayor’s Healthy City Initiative team coordinated with the City of Baton Rouge’s Office of Community Development to ensure that disbursements were appropriate and, in some instances, relied on their approval for payment.
As with many organizations of this type, the staff was very small. In addition, during the audited program year the Executive Director role was vacant for an extended period of time which presented additional challenges.
The Executive Director role has been filled and the role of our external accountants has been expanded to offer additional assistance. We are continuing to work to establish and maintain effective internal controls to ensure compliance with federal award regulations, statutes and terms and conditions of each grant.
Fiscal year finding initially occurred: 2022
CDBG – Entitlement Grants Cluster (14.218)
B-20-MW-22-0002
CRITERIA: Internal controls should be in place to ensure accuracy, completeness and timely submission of the reports required by the grantor.
CONDITION: Monthly and quarterly progress reports as well as monthly requests for reimbursement are a requirement of the grant. The Organization was unable to provide documentation that any monthly or quarterly accomplishments and progress reports were submitted to the grantor for the year under audit. The requests for reimbursement were filed, however; they were not filed on a monthly basis as stipulated in the grant agreement. The first request covered 10 months, the second request covered 6 months and the third and fourth requests were for the same one-month period.
CAUSE: Internal controls were not in place to ensure accuracy, completeness and timely submission of the reports required by the grantor.
EFFECT: The Organization was not able to provide documentation to demonstrate compliance with reporting.
RECOMMENDATION: The Organization should establish and maintain effective internal controls to ensure compliance with the requirements of grant award agreements relative to submitting monthly and quarterly progress reports as well as monthly requests for reimbursement.
MANAGEMENT’S CORRECTION ACTION PLAN: As stated in the condition above the reports were all filed but not in accordance with the required timeframes. Management will work to ensure that reports are filed as required by the grant even when no activity for the related period occurs.
Fiscal year finding initially occurred: 2022
CDBG – Entitlement Grants Cluster (14.218)
B-20-MW-22-0002
See Compliance Finding 2022-007.
Fiscal year finding initially occurred: 2022
CDBG – Entitlement Grants Cluster (14.218)
B-20-MW-22-0002
See Compliance Finding 2022-008.
Fiscal year finding initially occurred: 2022
COVID-19 Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (21.027)
CRITERIA: The Uniform Guidance requires a grant recipient to establish and maintain effective controls in order to ensure compliance with the federal award regulations, statutes, and terms and conditions of the grant.
CONDITION: The organization did not obtain and maintain written price and/or rate quotations from an adequate number of qualified sources for a professional service contract that ranged between $10,000 - $250,000. The organization paid $250,000 on the services contract during the fiscal year. Additionally, 3 transactions totaling $12,952 requested for reimbursement under this grant were previously requested for reimbursement on a CDBG-CV grant. The total questioned costs amounted to $262,952.
CAUSE: The Organization does not have internal controls in place to ensure compliance with the allowable costs and allowable activities requirements.
EFFECT: The Organization was unable to provide relevant documentation to support compliance with the federal award regulations, statutes, and terms and conditions of the grant.
RECOMMENDATION: The Organization should establish and maintain effective internal controls to ensure compliance with federal award regulations, statutes, and terms and conditions of the grant.
MANAGEMENT’S CORRECTION ACTION PLAN: While the team working with the Mayor’s Healthy City Initiative believes the amounts paid to all vendors for services rendered were reasonable based on comparison market data we understand the need to obtain and maintain the required number of written quotations and will work to establish and maintain effective internal controls to ensure compliance with federal award regulations, statutes and terms and conditions of each grant.
Fiscal year finding initially occurred: 2022
COVID-19 Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (21.027)
See Compliance Finding 2022-010.
Fiscal year finding initially occurred: 2022
Research and Development Cluster (93.859)
PB210037-HBR-02
CRITERIA: Costs charged to federal grant programs must follow the Uniform Guidance (Guidance). Section 200.403 of the Guidance requires that the costs be adequately documented in order to be an allowable cost.
CONDITION: The Organization was unable to provide documentation to support that the salaries requested under this grant were incurred by the Organization. In addition, based on the financial records of the Organization, no salaries were paid for the 2022 fiscal year, which included the time period of request. The Organization had $61,092 of unsupported salaries and related indirect costs, which is considered questioned costs.
CAUSE: The Organization does not have internal controls in place to ensure compliance with the Uniform Guidance.
EFFECT: The Organization requested reimbursement for unsupported salaries and related indirect costs from the grantor.
RECOMMENDATION: The Organization should ensure the individuals administering federal programs are properly trained on the requirements of the Uniform Guidance.
MANAGEMENT’S CORRECTION ACTION PLAN: The audited period was a time of rapid growth and transition for the Mayor’s Healthy City Initiative. The staff was very small and the Executive Director role was vacant for an extended period of time.
The Executive Director role has been filled and the role of our external accountants has been expanded to offer additional assistance. Management is working to ensure that the individuals working on administering federal programs are properly trained on the requirements of the Uniform Guidance.
Fiscal year finding initially occurred: 2022
Research and Development Cluster (93.859)
PB210037-HBR-02
See Compliance Finding 2022-009.
Fiscal year finding initially occurred: 2022
CDBG – Entitlement Grants Cluster (14.218)
B-20-MW-22-0002
CRITERIA: The Uniform Guidance requires a grant recipient to establish and maintain effective controls in order to ensure compliance with the federal award regulations, statutes, and terms and conditions of the grant.
CONDITION: A sample of 30 disbursement transactions was selected for testing from a population of 125 transactions. The test found the following: 20 transactions totaling $205,617 for service contracts that the organization did not obtain and maintain written price and/or rate quotations from an adequate number of qualified sources when the contract ranged between $10,000 - $250,000; 2 transactions totaling $5,049 appeared to be sponsorships/donations; 2 transactions totaling $27,083 were duplicated in another reimbursement request; 1 transaction in the amount of $11,220 for an event had multiple line items identified on the invoice without sufficient cost detail on each to determine if the amounts were reasonable and necessary; 1 transaction totaling $5,000 didn’t have sufficient detail on the invoice to determine if the activity was allowable and if the amounts were reasonable and necessary; 1 transaction totaling $4,910 for 11 hotel rooms to a conference had no supporting documentation justifying the allowability of the conference or justification for the community roles for each attendee; and 1 reimbursement for a contract payment did not have support for $5,294. The total questioned costs amounted to $264,173. The sample was nonstatistical.
CAUSE: The Organization does not have internal controls in place to ensure compliance with the allowable costs and allowable activities requirements.
EFFECT: The Organization was unable to provide relevant documentation to support compliance with the federal award regulations, statutes, and terms and conditions of the grant.
RECOMMENDATION: The Organization should establish and maintain effective internal controls to ensure compliance with federal award regulations, statutes, and terms and conditions of the grant.
MANAGEMENT’S CORRECTION ACTION PLAN: The Mayor’s Healthy City Initiative grew rapidly as the need for services provided by the organization were in high demand. The group worked to meet the needs of the community and simultaneously create an infrastructure to support the growing demand. While all disbursements made related to appropriate initiatives and programs, instances did occur in which the vendor was unable to provide the specific documentation required by the grant in the required timeframe. The Mayor’s Healthy City Initiative team coordinated with the City of Baton Rouge’s Office of Community Development to ensure that disbursements were appropriate and, in some instances, relied on their approval for payment.
As with many organizations of this type, the staff was very small. In addition, during the audited program year the Executive Director role was vacant for an extended period of time which presented additional challenges.
The Executive Director role has been filled and the role of our external accountants has been expanded to offer additional assistance. We are continuing to work to establish and maintain effective internal controls to ensure compliance with federal award regulations, statutes and terms and conditions of each grant.
Fiscal year finding initially occurred: 2022
CDBG – Entitlement Grants Cluster (14.218)
B-20-MW-22-0002
CRITERIA: Internal controls should be in place to ensure accuracy, completeness and timely submission of the reports required by the grantor.
CONDITION: Monthly and quarterly progress reports as well as monthly requests for reimbursement are a requirement of the grant. The Organization was unable to provide documentation that any monthly or quarterly accomplishments and progress reports were submitted to the grantor for the year under audit. The requests for reimbursement were filed, however; they were not filed on a monthly basis as stipulated in the grant agreement. The first request covered 10 months, the second request covered 6 months and the third and fourth requests were for the same one-month period.
CAUSE: Internal controls were not in place to ensure accuracy, completeness and timely submission of the reports required by the grantor.
EFFECT: The Organization was not able to provide documentation to demonstrate compliance with reporting.
RECOMMENDATION: The Organization should establish and maintain effective internal controls to ensure compliance with the requirements of grant award agreements relative to submitting monthly and quarterly progress reports as well as monthly requests for reimbursement.
MANAGEMENT’S CORRECTION ACTION PLAN: As stated in the condition above the reports were all filed but not in accordance with the required timeframes. Management will work to ensure that reports are filed as required by the grant even when no activity for the related period occurs.
Fiscal year finding initially occurred: 2022
CDBG – Entitlement Grants Cluster (14.218)
B-20-MW-22-0002
See Compliance Finding 2022-007.
Fiscal year finding initially occurred: 2022
CDBG – Entitlement Grants Cluster (14.218)
B-20-MW-22-0002
See Compliance Finding 2022-008.
Fiscal year finding initially occurred: 2022
COVID-19 Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (21.027)
CRITERIA: The Uniform Guidance requires a grant recipient to establish and maintain effective controls in order to ensure compliance with the federal award regulations, statutes, and terms and conditions of the grant.
CONDITION: The organization did not obtain and maintain written price and/or rate quotations from an adequate number of qualified sources for a professional service contract that ranged between $10,000 - $250,000. The organization paid $250,000 on the services contract during the fiscal year. Additionally, 3 transactions totaling $12,952 requested for reimbursement under this grant were previously requested for reimbursement on a CDBG-CV grant. The total questioned costs amounted to $262,952.
CAUSE: The Organization does not have internal controls in place to ensure compliance with the allowable costs and allowable activities requirements.
EFFECT: The Organization was unable to provide relevant documentation to support compliance with the federal award regulations, statutes, and terms and conditions of the grant.
RECOMMENDATION: The Organization should establish and maintain effective internal controls to ensure compliance with federal award regulations, statutes, and terms and conditions of the grant.
MANAGEMENT’S CORRECTION ACTION PLAN: While the team working with the Mayor’s Healthy City Initiative believes the amounts paid to all vendors for services rendered were reasonable based on comparison market data we understand the need to obtain and maintain the required number of written quotations and will work to establish and maintain effective internal controls to ensure compliance with federal award regulations, statutes and terms and conditions of each grant.
Fiscal year finding initially occurred: 2022
COVID-19 Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (21.027)
See Compliance Finding 2022-010.
Fiscal year finding initially occurred: 2022
Research and Development Cluster (93.859)
PB210037-HBR-02
CRITERIA: Costs charged to federal grant programs must follow the Uniform Guidance (Guidance). Section 200.403 of the Guidance requires that the costs be adequately documented in order to be an allowable cost.
CONDITION: The Organization was unable to provide documentation to support that the salaries requested under this grant were incurred by the Organization. In addition, based on the financial records of the Organization, no salaries were paid for the 2022 fiscal year, which included the time period of request. The Organization had $61,092 of unsupported salaries and related indirect costs, which is considered questioned costs.
CAUSE: The Organization does not have internal controls in place to ensure compliance with the Uniform Guidance.
EFFECT: The Organization requested reimbursement for unsupported salaries and related indirect costs from the grantor.
RECOMMENDATION: The Organization should ensure the individuals administering federal programs are properly trained on the requirements of the Uniform Guidance.
MANAGEMENT’S CORRECTION ACTION PLAN: The audited period was a time of rapid growth and transition for the Mayor’s Healthy City Initiative. The staff was very small and the Executive Director role was vacant for an extended period of time.
The Executive Director role has been filled and the role of our external accountants has been expanded to offer additional assistance. Management is working to ensure that the individuals working on administering federal programs are properly trained on the requirements of the Uniform Guidance.
Fiscal year finding initially occurred: 2022
Research and Development Cluster (93.859)
PB210037-HBR-02
See Compliance Finding 2022-009.