2023-001 Procurement, Suspension, and Debarment
Prior Year Finding Number: N/A
Year of Finding Origination: 2023
Type of Finding: Internal Control Over Compliance and Compliance
Severity of Deficiency: Significant Deficiency and Other Matter
Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Program: 93.104 Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services for Children with Serious Emotional Disturbances (SED) (Journey to Independence)
Award Number and Year: 5H79SM082970-03; 2023 and 5H79SM082970-04; 2024
Pass-Through Agency: Direct Award
Criteria: Title 2 U.S. Code of Federal Regulations § 200.303 states that the auditee must establish and maintain effective internal control over the federal award that provides reasonable assurance that the auditee is managing the federal award in compliance with federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the federal award.
Title 2 U.S. Code of Federal Regulations § 200.318(i) states that the non-federal entity must maintain records sufficient to detail the history of procurement. These records will include, but are not necessarily limited to, the following: rationale for the method of procurement, selection of contract type, contractor selection or rejection, and the basis for the contract price.
Federal requirements prohibit non-federal entities from contracting with or making subawards under covered transactions to parties that are suspended or debarred. Title 2 U.S. Code of Federal Regulations § 180.300 describes a required verification process. Prior to entering into the transaction, one of the following must be performed: (1) checking SAM.gov exclusions, (2) collecting a certification, or (3) adding a clause or condition to the covered transaction.
PACT’s procurement policy requires that the contractor submit a certification that they are not suspended and debarred and also requires PACT staff to verify the vendor is not suspended, debarred, or otherwise excluded at SAM.gov.
Condition: For the one contractor not considered a sole source vendor, PACT obtained three quotes or proposals but did not have documentation supporting the selection of this vendor. In addition, PACT did not collect a certification that the contractor is not suspended or debarred or document its verification that this contractor was not suspended, debarred, or otherwise excluded at SAM.gov before entering into the covered transaction.
Questioned Costs: None
Context: The majority of costs associated with this federal grant are payroll related with only five vendors providing goods or services that exceeded the micro-purchase threshold ($10,000). Other expenditures incurred are typically not related to contracts. PACT’s policy for non-payroll disbursements requires an approved Expenditure Authorization Form (EAF) as support documenting the reason for the purchase. PACT’s policy does not require documentation supporting the reason for the vendor selection.
The sample size was based on guidance from Chapter 11 of the AICPA Audit Guide, Government Auditing and Single Audits.
Effect: It cannot be determined that the contracting process was open and fair because PACT did not document the rationale for the contractor selection. It also cannot be determined that an entity was not suspended, debarred, or otherwise excluded because PACT did not document that it performed a search on SAM.gov and did not collect a certification.
Cause: PACT was not aware of the requirement to document the reasoning behind its contractor selections and believed obtaining quotes was sufficient. In addition, PACT believed that performing the search was sufficient and that documentation of the search or collection of a certification was not necessary. Revised procedures were in the process of being implemented during 2023.
Recommendation: We recommend PACT develop formal procedures to document why a vendor is selected when price is not the sole factor (i.e., checklist or other criteria developed ahead of time). We recommend that PACT keep printouts (with dates) from SAM.gov to support that contractors were not suspended, debarred, or otherwise excluded prior to entering into covered transactions and collect certifications as required by policy.
View of Responsible Official: Acknowledge
2023-001 Procurement, Suspension, and Debarment
Prior Year Finding Number: N/A
Year of Finding Origination: 2023
Type of Finding: Internal Control Over Compliance and Compliance
Severity of Deficiency: Significant Deficiency and Other Matter
Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Program: 93.104 Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services for Children with Serious Emotional Disturbances (SED) (Journey to Independence)
Award Number and Year: 5H79SM082970-03; 2023 and 5H79SM082970-04; 2024
Pass-Through Agency: Direct Award
Criteria: Title 2 U.S. Code of Federal Regulations § 200.303 states that the auditee must establish and maintain effective internal control over the federal award that provides reasonable assurance that the auditee is managing the federal award in compliance with federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the federal award.
Title 2 U.S. Code of Federal Regulations § 200.318(i) states that the non-federal entity must maintain records sufficient to detail the history of procurement. These records will include, but are not necessarily limited to, the following: rationale for the method of procurement, selection of contract type, contractor selection or rejection, and the basis for the contract price.
Federal requirements prohibit non-federal entities from contracting with or making subawards under covered transactions to parties that are suspended or debarred. Title 2 U.S. Code of Federal Regulations § 180.300 describes a required verification process. Prior to entering into the transaction, one of the following must be performed: (1) checking SAM.gov exclusions, (2) collecting a certification, or (3) adding a clause or condition to the covered transaction.
PACT’s procurement policy requires that the contractor submit a certification that they are not suspended and debarred and also requires PACT staff to verify the vendor is not suspended, debarred, or otherwise excluded at SAM.gov.
Condition: For the one contractor not considered a sole source vendor, PACT obtained three quotes or proposals but did not have documentation supporting the selection of this vendor. In addition, PACT did not collect a certification that the contractor is not suspended or debarred or document its verification that this contractor was not suspended, debarred, or otherwise excluded at SAM.gov before entering into the covered transaction.
Questioned Costs: None
Context: The majority of costs associated with this federal grant are payroll related with only five vendors providing goods or services that exceeded the micro-purchase threshold ($10,000). Other expenditures incurred are typically not related to contracts. PACT’s policy for non-payroll disbursements requires an approved Expenditure Authorization Form (EAF) as support documenting the reason for the purchase. PACT’s policy does not require documentation supporting the reason for the vendor selection.
The sample size was based on guidance from Chapter 11 of the AICPA Audit Guide, Government Auditing and Single Audits.
Effect: It cannot be determined that the contracting process was open and fair because PACT did not document the rationale for the contractor selection. It also cannot be determined that an entity was not suspended, debarred, or otherwise excluded because PACT did not document that it performed a search on SAM.gov and did not collect a certification.
Cause: PACT was not aware of the requirement to document the reasoning behind its contractor selections and believed obtaining quotes was sufficient. In addition, PACT believed that performing the search was sufficient and that documentation of the search or collection of a certification was not necessary. Revised procedures were in the process of being implemented during 2023.
Recommendation: We recommend PACT develop formal procedures to document why a vendor is selected when price is not the sole factor (i.e., checklist or other criteria developed ahead of time). We recommend that PACT keep printouts (with dates) from SAM.gov to support that contractors were not suspended, debarred, or otherwise excluded prior to entering into covered transactions and collect certifications as required by policy.
View of Responsible Official: Acknowledge