FINDING 2024-003 Subject: COVID-19 - Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds - Reporting Federal Agency: Department of the Treasury Federal Program: COVID-19 - Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds Assistance Listings Number: 21.027 Federal Award Number and Year (or Other Identifying Number): FY 2024 Compliance Requirement: Reporting Audit Findings: Material Weakness, Modified Opinion INDIANA STATE BOARD OF ACCOUNTS 17 TOWN OF RIDGEVILLE SCHEDULE OF FINDINGS AND QUESTIONED COSTS (Continued) Condition and Context Recipients are required to submit quarterly or annually Project and Expenditure (P&E) reports to the U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury). The reporting periods, as well as the respective due dates, are based upon type of recipient and its population, as well as the recipient's allocation amount. Information to be reported includes projects funded, expenditures, and contracts for the appropriate reporting period. The Town was classified as a metropolitan town with a population below 250,000 residents that received an allocation of less than $10 million in COVID-19 - Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF). As such, the initial P&E report, covering the period from March 3, 2021 to March 31, 2022, was required to be submitted to the Treasury by April 30, 2022. The subsequent annual reports are to cover one calendar year and must be submitted to the Treasury by April 30 each year. The Town submitted one P&E report during the audit period; however, the internal controls in place were not effective and did not prevent, or detect and correct, errors. As a result, the following errors in reporting were identified: Expenditures for a police car were overstated by $5,868. Expenditures for a utility truck, digital sign, and fire safety equipment occurred outside of the reporting period but were reported resulting in an overstatement of $72,605. Reported expenditures for fire safety equipment were overstated by $30,000. Expenditures for a Water Tower Project were not reported on the P&E report, resulting in an understatement of $58,809. The lack of internal controls was systemic throughout the audit period. Criteria 2 CFR 200.303 states in part: "The non-Federal entity must: (a) Establish and maintain effective internal control over the Federal award that provides reasonable assurance that the non-Federal entity is managing the Federal award in compliance with Federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the Federal award. These internal controls should be in compliance with guidance in 'Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government' issued by the Comptroller General of the United States or the 'Internal Control Integrated Framework', issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO). . . ." Compliance and Reporting Guidance, State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds, page 13, states in part: ". . . 10. Reporting. All recipients of federal funds must complete financial, performance, and compliance reporting as required and outlined in Part 2 of this guidance. Expenditures may be reported on a cash or accrual basis, as long as the methodology is disclosed and consistently applied. Reporting must be consistent with the definition of expenditures pursuant to 2 CFR 200.1. Your organization should appropriately maintain accounting records for compiling and reporting accurate, compliant financial data, in accordance with appropriate accounting standards and principles. . . ." INDIANA STATE BOARD OF ACCOUNTS 18 TOWN OF RIDGEVILLE SCHEDULE OF FINDINGS AND QUESTIONED COSTS (Continued) 31 CFR 35.4(c) states in part: "Reporting and requests for other information. During the period of performance, recipients shall provide to the Secretary periodic reports providing detailed accounting of the uses of funds, . . ." Cause Since the Clerk-Treasurer was in her first few months in office when the P&E report was prepared and submitted, she was inexperienced with reporting the Town's grant expenditure information. Internal controls established were not followed by management of the Town to ensure the Town provided the Treasury with complete and accurate information related to the SLFRF awards. Effect Without proper execution of internal controls, the P&E report that was submitted included the errors identified in the Condition and Context. The SLFRF reporting requirements were not met, which increases the likelihood that the public will not have access to transparent and accurate information regarding expenditures of federal awards. The lack of proper reporting could result in the Town not receiving future federal fundings or reduction in current federal funding. Questioned Costs There were no questioned costs identified. Recommendation We recommended that management of the Town develop policies and procedures to ensure the accurate reporting of expenditures in the correct reporting period for each report submitted to provide the Treasury with complete and accurate information. Views of Responsible Officials For the views of responsible officials, refer to the Corrective Action Plan that is part of this report.
FINDING 2024-004 Subject: COVID-19 - Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds - Procurement and Suspension and Debarment Federal Agency: Department of the Treasury Federal Program: COVID-19 - Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds Assistance Listings Number: 21.027 Federal Award Number and Year (or Other Identifying Number): SWIF224568 Pass-Through Entity: Indiana Finance Authority Compliance Requirement: Procurement and Suspension and Debarment Audit Findings: Material Weakness, Modified Opinion Condition and Context As part of sound management of the federal award, the Town was responsible for implementing a system of internal controls that would ensure compliance with the applicable requirements. The Town had not properly designed or implemented such a system, which would include appropriate segregation of duties, that would likely be effective in preventing, or detecting and correcting, noncompliance. INDIANA STATE BOARD OF ACCOUNTS 19 TOWN OF RIDGEVILLE SCHEDULE OF FINDINGS AND QUESTIONED COSTS (Continued) Procurement Federal regulations allow for informal procurement methods when the value of the procurement for property or services does not exceed the simplified acquisition threshold, which is customarily set at $250,000. However, Indiana Code 5-22-8 has a more restrictive threshold of $150,000 or less for when small purchase procedures may be used. This informal process allows for methods other than the formal bid process. The informal process is divided between two methods based on thresholds: micro-purchases, typically for those purchases $10,000 or under, and small purchase procedures for those purchases above the micro-purchase threshold but below the simplified acquisition threshold. Micro-purchases may be awarded without soliciting competitive price rate quotations. If small purchase procedures are used, then price or rate quotations must be obtained from an adequate number of qualified sources. One vendor was identified that fell within the small purchase threshold. Purchases from the vendor totaled $38,225. As such, price or rate quotations from an adequate number of qualified sources should have been obtained. However, the Town did not obtain price or rate quotations for the purchases, nor was full and open competition provided for the vendor. Additionally, there was no documentation available to support the rationale to limit competition. Suspension and Debarment Prior to entering into subawards and covered transactions with the COVID-19 - Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF) award funds, recipients are required to verify that such contractors and subrecipients are not suspended, debarred, or otherwise excluded. "Covered transactions" include, but are not limited to, contracts for goods and services awarded under a nonprocurement transaction (i.e., grant agreement) that are expected to equal or exceed $25,000. The verification is to be done by checking the Excluded Parties List System (EPLS), collecting a certification from that person, or adding a clause or condition to the covered transaction with that person. The Town did not have policies or procedures in place for verifying that an entity with which it planned to enter into a covered transaction was not suspended, debarred, or otherwise excluded. Two of the three vendors selected for testing, with covered transactions, were not verified to ensure that the vendor was not suspended, debarred, or otherwise excluded. Criteria 2 CFR 200.303 states in part: "The non-Federal entity must: (a) Establish and maintain effective internal control over the Federal award that provides reasonable assurance that the non-Federal entity is managing the Federal award in compliance with Federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the Federal award. These internal controls should be in compliance with guidance in 'Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government' issued by the Comptroller General of the United States or the 'Internal Control Integrated Framework', issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO). . . ." INDIANA STATE BOARD OF ACCOUNTS 20 TOWN OF RIDGEVILLE SCHEDULE OF FINDINGS AND QUESTIONED COSTS (Continued) 2 CFR 200.320 states in part: "The non-Federal entity must have and use documented procurement procedures, consistent with the standards of this section and §§ 200.317, 200.318, and 200.319 for any of the following methods of procurement used for the acquisition of property or services required under a Federal award or sub-award. (a) Informal procurement methods. When the value of the procurement for property or services under a Federal award does not exceed the simplified acquisition threshold (SAT), as defined in § 200.1, or a lower threshold established by a non-Federal entity, formal procurement methods are not required. The non-Federal entity may use informal procurement methods to expedite the completion of its transactions and minimize the associated administrative burden and cost. The informal methods used for procurement of property or services at or below the SAT include: . . . (2) Small purchases — (i) Small purchase procedures. The acquisition of property or services, the aggregate dollar amount of which is higher than the micro-purchase threshold but does not exceed the simplified acquisition threshold. If small purchase procedures are used, price or rate quotations must be obtained from an adequate number of qualified sources as determined appropriate by the non-Federal entity. . . ." 31 CFR 19.300 states: "When you enter into a covered transaction with another person at the next lower tier, you must verify that the person with whom you do business is not excluded or disqualified. You do this by: (a) Checking the EPLS; or (b) Collecting a certification from that person if allowed by this rule; or (c) Adding a clause or condition to the covered transaction with that person." Cause The Town did not have policies or procedures in place to document the process performed to ensure each vendor related to the SLFRF program was not suspended or debarred from participation in federal awards. The Town was not aware of the requirements for specific federal procurement policies or the need to verify covered transactions for suspension and debarment. Effect Without the proper implementation of an effectively designed system of internal controls and procedures, the Town could not ensure the vendors paid with federal funds were eligible to participate in federal programs. Any program funds the Town used to pay vendors that have been suspended or debarred would be unallowable and the funding agency could potentially recover the funds. Questioned Costs No questioned costs noted. INDIANA STATE BOARD OF ACCOUNTS 21 TOWN OF RIDGEVILLE SCHEDULE OF FINDINGS AND QUESTIONED COSTS (Continued) Recommendation We recommended the Town implement procurement policies to ensure compliance with state and federal laws and regulations for procuring goods and services paid with federal funds. We also recommended that management of the Town adopt internal controls to ensure that all contractors that are expected to be paid $25,000 or more, all or in part with federal funds, are not suspended or debarred from participating in federal programs before entering into covered transactions. Views of Responsible Officials For the views of responsible officials, refer to the Corrective Action Plan that is part of this report.
FINDING 2024-005 Subject: COVID-19 - Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds - Suspension and Debarment Federal Agency: Department of the Treasury Federal Program: COVID-19 - Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds Assistance Listings Number: 21.027 Federal Award Number and Year (or Other Identifying Number): FY 2024 Compliance Requirement: Procurement and Suspension and Debarment Audit Findings: Material Weakness, Modified Opinion Condition and Context As part of sound management of the federal award, the Town was responsible for implementing a system of internal controls that would ensure compliance with the applicable requirements. The Town had not properly designed or implemented such a system, which would include appropriate segregation of duties, that would likely be effective in preventing, or detecting and correcting, noncompliance. Suspension and Debarment Prior to entering into subawards and covered transactions with the COVID-19 - Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF) award funds, recipients are required to verify that such contractors and subrecipients are not suspended, debarred, or otherwise excluded. "Covered transactions" include, but are not limited to, contracts for goods and services awarded under a nonprocurement transaction (i.e., grant agreement) that are expected to equal or exceed $25,000. The verification is to be done by checking the Excluded Parties List System (EPLS), collecting a certification from that person, or adding a clause or condition to the covered transaction with that person. The Town did not have policies or procedures in place for verifying that an entity with which it planned to enter into a covered transaction was not suspended, debarred, or otherwise excluded. One of the three vendors selected for testing, with covered transactions, were not verified to ensure that the vendor was not suspended, debarred, or otherwise excluded. INDIANA STATE BOARD OF ACCOUNTS 22 TOWN OF RIDGEVILLE SCHEDULE OF FINDINGS AND QUESTIONED COSTS (Continued) Criteria 2 CFR 200.303 states in part: "The non-Federal entity must: (a) Establish and maintain effective internal control over the Federal award that provides reasonable assurance that the non-Federal entity is managing the Federal award in compliance with Federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the Federal award. These internal controls should be in compliance with guidance in 'Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government' issued by the Comptroller General of the United States or the 'Internal Control Integrated Framework', issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO). . . ." 31 CFR 19.300 states: "When you enter into a covered transaction with another person at the next lower tier, you must verify that the person with whom you do business is not excluded or disqualified. You do this by: (a) Checking the EPLS; or (b) Collecting a certification from that person if allowed by this rule; or (c) Adding a clause or condition to the covered transaction with that person." Cause The Town did not have policies or procedures in place to document the process performed to ensure each vendor related to the SLFRF program was not suspended or debarred from participation in federal awards. The Town was not aware of the requirements for the need to verify covered transactions for suspension and debarment. Effect Without the proper implementation of an effectively designed system of internal controls and procedures, the Town could not ensure the vendors paid with federal funds were eligible to participate in federal programs. Any program funds the Town used to pay vendors that have been suspended or debarred would be unallowable and the funding agency could potentially recover the funds. Questioned Costs No questioned costs noted. Recommendation We recommended that management of the Town adopt internal controls to ensure that all contractors that are expected to be paid $25,000 or more, all or in part with federal funds, are not suspended or debarred from participating in federal programs before entering into covered transactions. Views of Responsible Officials For the views of responsible officials, refer to the Corrective Action Plan that is part of this report.