Program: COVID-19 Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds Federal Financial Assistance Listing Number: 21.027 Federal Grantor: U.S. Department of Treasury Award No. and Year: 2021 Compliance Requirements: Procurement and Suspension and Debarment Type of Finding: Significant Deficiency in...
Program: COVID-19 Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds Federal Financial Assistance Listing Number: 21.027 Federal Grantor: U.S. Department of Treasury Award No. and Year: 2021 Compliance Requirements: Procurement and Suspension and Debarment Type of Finding: Significant Deficiency in Internal Control Criteria: 2 CFR section 200.303(a), Internal Controls, states that the non-Federal entity must 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. Title 2 CFR Section 200.214 of the Uniform Guidance states that the County must comply with 2 CFR part 180, which implements Executive Orders 12549 and 12689. The regulations in 2 CFR part 180 restrict awards, subawards, and contracts with certain parties that are debarred, suspended, or otherwise excluded from or ineligible for participation in Federal assistance programs or activities. The 2022 Compliance Supplement states: Non-Federal entities are prohibited from contracting with or making subawards under covered transactions to parties that are suspended or debarred. ?Covered transactions? include contracts for goods and services awarded under a non-procurement transaction (e.g., grant or cooperative agreement) that are expected to equal or exceed $25,000 or meet certain other criteria as specified in 2 CFR section 180.220. All non-procurement transactions entered into by a pass-through entity (i.e., subawards to subrecipients), irrespective of award amount, are considered covered transactions, unless they are exempt as provided in 2 CFR section 180.215. When a non-Federal entity enters into a covered transaction with an entity at a lower tier, the non-Federal entity must verify that the entity, as defined in 2 CFR section 180.995 and agency adopting regulations, is not suspended or debarred or otherwise excluded from participating in the transaction. This verification may be accomplished by (1) checking the System for Award Management (SAM) Exclusions maintained by the General Services Administration (GSA) and available at https://www.sam.gov/SAM/, (2) collecting a certification from the entity, or (3) adding a clause or condition to the covered transaction with that entity (2 CFR section 180.300). Condition: During our testing of the Orange County Public Works (OCPW) and the County Executive Office?s (CEO) provisions for procurement requirements under the COVID-19 Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds, we noted the following instances where there was no evidence that the OCPW or CEO departments verified the entity was not suspended or debarred or otherwise excluded from participating in the transaction, prior to entering the contract, in accordance with County policy ? Three (3) of three (3) contracts through the OCPW department selected for testing. ? Two (2) of six (6) contracts through the CEO department selected for testing. Cause: The OCPW and CEO departments did not follow their policy to verify the information described in the condition prior to entering the transactions. Effect: The County?s control and compliance were not consistently followed, which required verification of suspension or debarment prior to entering the contract. Questioned Costs: No questioned costs were identified as a result of our procedures. Context/Sampling: A nonstatistical sample of three (3) out of eight (8) procurement contracts were sampled from OCPW and six (6) out of fourteen (14) procurement contracts were sampled from the CEO department for the COVID-19 Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds. The condition above was identified during our testwork of the OCPW and CEO departments? internal controls over procurement and suspension and debarment. Repeat Finding from Prior Years: No. Recommendation: We recommend that the OCPW and CEO departments adhere to their procurement procedures requiring the suspension or debarment verification is performed prior to entering into a covered transaction. Management Response and Corrective Action: County Executive Office: 1. Person Responsible: Selina Chan-Wychgel, Fiscal Services Manager 2. Corrective Action Plan: The County Executive Office will adhere to the Contract Policy Manual (CPM) and internal policy and procedure of ensuring the suspension or debarment verification of a contractor is performed and documented prior to awarding a contract. The County Procurement Office will continue to provide trainings and reminders to County-wide procurement staff of this guideline to ensure compliance with Federal Award protocol. 3. Anticipated Implementation date: June 30, 2023 OC Public Works: 1. Person Responsible: Joseph Sly 2. Corrective Action Plan: On October 21, 2022, OCPW Procurement updated the Department?s policy and procedure to include an additional requirement for the submission of the Alternative Funding Procurement Acknowledgement Form when utilizing non-County funding sources. The contracts selected in this audit were awarded prior to October 21, 2022. 3. Anticipated Implementation date: October 21, 2022