Assistance listing number and program name: 17.258 WIOA Adult Program 17.259 WIOA Youth Activities 17.278 WIOA Dislocated Worker Formula Grants Agency: Department of Economic Security (DES) Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) Name of contact persons and titles: David Almaraz, DES DERS Business Admi...
Assistance listing number and program name: 17.258 WIOA Adult Program 17.259 WIOA Youth Activities 17.278 WIOA Dislocated Worker Formula Grants Agency: Department of Economic Security (DES) Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) Name of contact persons and titles: David Almaraz, DES DERS Business Administrator Stephen Sifuentes, OEO Finance Administrator Senior Anticipated completion date: See below Agency’s Response: Concur DES Anticipated completion date: December 31, 2026 The Department will address the audit recommendations by amending its ISA subaward with the Arizona Office of Economic Opportunity. The Department will also adjust its subrecipient monitoring schedule, procedures and offer training and assistance on conference-related requirements to the Arizona Office of Economic Opportunity. OEO Anticipated completion date: June 30, 2027 The Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) acknowledges the finding regarding the use of WIOA Dislocated Worker Formula Grant funds for conference meals and promotional items. To address these concerns, OEO has undertaken proactive measures to strengthen internal controls, enhance oversight, and improve compliance with federal cost principles. As such, OEO will utilize these findings to strengthen its existing system, address any identified deficiencies, and continue to enhance fiscal management. Through these corrective actions, the OEO is committed to full compliance and the effective stewardship of federal funds. 1. Ensure Summit costs charged to the WIOA federal program are appropriate, necessary, and managed to minimize charges to the federal award. The OEO acknowledges the auditors’ findings regarding the management of Summit costs charged to the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) federal program. OEO is committed to ensuring that all expenditures are appropriate, necessary, and managed with the highest level of fiscal responsibility to ensure charges are necessary and allowable to the federal award. To address this finding, OEO will collaborate closely with the Arizona Department of Economic Security (ADES) to develop and implement comprehensive formal policies and procedures governing the State Workforce Development Board and WIOA funded events including Summit expenditures. Our joint efforts will focus on implementing a documented review and approval process to ensure costs charged to the federal award are supported by documentation and evaluated in accordance with 2 CFR §§ 200.403. As part of this corrective action, the process will integrate cost-containment measures into the planning and approval of the events budget planning phase. This will include requiring staff to assess whether proposed costs are necessary, reasonable, allocable and limited to helping the workforce development system achieve the purpose of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). OEO and ADES will conduct working sessions to develop, implement, and monitor these protocols, with the goal of finalizing a standardized procedure for all WIOA-funded event expenditures. This approach ensures consistency across agencies and establishes clear oversight to prevent recurrence. 2. Develop and implement written procedures, including a standardized review process, to ensure that costs charged to the WIOA federal program are allowable prior to requesting reimbursement from DES. The OEO recognizes the importance of verifying the allowability of expenditures prior to the reimbursement phase. We concur that a standardized documented review process is necessary to maintain fiscal integrity and compliance of WIOA federal program funding and federal regulations. OEO, in partnership with the ADES, will develop and formalize written internal control procedures designed to vet all costs before they are submitted to ADES for reimbursement. The proposed standardized review process will align with existing practices for monitoring and expending federal funds as described under WIOA for the State Workforce Development Board and will include: ● Pre-submission verification: Implementation of an internal review checklist based on 2 CFR 200 Subpart E Cost Principles and applicable State policy. This will ensure that every line item is: ○ Allowable under both WIOA statutory requirements and federal cost principles. ○ Allocable to the specific federal award in proportion to the benefits received. ○ Compliant with the State of Arizona Accounting Manual ○ Documented with sufficient supporting evidence (pictures, invoices, receipts, and justifications) to withstand audit scrutiny. ● Standardized approval workflow: Establishment of a clear designated approval framework. ● Policy Integration: These procedures will be codified into an OEO Fiscal Manual, providing staff with a clear roadmap for processing WIOA-related expenditures. OEO will coordinate with ADES technical assistance teams to ensure our internal review templates align with ADES’s appropriate reimbursement systems. This collaborative design phase will ensure that once a request reaches ADES, it has already undergone a vetting process, thereby reducing errors. 3. Work with federal grantor and/or DES to resolve the $90,015 of questioned costs associated with the 2024 Summit and any subsequently held Summits. OEO will collaborate with the ADES, the primary grant recipient, to establish the most appropriate course of action for resolving any unallowable expenditures. Initially, OEO will work with ADES to precisely define the actual allowable amount based on programmatic cost allowability, which may require consultation with the original federal grantor, for final clarification on disputed cost. Subsequent steps for resolution will be guided by ADES’s direction and the requirements of the federal grantor.