Assistance listing number and program name: 21.027 COVID-19 Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds Agency: Governor’s Office of Strategic Planning and Budgeting (OSPB) Arizona Department of Housing (ADOH) Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) Arizona Office of Tourism (AOT) Industr...
Assistance listing number and program name: 21.027 COVID-19 Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds Agency: Governor’s Office of Strategic Planning and Budgeting (OSPB) Arizona Department of Housing (ADOH) Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) Arizona Office of Tourism (AOT) Industrial Commission of Arizona (ICA) Name of contact persons and titles: Ben Henderson, Director Governor’s Office of Strategic Planning & Budgeting Keon Montgomery, ADOH Assistant Deputy Director of Programs Will Palmisano, ADWR Finance and Administration Assistant Director Mary-Ellen Kane, AOT Assistant Deputy Director Sylvia Simpson, ICA Chief Financial Officer Anticipated completion date: See below Agency’s response: Concur OSPB anticipated completion date: April 2027 As indicated by the auditors, OSPB has demonstrated compliance with subrecipient monitoring requirements in FY24. The audit report limits OSBP’s inclusion in this finding to the questioned costs ($1,623,846) identified by OSPB through its subrecipient monitoring. However, the identification of questioned costs is not evidence of a deficiency in OSPB’s subrecipient monitoring; rather, the opposite, it demonstrates that OSPB has sound internal controls and an effective subrecipient monitoring system in place. Accordingly, OSPB will continue with the existing comprehensive subrecipient monitoring framework as outlined below: ● On-going Grantee Support - The Office provides a variety of subrecipient support including technical assistance, Communities of Practice(COP), and regular status check meetings. ● Training - Office staff facilitate ongoing training and provide resources and guides to improve understanding of compliance requirements and provide tools to support proper grants management. ● Financial Report-Reimbursement Requests—The Office reviews the grantee's financial reports to ensure costs align with the approved budget, program objectives, and federal cost principles. ● Performance Reports—The Office reviews the submission of programmatic reports to track progress on grant goals. ● Single Audit Reports—The Office confirms any required subrecipient Single Audits, reviews a copy of the most recent Single Audit Reporting Package (SARP), issues any necessary management decisions, and conducts follow-up monitoring of Corrective Action Plans. ● Risk Assessment (RA)—The Office conducts a Risk Assessment (RA) of grantees when applying for grants to inform the grant award decision and possible grantee oversight or restrictions. Additionally, the Office conducts an annual RA of any grantee currently awarded funding. ● Monitoring Reviews - The Office utilizes the RA results to prioritize high risk grantees to be reviewed through a desk or on-site monitoring. Medium risk grantees will receive additional support and will be referred to our Compliance and Reporting team for further review if additional concerns arise. The Office has implemented all past recommendations and OSPB is committed to continuing these ongoing efforts to actively reduce the risks of waste, fraud, and abuse of federal dollars through our subrecipient monitoring process. OSPB will continue Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds subrecipient monitoring and follow-up through the grant closeout in April 2027. ADOH anticipated completion date: March 2026 The ADOH has begun to develop and implement formal, documented subrecipient risk assessment procedures to ensure monitoring activities are aligned with assessed levels of risk. This will include establishing standardized criteria to evaluate subrecipient risk and documenting risk determinations. These enhancements are also consistent with recommendations identified in the State’s most recent Sunset Audit, and the Agency has already begun implementation of these procedures. The ADOH will update policies and procedures accordingly and provide staff training to ensure consistent application. These actions will strengthen internal controls and ensure compliance with applicable subrecipient monitoring requirements. The ADOH will implement procedures to strengthen subrecipient monitoring related to Single Audit requirements. This will include verifying submission to the Federal Audit Clearinghouse, obtaining and retaining copies of all applicable Single Audit reports, and maintaining a tracking mechanism to document receipt and review. The ADOH will also establish procedures to review audit findings and ensure appropriate follow-up, including verification of subrecipient corrective actions, and will support consistent implementation. ADWR anticipated completion date: December 31, 2026 Before approving an application from an eligible subrecipient for federal grant monies, ADWR as a passthrough entity, will conduct a risk assessment of the subrecipient as part of the initial award approval. ADWR will create a standardized checklist that will enable ADWR to make an informed decision regarding what monitoring tasks will be necessary consistent with 2 CFR 200.332. Once an eligible subrecipient applies for federal grant monies, ADWR will require the applicant subrecipient to fill out the checklist and establish a monitoring program consistent with the results. ADWR will develop staff training and a standard work to implement this program. If the award spans more than one year, the results of any applicable single audits will inform ADWR if changes to the monitoring program for a particular subrecipient are required. As part of a program standard work, ADWR will send a questionnaire to subrecipients regarding federal award expenditures and remind them of any single audit requirements as well as expected completion date of any applicable audits. Failure of any prescribed monitoring items will trigger award review and possible reclassification of risk, additional monitoring, and/or withholding of pending reimbursements until the subrecipient remedies an issue. AOT anticipated completion date: March 20, 2026 AOT has established a process to verify that subrecipients who receive a grant award greater than $750,000.00 are able to provide a current single audit. AOT will provide sub recipients additional written documentation identifying required completion dates and any additional instructions required. Processes and procedures have been developed and implemented. The program has concluded and no further action will be taken. AOT has established a process to ensure the required backup documentation provided by the subrecipient is acceptable for reimbursement. AOT will continue to communicate with OSPB on updates to policy to ensure the processes and procedures are being implemented within federal and state funding guidelines. The program has concluded and no further action will be taken. ICA anticipated completion date: December 31, 2025 The ICA concurs with the finding regarding subrecipient monitoring. The ICA’s involvement as a pass-through entity for the SLFRF program was a unique, one-time occurrence designed to facilitate the equitable distribution of funds to Arizona fire districts based on a methodology approved by the Office of Strategic Planning and Budgeting (OSPB). The ICA does not expect to serve as a pass-through entity for federal funds in the future. While the ICA implemented rigorous validation steps, including the thorough review of payroll records, receipts, and attestations prior to any reimbursement, the agency recognizes that formal risk assessments and subaward agreements were not executed at the onset of the program. The ICA became aware of these specific documentation deficiencies through the audit process after the program had already ended on December 31, 2025. The ICA will address the underlying control deficiency by updating its internal grant management procedures to ensure in the event the agency was to act as a pass-through entity again, formal risk assessments and standardized subaward agreements would be completed by the subrecipient as part of the requirements to receive federal monies. Additionally, the ICA has since obtained 100% of the required single audit reports from the applicable subrecipients and has verified that all necessary corrective actions for unrelated findings have been addressed.