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Finding 391019 (2023-001)
Significant Deficiency 2023
Newport County Community Mental Health Center, Inc.
RI
Subrecipient Monitoring Reporting
Health Resources and Services Administration Newport County Community Mental Health Center, Inc. respectfully submits the following corrective action plan for the year ended June 30, 2023. ____________________________________________________________________________ CohnReznick LLP 350 Granite Stre...
Health Resources and Services Administration Newport County Community Mental Health Center, Inc. respectfully submits the following corrective action plan for the year ended June 30, 2023. ____________________________________________________________________________ CohnReznick LLP 350 Granite Street, Suite 1200 Braintree, MA 02184 Audit Period: June 30, 2023 The finding from the June 30, 2023 schedule of findings and questioned costs is discussed below. FINDINGS - Federal Award Program Audit Name of Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Federal Program Name and Assistance Listing Number: Block Grants for Community Mental Health Services under ALN 93.958 Federal Award Identification Number and Year: H79SM085689, 2021-2023 Finding 2023-001 – Reporting Significant Deficiency We recommend that the Center strengthen their system of internal controls to ensure that all reporting is consistent with requirements and instructions as provided by regulatory agencies. Action Taken Management agrees with the audit finding and will strengthen internal controls and accountability to correct the deficiency. In addition, Management will submit to the Federal funding Accountability and Transparency system the required reporting from fiscal years 2020 through 2023. If the Health Resources and Services Administration has questions regarding this plan, please call Dayna Gladstein, Chief Executive Officer at 401-846-1213.
View Audit 301623
Finding 391017 (2023-031)
Significant Deficiency 2023
State of Louisiana
LA
Subrecipient Monitoring Reporting Matching / Level of Effort / Earmarking
Dear Mr. Waguespack: The Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GOHSEP) hereby provides this response to the fiscal year 2023 single audit finding. As requested in your January 25, 2024 correspondence, please see the details of our response below: • This response is pro...
Dear Mr. Waguespack: The Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GOHSEP) hereby provides this response to the fiscal year 2023 single audit finding. As requested in your January 25, 2024 correspondence, please see the details of our response below: • This response is provided for the revised finding, “Noncompliance with Reporting Requirements for the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (FFATA).” • GOHSEP concurs with the individual finding and recommendation: • While all FY23 FMA obligation entries were made into FSRS, GOHSEP concedes that the FSRS entries were not made in accordance with the portion of 2 CFR Part 170, Appendix A(I)(a) which requires the entries to be made by the end of the month following the month in which the obligation was made. • As discussed with LLA staff, GOHSEP encountered issues with staff having limited access to all necessary grants in FSRS. • Also as previously discussed, GOHSEP Hazard Mitigation Assistance (HMA) is currently unable to use the FFATA reporting feature in GOHSEP Grants (system of record) to import the data into FSRS. • GOHSEP concurs with LLA’s recommendation that GOHSEP should strengthen internal controls to ensure that appropriate personnel have the necessary access to FSRS and are timely entering the required award information for FFATA reporting in accordance with federal requirements. • Corrective Action Plan: o Persons responsible for corrective action: • Sandra D. Gaspard (Assistant Director, HMA) • Jeffrey Giering (Executive Officer, HMA) o Corrective Action Planned: • Identify additional HM staff that will be responsible for accurate and timely FSRS entry and reporting (prime contact plus support staff) • Access to Grants/Subgrants in FSRS: GOHSEP will work with FEMA and other Federal contacts as required to ensure all assigned staff have the proper access and permissions to edit all HMA grants/subgrants as necessary. • GOHSEP HMA will continue working with GOHSEP IT and with the GOHSEP Grants vendor to ensure that the FFATA reporting function in the system becomes functional and continues working correctly. This will enable HMA staff to more accurately and efficiently enter the required obligation information into FSRS, versus a manual process. o Anticipated Completion Date: • We estimate that the appropriate staff will have proper access to the FSRS within 30-90 days, depending on timeline of federal permissions approval. Data entry in the system will proceed via a manual process and will be monitored for timely entry, as per 2 CFR Part 170, Appendix A (I)(a). • Due to the need for technical assistance and potentially for funding for a system enhancement on the GOHSEP Grants portion, we estimate this will be complete in 90-180 days. We appreciate your assistance with this matter. If you need additional information, please contact Sandra D. Gaspard, Assistant Director, HMA at 985-969-0410 or via email at Sandra.Dugas@la.gov.
View Audit 301612
Finding 391016 (2023-030)
Significant Deficiency 2023
State of Louisiana
LA
Allowable Costs / Cost Principles § 200.430
Dear Mr. Waguespack: The Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) has received the finding titled “Weakness in Controls over Payroll.” The finding noted DCFS employees and supervisors did not timely certify and approve time and attendance records and supervisors did not approve or reject ...
Dear Mr. Waguespack: The Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) has received the finding titled “Weakness in Controls over Payroll.” The finding noted DCFS employees and supervisors did not timely certify and approve time and attendance records and supervisors did not approve or reject leave requests before the end of the applicable pay period. Although DCFS has procedures in place for both the employee and appointing authority or designee to approve, reject, and certify payroll and attendance records by utilizing the electronic time sheets in the Cross-Application Time Sheets (CATS) system, we concur with the finding that some were not completed timely. DCFS continuously strives to improve processes and controls and has taken corrective action. As part of our continuous improvement plan, we provided time administrators with instructions and reminders on how to review the eCertification Report (ZP241) in LaGov HCM each pay period to identify time statements that have not been certified and approved and to provide appropriate follow up with staff. DCFS Human Resources will continue to send periodic notices to all DCFS employees regarding the eCertification process including a reminder of the importance of all employees being vigilant and compliant in completing the process to ensure time reporting is accurate and complete. The contact person for Payroll is Marion Creft-Jackson, Human Resources Supervisor, and she can be reached at (225) 342-3146 or Marion.Creft-Jackson.DCFS@la.gov.
View Audit 301612
Finding 391001 (2023-023)
Significant Deficiency 2023
State of Louisiana
LA
Questioned Costs Subrecipient Monitoring
Dear Mr. Waguespack, The Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) acknowledges receipt of correspondence from the Louisiana Legislative Auditor dated January 25, 2024, regarding a reportable audit finding related to controls over waiver and support coordination service providers at the LDH. The LDH app...
Dear Mr. Waguespack, The Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) acknowledges receipt of correspondence from the Louisiana Legislative Auditor dated January 25, 2024, regarding a reportable audit finding related to controls over waiver and support coordination service providers at the LDH. The LDH appreciates the opportunity to provide this response to your office's findings. Finding: Inadequate Controls over Waiver and Support Coordination Service Providers Recommendation: LDH should ensure all departmental policies for waiver and support coordination services are enforced, including documentation to support claims and evidence that deviations from the approved POC meet the needs of the recipient. LDH should consider additional provider training regarding documentation requirements. LDH Response: LDH partially concurs with the finding and recommendation. LDH does not concur with the determination of inadequate controls over waiver and support coordination providers. LLA asserts inadequate documentation prohibits substantiating if deviations where person-centered and/or billed services were performed. A combination of factors and not documentation alone must be considered when determining whether billed services we performed or the services delivered are person¬-centered. A prioritization on documentation as assurance of services provided seem to disregard more effective, nationally recognized, and mandated assurance measures such as electronic visit verification (EVV), prior authorization, and post authorization. Assurance measures like those listed above gear more towards validating whether services were provided than documentation alone. For example, documentation such as progress notes is not intended to verify if a service was provided but summarize the beneficiary's day-to-day activities and demonstrates progress toward achieving his/her personal outcomes as identified in the approved plan of care (POC). Corrective Action Plan: LDH does concur with LLA's recommendation regarding policy enforcement measures and additional provider training. Given the high turnover due to the national direct support worker and support coordinator workforce crisis, as well as the end of COVID-19 public health emergency, we agree with the need for robust training and additional oversight/policy enforcement. Therefore, LDH will develop action steps to address the need for additional provider training and action steps to provide additional oversight policy enforcement. The anticipated completion date of all corrective action is March 30, 2024. You may contact Bernard Brown, Deputy Assistant Secretary, by telephone at 225-342- 8807 or by e-mail at bernard.brown@la.gov with any questions about this matter.
View Audit 301612 Questioned Costs: $1
Finding 390998 (2023-020)
Significant Deficiency 2023
State of Louisiana
LA
Questioned Costs Special Tests & Provisions Equipment & Real Property Management
Dear Mr. Waguespack: The Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) acknowledges receipt of correspondence from the Louisiana Legislative Auditor (LLA) dated January 17, 2024 regarding a reportable audit finding related to Inadequate Controls Over and Noncompliance with National Correct Coding Initiative...
Dear Mr. Waguespack: The Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) acknowledges receipt of correspondence from the Louisiana Legislative Auditor (LLA) dated January 17, 2024 regarding a reportable audit finding related to Inadequate Controls Over and Noncompliance with National Correct Coding Initiative Requirements. LDH appreciates the opportunity to provide this response to your office's findings. Finding: Inadequate Controls Over and Noncompliance with National Correct Coding Initiative Requirements Recommendation: LDH management should ensure all required NCCI edits are properly applied to FFS claims. LDH Response: LDH partially concurs with LLA's finding that it did not timely apply NCCI PTP edits for DME and OPH FFS claims for State Fiscal Year 2023. At the time of claim submissions (between July 1, 2022, through March 31, 2023) the current editing product ClaimsXten was not live and LDH utilized the previous editing system ClaimCheck, which was limited by system constraints. Due to this, NCCI edits for outpatient hospital (OPH) and durable medical equipment (DME) were not applied to claims until the implementation of ClaimsXten on March 31, 2023. On June 23, 2023, LDH ensured that the identified claims were recycled prior to the end of SFY '23 as a means of ensuring all required edits were appropriately applied to claims for the fiscal year. Upon completion of the recycle, LDH found that its vendor did not appropriately recoup payments that were associated with the identified claims. The recoupment of these claims took place in December 2023. Corrective Actions: LDH implemented the following steps for corrective action, which are summarized below: 1. Implemented ClaimsXten on March 31, 2023. ClaimsXten houses all of the Medicaid NCCI methodologies and removed previously experienced system constraints that were found within ClaimCheck allowing for full compliance. 2. LDH conducted a retroactive review of all FFS DME and OPH claims submitted from July 1, 2022, through March 31, 2023, in the new editing system. This review occurred on June 23, 2023 and allowed the application of all NCCI editing methodologies including durable medical equipment (DME) and outpatient hospital (OPH) Medically Unlikely Edits (MUE) to all Louisiana Medicaid Fee- for- Service (FFS) claims as applicable. 3. LDH ensured the recoupment of payments were made for claims submitted that should have denied between July 1, 2022, through March 31, 2023. The recoupment of these payments took place on December 28, 2023, making LDH fully compliant for SFY '23. 4. LDH will monitor system functionality by performing bi-weekly audits of claims with its fiscal intermediary to ensure compliance with the requirement that all NCCI edits are properly applied to FFS claims and immediately resolves issues when discovered. 5. LDH will follow its new written NCCI procedures. You may contact Kimberly Sullivan, Interim Medicaid Director at (225) 219-7810 or via e-mail at Kimberly.Sullivan@la.gov or Brandon Bueche, Medicaid Section Chief at (225) 384-0460 or via email at Brandon.Bueche@la.gov with any questions about this matter.
View Audit 301612 Questioned Costs: $1
Finding 390993 (2023-029)
Material Weakness 2023
State of Louisiana
LA
Special Tests & Provisions § 200.308
Dear Mr. Waguespack, LSU Health Sciences Center in Shreveport (LSUHSC-S) is in receipt of your office's FYE2023 audit report for special tests and provisions requirements. LSUHSC-S concurs with the finding regarding documentation and agrees with the recommendations set forth by your staff. Recomm...
Dear Mr. Waguespack, LSU Health Sciences Center in Shreveport (LSUHSC-S) is in receipt of your office's FYE2023 audit report for special tests and provisions requirements. LSUHSC-S concurs with the finding regarding documentation and agrees with the recommendations set forth by your staff. Recommendation: Management should monitor changes in effort for key personnel and verify that prior written approval is obtained from the federal grantor for changes that exceed the thresholds set in federal regulations. Response with Corrective Action Plan: LSUHSC-S Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) is the institution office of record that seeks written approval from the federal grantor if the level of effort is reduced by 25% or a disengagement from a project for more than three months for the PI or any senior/key personnel named in the notice of award. OSP has created a "Change in Senior/Key Personnel" Template for the Department Principal Investigators and Business Managers to complete for submission to OSP. This additional process requirement notice will be distributed through the weekly Research Matters newsletter, campus wide email, new award meetings, and research business manager meetings. The two audit exceptions identified reflected the time and effort certification form did not agree to the final effort reported to the federal grantor through the Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR) and there was no evidence of prior approval from the federal grantor for a change in key personnel. LSUHSC-S reviewed the documentation of the two audit exceptions and verified the effort reported on the RPPR for key personnel did not require written approval from the federal grantor. Name of Contact(s) Responsible for Action Plan Annella Nelson, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Research Development Valarie White, Director, Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) Marcia Scarmardo, Senior Advisor to Chancellor Jen Katzman, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Administration and Finance Anticipated Completion Date: Continuous Recommendation: Management should revise the Time & Effort Certification policy or implement alternative controls designed to ensure compliance with Special Tests & Provisions requirements. Response with Corrective Action Plan: To strengthen the internal controls for special tests and provisions requirements LSUHSC-S is updating both the time & effort certification policy and the personnel action form (PER) for funding and % of effort changes. The personnel action documentation (PERs) will include the requirement for expanded explanations for the hiring process and/or current employee updates/changes. These anticipated document revisions will assist the department principal investigators and business managers in meeting compliance requirements. Anticipated Completion Date: June 2024 Name of Contact (s) Responsible for Action Plan: Marcia Scarmardo, Senior Advisor to Chancellor Jen Katzman, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Administration and Finance Annella Nelson, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Research Development Valarie White, Director, Office of Sponsored Programs If you have questions or need additional information, please contact me at (318) 675-5230 or via email at cindy.rives@lsuhs.edu.
View Audit 301612
Finding 390977 (2023-027)
Significant Deficiency 2023
State of Louisiana
LA
Special Tests & Provisions Internal Control / Segregation of Duties
Dear Mr. Waguespack, The Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) acknowledges receipt of correspondence from the Louisiana Legislative Auditor dated January 10, 2024, regarding a reportable audit finding related to controls over and noncompliance with provider overpayments at the LDH. The LDH apprecia...
Dear Mr. Waguespack, The Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) acknowledges receipt of correspondence from the Louisiana Legislative Auditor dated January 10, 2024, regarding a reportable audit finding related to controls over and noncompliance with provider overpayments at the LDH. The LDH appreciates the opportunity to provide this response to your office's findings. Finding: Weakness in Controls over and Noncompliance with Provider Overpayments Recommendation: LDH should ensure it is able to provide supporting documentation timely for the amounts reported in the quarterly CMS reports for provider overpayments. In addition, LDH should strengthen internal controls to ensure identification for the correct date of discovery for provider overpayments and compliance with federal regulations regarding the timely return of those overpayments. LDH Response: LDH concurs with the finding and recommendation. Corrective Action Plan: We will continue to actively engage in communication with the state auditors throughout the review period to ensure we yield a clear picture and understanding of what is being evaluated and what documentation is needed to mitigate future findings. Additionally, LDH has reviewed its current practices and procedures and are making modifications to the notification documents submitted to Fiscal to ensure that the discovery date is clearly identified. The anticipated completion date of all corrective action is June 30, 2024. You may contact Helen Harris, LDH Fiscal Director, by telephone at 225-342-9568 or by e-mail at helen.harris@la.gov with any questions about this matter.
View Audit 301612
Finding 390976 (2023-026)
Material Weakness 2023
State of Louisiana
LA
Special Tests & Provisions Reporting Internal Control / Segregation of Duties
Dear Mr. Waguespack: The Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) acknowledges receipt of correspondence from the Louisiana Legislative Auditor (LLA) dated December 21, 2023, regarding a reportable audit finding related to Noncompliance with Managed Care Provider Enrollment and Screening Requirement. L...
Dear Mr. Waguespack: The Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) acknowledges receipt of correspondence from the Louisiana Legislative Auditor (LLA) dated December 21, 2023, regarding a reportable audit finding related to Noncompliance with Managed Care Provider Enrollment and Screening Requirement. LDH appreciates the opportunity to provide this response to your office's findings. Finding: Noncompliance with Managed Care Provider Enrollment and Screening Requirement Recommendation: LDH should ensure all providers are screened and enrolled as required by federal regulations. LDH Response: LDH concurs with the finding that it did not complete all five-year revalidations during State Fiscal Year (SFY) 23. Corrective Actions: LDH is in the process of amending the Gainwell Technologies contract to establish a process whereby new fee for service and Managed Care Entity (MCE) providers are identified for inclusion in the Provider Enrollment Compliance Implementation (PECI) enrollment module. The tentative completion date of enrolling the new providers is September 30, 2024, then a bi-monthly cycle will be utilized to invite incoming providers to enroll. LDH is seeking a longer-term solution that will modernize the provider management system and achieve the CMS preference of modularity. LDH continues to keep CMS informed of our progress toward achieving compliance with CMS regulations. You may contact Kimberly Sullivan, Interim Medicaid Director at (225) 219-7810 or via e-mail at Kimberly.Sullivan@la.gov or Brandon Bueche, Medicaid Section Chief at (225) 384-0460 or via email at Brandon.Bueche@la.gov with any questions about this matter.
View Audit 301612
Finding 390975 (2023-025)
Significant Deficiency 2023
State of Louisiana
LA
Questioned Costs
Dear Mr. Waguespack: The Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) acknowledges receipt of correspondence from the Louisiana Legislative Auditor (LLA) dated December 21, 2023, regarding a reportable audit finding related to Noncompliance with and Inadequate Controls over Maternity Kick Payments. LDH app...
Dear Mr. Waguespack: The Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) acknowledges receipt of correspondence from the Louisiana Legislative Auditor (LLA) dated December 21, 2023, regarding a reportable audit finding related to Noncompliance with and Inadequate Controls over Maternity Kick Payments. LDH appreciates the opportunity to provide this response to your office's findings. Finding: Noncompliance with and Inadequate Controls over Maternity Kick Payments Recommendation: LDH should strengthen existing policies and procedures to ensure the Medicaid Fiscal Intermediary is reviewing all maternity kick payments to ensure they are supported with a triggering event. When payments are identified that are no longer supported by satisfactory evidence, LDH should ensure the payments are recouped from the provider. LDH Response: LDH partially concurs with LLA's finding that it did not perform timely post-payment reviews of maternity kick payments, but disagrees on the number of unsupported kick payments. Louisiana is actively working on compliance with this requirement which is detailed in the corrective actions detailed below. Corrective Actions: LDH has restarted the kick payment review process previously established. Gainwell Technologies, the state's Fiscal Intermediary, completed a kick payment review and recovery in December 2023 and will perform quarterly kick payment reviews going forward. This quarterly review timeline has been added to Gainwell’s processing schedule to ensure that future reviews are completed timely. Marisa Naquin, Medicaid Program Manager 2, will be responsible for implementation of the corrective actions. Specific to the 110 kick payments identified in this finding as potentially unsupported, LDH's review determined that 35 of the identified 110 kick payments had a valid triggering event and should not be recovered. LDH recovered 71 Medicaid kick payments, valued at $874,096.35, and 4 CHIP kick payments, valued at $43,798.46, on the December 26, 2023 check write. You may contact Kimberly Sullivan, Interim Medicaid Director at (225) 219-7810 or via e-mail at Kimberly.Sullivan@la.gov or Marisa Naquin, Medicaid Program Manager 2 at (504) 408-1828 or via email at Marisa.Naguin@ la.gov with any questions about this matter.
View Audit 301612 Questioned Costs: $1
Finding 390974 (2023-024)
Significant Deficiency 2023
State of Louisiana
LA
Questioned Costs Eligibility Procurement, Suspension & Debarment
Dear Mr. Waguespack: The Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) acknowledges receipt of correspondence from the Louisiana Legislative Auditor (LLA) dated January 26, 2024 regarding a reportable audit finding related to inadequate internal controls over eligibility determinations. LDH appreciates the ...
Dear Mr. Waguespack: The Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) acknowledges receipt of correspondence from the Louisiana Legislative Auditor (LLA) dated January 26, 2024 regarding a reportable audit finding related to inadequate internal controls over eligibility determinations. LDH appreciates the opportunity to provide this response to your office's findings. Finding: Inadequate Internal Controls over Eligibility Determinations. Recommendation: LDH should ensure its employees follow procedure relating to eligibility determinations and redeterminations in the Medicaid and CHIP programs to ensure the case records support the eligibility decisions. LDH Response: LDH partially concurs with LLA's finding of inadequate controls over eligibility determinations. For the one noted Medicaid error of failing to discontinue coverage for a recipient who moved of out of state, LDH concurs. The LDH staff member who received the reported out of state address noted in the case record that coverage was already terminated and no further action was necessary when in fact it was not terminated at the time. For the one noted Medicaid error of not performing all required eligibility determinations before enrolling the recipient, LDH concurs. The eligibility determination system approved coverage for the recipient based on self-attestation of resources prior to checking the electronic data sources for verification. For the one noted Medicaid error of not perform all required eligibility determinations before transitioning the recipient, LDH concurs. In transitioning the recipient from a program without a resource test to one with a resource test based on a change in circumstance, LDH used existing resource information in the case record without requesting or checking for any new information. For the fourteen noted Medicaid errors of renewals not performed, LDH does not concur. When possible, LDH attempted to perform an ex parte renewal per federal guidelines. If an ex parte renewal could not be completed to extend benefits, a "standard" renewal is required which involves mailing a renewal form to the recipients to complete and return. During the public health emergency (PHE), LDH was operating under a March 25, 2020 CMS approved waiver for certain flexibilities in meeting the timeliness of Medicaid renewals. LDH used the flexibility to suspend processing of standard renewals. Audit staff were informed the noted cases would have needed a standard renewal and therefore not processed per the waiver. For the one noted CHIP error of not discontinuing coverage on a recipient that was invalidly enrolled prior to the start of the PHE, LDH does not concur. The recipient was validly enrolled. LDH staff did not timely act on a task to terminate coverage for this beneficiary prior to the beginning of the PHE in March 2020. Under the continuous eligibility provision of the FFCRA of 2020, a state could not terminate individuals from Medicaid if such individuals were enrolled in the program as of the date of the beginning of the emergency period, unless the individual voluntarily terminates eligibility or is no longer a resident of the state. No exceptions were noted for delays in taking negative action, therefore, out of an abundance of caution to not jeopardize the entirety of enhanced federal funding for keeping recipients enrolled during the PHE, LDH reinstated the coverage. For the one noted CHIP error for not discontinuing coverage on a recipient who became ineligible for a separate CHIP program, LDH concurs. The recipient was covered under the CHIP conception to birth option and coverage should have been terminated when her pregnancy terminated. She was inadvertently reinstated for coverage by the eligibility system. For the thirteen noted CHIP errors of not following policies and procedures regarding documentation of renewals, LDH does not concur. When possible, LDH attempted to perform an ex parte renewal per federal guidelines. If an ex parte renewal could not be completed to extend benefits, a "standard” renewal is required which involves mailing a renewal form to the recipients to complete and return. During the PHE, LDH was operating under a March 25, 2020 CMS approved waiver for certain flexibilities in meeting the timeliness of Medicaid renewals. LDH used the flexibility to suspend processing of standard renewals. Audit staff were informed the noted cases would have needed a standard renewal and therefore not processed per the waiver. As for the performance audit report issued in August 2023, the LDH formal response dated August 10, 2023 addressed the concerns that were noted at that time. Corrective Actions: 1. For the out of state finding in this audit and the August 2023 performance audit report, the LDH formal response dated August 10, 2023 addressed this issue. 2. LDH will make changes to the Medicaid eligibility system to ensure resources are re-verified when recipients transition from programs without a resource test to those that require a resource test. LDH has already implemented changes effective June 2023 to automate checking of electronic data sources for verification of resources as part of the recipient's annual renewal. 3. By the end of the PHE Unwind process, LDH will have completed a renewal and/or closed any separate CHIP cases that inadvertently remained open during the PHE and are no longer eligible for coverage. 4. LDH did adhere to regulations, guidance, and/or approved waivers in processing or suspending renewals and transitioning recipients to other coverage during the PHE. LDH continues to firmly believe the "case record" contemplated in CFR 435.912(f) includes all aspects of data repositories or system actions in the case, along with text fields in the case notes and the documents in the LDH document management system. In accordance with 42 CFR 433.112(b) and 45 CFR 164.312(b), LaMEDS logs system activity and enables the State to examine and document system actions. You may contact Kimberly Sullivan, Interim Medicaid Executive Director at (225) 219-7810 or via e-mail at Kimberly.Sullivan@la.gov or Rhett Decoteau, Medicaid Section Chief at (225) 342-9044 or via email at Rhett.Decoteau@la.gov with any questions about this matter.
View Audit 301612 Questioned Costs: $1
Finding 390973 (2023-022)
Significant Deficiency 2023
State of Louisiana
LA
Matching / Level of Effort / Earmarking § 200.302 § 200.328 § 200.329
Dear Mr. Waguespack, The Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) acknowledges receipt of correspondence from the Louisiana Legislative Auditor dated January 4, 2024, regarding a reportable audit finding related to controls over reporting and other Federal compliance requirements for the Medicaid and C...
Dear Mr. Waguespack, The Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) acknowledges receipt of correspondence from the Louisiana Legislative Auditor dated January 4, 2024, regarding a reportable audit finding related to controls over reporting and other Federal compliance requirements for the Medicaid and CHIP programs at the LDH. The LDH appreciates the opportunity to provide this response to your office's findings. Finding: Inadequate Controls over Reporting and Other Federal Compliance Requirements for the Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Programs Recommendation: LDH management should strengthen controls over preparation and review of the quarterly federal expenditure reports to ensure Federal expenditures are accurately reported and should ensure all quarterly checklist reviews are completed. LDH Response: LDH partially concurs with the finding and recommendation. LDH disagrees that the quarterly checklist is intended to demonstrate compliance with the federal reporting requirements. The quarterly checklist is used to document and track the receipt of source documents from other departments so the fiscal staff can develop work papers for the federal expenditure reports. The checklists do not track the accuracy of the work papers. Additionally, the quarterly reconciliations purpose is to reconcile expenditures in the state's accounting system (LaGov) to the Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program Budget and Expenditure System (MBES/CBES). During this audit period, LDH was in the process of reviewing the reconciliation procedures to transition from previous methods of reconciliation utilizing the old accounting system (ISIS) to LaGov. Although the duplication was identified through this Single State audit, LDH maintains it would have identified the duplicative entries during the annual grant award reconciliation process which would have been within the federal reporting timelines Corrective Action Plan: LDH will continue to build on the improvements already implemented to prevent Medicaid expenditure misstatements from recurring. As discussed with the Single State auditors, measures to increase operational accuracy were being worked on during the audit or are in the process of being developed. LDH management has already taken steps to implement a corrective action plan to strengthen the internal controls that will enhance the State Agency's preparation and review of the quarterly federal expenditure reports which includes a more thorough review of procedures to collect and review data from program offices and incorporate more cross training amongst the fiscal staff responsible for federal reporting. The anticipated completion date of this corrective action plan is April 30, 2024. You may contact Helen Harris, LDH Fiscal Director, by telephone at 225-342-9568 or by e-mail at helen.harris@la.gov with any questions about this matter.
View Audit 301612
Finding 390972 (2023-021)
Significant Deficiency 2023
State of Louisiana
LA
Subrecipient Monitoring
Dear Mr. Waguespack: The Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) acknowledges receipt of correspondence from the Louisiana Legislative Auditor dated December 12, 2023, regarding a reportable audit finding related to billing controls for behavioral health services. LDH appreciates the opportunity to pr...
Dear Mr. Waguespack: The Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) acknowledges receipt of correspondence from the Louisiana Legislative Auditor dated December 12, 2023, regarding a reportable audit finding related to billing controls for behavioral health services. LDH appreciates the opportunity to provide this response to your office’s findings. Finding: Inadequate Controls over Billing for Behavioral Health Services. Recommendation: LDH management should ensure that agency personnel are adequately monitoring the EQR contract and that the proper validations are being conducted to ensure encounters are coded correctly. LDH Response: LDH concurs. Corrective Action Plan: LDH will continue to refined the scope of the EQRO review and adjust as needed. Additionally, LDH will continue to monitor our EQR contract to ensure we are able to identify encounters that the MCEs paid at an inappropriate rate given the unique provider, their credentials, service location and the confirmation of the appropriate Medicaid fee schedule or alternative rates against which claims were to be processed. LDH has worked diligently to both identify instances when encounters that appear to have not been paid in accordance with the SBHS fee schedule were, in fact, paid at the appropriate rate, as well as, reduce the volume of encounters that truly are reflective of improper claims' processing. While SBHS expenditures have increased by approximately 16% since the initial FY19 finding, the number of encounters identified in the FY23 report have decreased by more than 83% over that same period. LDH is committed to this ongoing initiative, and intends to continue the supplemental EQR protocol in an effort to further reduce the inaccurate identification of improperly paid claims, as well as requiring the MCEs to ensure their claims processing systems are functioning appropriately or are updated, as indicated based upon applicable EQR findings. You may contact Karen Stubbs, OBH Assistant Secretary by telephone at (225) 342-1435 or by e-mail at karen.stubbs@la.gov with any questions concerning this matter.
View Audit 301612
State of Louisiana
LA
Questioned Costs Allowable Costs / Cost Principles Matching / Level of Effort / Earmarking
Dear Mr. Waguespack: The Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) has reviewed the finding “Control Weakness over Social Services Block Grant Activities Allowed or Unallowed”. The finding noted that as of June 30, 2023, the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) did not have a ...
Dear Mr. Waguespack: The Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) has reviewed the finding “Control Weakness over Social Services Block Grant Activities Allowed or Unallowed”. The finding noted that as of June 30, 2023, the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) did not have a formalized process in place to ensure Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) grant funds transferred to the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG) were only used for programs or services for children or their families whose income is less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level. DCFS continuously strives to improve processes and controls and concurs with the finding. In addition to developing written procedures to document the department’s process for ensuring expenditures related to TANF funds transferred to SSBG are used only for services related to children and families who meet TANF income requirements, DCFS will no longer utilize TANF transfer funds on salaries to caseworkers through its Public Assistance Cost Allocation Plan. The new procedures, which include monthly reports of TANF eligibility to support TANF transfers to SSBG, were implemented in October 2023, and system enhancements to Tracking Information Payment System (TIPS) is in progress. The expected date of completion is January 2024. The contact person for the Title IVE Foster Care program is Sharla Lewis-Thomas, Child Welfare Manager 2, and she can be reached at (318) 487-5437 or Sharla.Thomas.DCFS@LA.GOV.
View Audit 301612 Questioned Costs: $1
Finding 390951 (2023-028)
Material Weakness 2023
State of Louisiana
LA
Allowable Costs / Cost Principles § 200.430
Dear Mr. Waguespack: The Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) acknowledges receipt of correspondence from the Louisiana Legislative Auditor (LLA) dated February 7, 2024, regarding a reportable audit finding related to inadequate controls over payroll for the following programs in the Office of Publ...
Dear Mr. Waguespack: The Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) acknowledges receipt of correspondence from the Louisiana Legislative Auditor (LLA) dated February 7, 2024, regarding a reportable audit finding related to inadequate controls over payroll for the following programs in the Office of Public Health (OPH): Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) and HIV Prevention Activities (HIV). LDH appreciates the opportunity to provide this response to your office's finding. Finding: Inadequate Controls over Payroll - OPH Recommendation: OPH should ensure employees comply with existing policies and procedures, including properly certifying and approving electronic time statements. LDH Response: LDH concurs with the finding and concurs with the recommendation. Corrective Action: As part of a comprehensive agency-wide plan to address this finding, OPH is developing a corrective action plan to enact control measures and monitor the certification and approval of electronic time statements. The below corrective measures have been put in place or will be put in place to prevent future findings. OPH implemented an updated Time Entry Policy in place in April 2023. This policy includes employee, supervisor, and time administrator responsibilities regarding the certification and approval of electronic time statements. This policy will be redistributed agency wide. Each pay period, LDH Human Resources sends all LDH and OPH time administrators an email containing Time Administrator payroll timelines and reports that must be run each pay period. Included are reports indicating errors requiring corrections prior to payroll close and the eCertification Report used to identify any electronic time statements that have not been certified or approved for follow-up. Each pay period, LDH Human Resources emails the OPH Assistant Secretary reports of time statements not certified and/or approved. These reports are sent to all areas of OPH to ensure corrective measures are taken. OPH will also set earlier internal deadlines for employees and supervisors to certify and approve their timesheets. This will allow Time Administrators to run reports sooner to identify electronic time statements that have not been certified or approved and allow time for follow-up. OPH will implement a new procedure requiring Time Administrators to conduct an orientation with any new hires or transfers within the first week of hire or transfer. The Time Administrator will review the entry of time, the entry of leave requests, and the deadlines for approval and certification. You may contact Devin George, Deputy Assistant Secretary, by telephone at (225) 342-2655, or by email at devin.george@la.gov.
View Audit 301612
Finding 390946 (2023-017)
Significant Deficiency 2023
State of Louisiana
LA
Allowable Costs / Cost Principles § 200.303
Dear Mr. Waguespack: Listed below is the University's response to the finding regarding Control Weaknesses over Higher Education Emergency Relief Funds Requirements FINDING: Control Weaknesses over Higher Education Emergency Relief Funds Requirements RESPONSE: Southern University - Baton Rouge (S...
Dear Mr. Waguespack: Listed below is the University's response to the finding regarding Control Weaknesses over Higher Education Emergency Relief Funds Requirements FINDING: Control Weaknesses over Higher Education Emergency Relief Funds Requirements RESPONSE: Southern University - Baton Rouge (SUBR) concurs with the above noted finding The University does concur that during the current year errors in a formula as well as procedural errors did result in a miscalculation of loss revenue resulting in an under draw of $69,731. An updated review of the procedures will be implemented and a review of the calculations by additional staff will ensure that such errors are identified during the closing period. The University will continue to review the USDOE website and attend webinars for guidance related to HEERF reporting requirements. Management will continue to monitor the concerns noted in this finding. Desiree' Honore' Thomas, Associate Vice President and Acting Vice Chancellor of Finance, is responsible for implementing and monitoring corrective actions. The projected deadline to finalize the review of the concern brought to the University's attention with this audit finding is June 30, 2024. If you have any questions or require additional information, please contact Mrs. Desiree' Honore' Thomas at 225-771-5971.
View Audit 301612
Finding 390945 (2023-016)
Significant Deficiency 2023
State of Louisiana
LA
Questioned Costs Allowable Costs / Cost Principles
Dear Mr. Waguespack, Below is the response by Central Louisiana Technical Community College to the audit finding for fiscal year 2022-2023. Finding: Inadequate Controls Over and Noncompliance with Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund Requirements Central Louisiana Technical Community College co...
Dear Mr. Waguespack, Below is the response by Central Louisiana Technical Community College to the audit finding for fiscal year 2022-2023. Finding: Inadequate Controls Over and Noncompliance with Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund Requirements Central Louisiana Technical Community College concurs with this finding. Corrective Action Plan: Finance inadvertently included the Oakdale campus activity in its lost revenue calculation. CLTCC does not anticipate any new Higher Education Emergency Relief Funds for lost revenue. At the direction of the federal government, Amanda Cain, CLTCC Vice Chancellor of Finance and Administration, will either return the funds or apply the funds to HEERF institutional expenditures within the open award period.
View Audit 301612 Questioned Costs: $1
Finding 390944 (2023-018)
Significant Deficiency 2023
State of Louisiana
LA
Reporting
Dear Mr. Waguespack: Listed below is the University's response to the finding regarding Control Weaknesses over Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund Reporting FINDING: Control Weaknesses over Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund Reporting RESPONSE: Southern University - Baton Roug...
Dear Mr. Waguespack: Listed below is the University's response to the finding regarding Control Weaknesses over Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund Reporting FINDING: Control Weaknesses over Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund Reporting RESPONSE: Southern University - Baton Rouge (SUBR) concurs with the above noted finding Southern University at Baton Rouge (SUBR) appreciates the opportunity to respond to the finding titled, Control Weakness over Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund Reporting, resulting from the fiscal year ending June 30, 2023 financial audit. Management concurs with the finding and recommendation and agrees that the Student Aid Portion award was understated on the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) Annual Report by 1% due to a redistribution that occurred in 2022. However, the Student Portion award was distributed to students and drawn down correctly by SUBR. The United States Department of Education (USDOE) continues to allow all reporting entities to revise the HEERF Annual Reports 2020-2022 when entering the current calendar year data. SUBR will make this revision when entering the 2023 data into the HEERF Annual Reporting portal. The Annual HEERF Report for the University uses reports that are uniquely formatted to meet the specific reporting requirements relative to the US DOE HEERF I, II, and Ill reporting requirements. Throughout the three (3) year reporting period, validation measures were used as the source for each of the annual reports, and modifications will be made to ensure all generated data are maintained to support the annual reports. The campus personnel responsible for implementing and monitoring the corrective action are Ms. Desiree' Honore' Thomas, Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration and Mr. Terry Hall, Vice Chancellor for Financial Affairs. The projected deadline to finalize the revision of the HEERF Annual Report is June 30, 2024. Thank you for your team's commitment to high standards and professionalism in working with SUBR during the audit. If you have any questions or require additional information, please contact Mrs. Desiree' Honore' Thomas at 225- 771-5971.
View Audit 301612
Finding 390934 (2023-008)
Significant Deficiency 2023
State of Louisiana
LA
Subrecipient Monitoring § 200.332
Dear Mr. Waguespack. Please find below our management response to the audit finding "Noncompliance with Subrecipient Monitoring Requirements". The University concurs with the finding results that from a sample of seven subawards out of a population of 43 subawards, five (71.4%) of the subrecipient...
Dear Mr. Waguespack. Please find below our management response to the audit finding "Noncompliance with Subrecipient Monitoring Requirements". The University concurs with the finding results that from a sample of seven subawards out of a population of 43 subawards, five (71.4%) of the subrecipients evaluated, the University could not provide evidence that the financial and performance reports required by the subaward agreement were obtained and reviewed, and two (28.6%) of the subrecipients evaluated, the subaward documents did not contain the Assistance Listing (AL) number and/or the federal award date, as required by federal regulations. The Sponsored Programs Finance Administration and Compliance office (SPFAC) is committed to correcting these two deficiencies by working with our Principal Investigators to secure copies of the subaward technical and financial reports before they are incorporated into the final version of the report submitted to funder where applicable. This step will be included in the department's standard operating procedures. To prevent missing entering important award information like the AL number and or the federal award date, as required by federal regulations, SPFAC will facilitate a refresher training to its Post Award team on how to complete the sub award agreements and documentation in accordance with federal regulations. The director of SPFAC will oversee the implementation of this action plan.
View Audit 301612
Finding 390931 (2023-006)
Significant Deficiency 2023
State of Louisiana
LA
Allowable Costs / Cost Principles Reporting § 200.303 § 200.430
Dear Mr. Waguespack, Thank you for the opportunity to respond to your office's finding related to federal research and development expenses. LSU Health Sciences Center in Shreveport (LSUHSC-S) has reviewed the concerns/issues identified by your staff. LSUHSC-S concurs with the recommendation for ad...
Dear Mr. Waguespack, Thank you for the opportunity to respond to your office's finding related to federal research and development expenses. LSU Health Sciences Center in Shreveport (LSUHSC-S) has reviewed the concerns/issues identified by your staff. LSUHSC-S concurs with the recommendation for addressing the finding and provides the following response and corrective action plan. Recommendation: Management should monitor, investigate, and obtain justification from department personnel for untimely time and effort certifications, untimely adjustments, and lack of supporting documentation for adjustments to enforce established policies. Response and Corrective Action Plan: To continue to strengthen the institutional internal controls within award management, LSUHSC-S is addressing the organizational structure. LSUHSC-S historical organizational structure reflects the award management of grants administration and grants accounting functions separately. In contrast, the prevailing model at peer institutions is centralized management, aiming to enhance communication and transparency across grants administration and finance. In response, LSUHSC-S is actively taking steps to consolidate these functions under joint authority. The chancellor has approved an organizational restructuring of award management resulting in the creation of the Office for Sponsored Awards Management (SAM). This office will operate under a Director reporting jointly to the Vice Chancellor for Research and Chief Financial Officer. The institution is initiating the recruitment of a SAM Director and Associate Director of Grants and Contracts Accounting to further strengthen the research infrastructure. In addition, the following processes are under revision and /or implemented to enforce award management requirements. Time and Effort Reporting. LSUHSC-S Administrative Directive 4.4: Time and Effort Reporting and Certification will be updated to reflect the on-line process that is being developed through our Peoplesoft IT Group and with the LSUHSC- New Orleans functional users. Once operational, Office for Sponsored Awards Management (SAM) will evaluate the time and effort reporting procedures, along with associated forms used to report supporting evidence, ensuring accurate documentation and recertification of time and effort for each personnel action as reported on active grants. SAM will also monitor and maintain time and effort certifications to ensure alignment of cost transfers with award terms. Cost Transfers. Effective July 2023, LSUHSC-S implemented new policies, specifically Administrative Directive 1.1.8: Closing Out Grants and Contracts and Administrative Directive 1.1.9: Elimination of Grants and Contracts Account Overdrafts, outlining procedures to facilitate the closure of grants and contracts accounts and to eliminate overdrafts within such accounts. These directives include the establishment of a matrix detailing responsibilities and timelines for closing out grants. The policies offer procedural guidance to rectify overdrafts beyond the approved budget. A feature in PeopleSoft is activated to restrict personnel expenditures exceeding budget limits or extending beyond the performance period. Such expenditures are recorded in a suspense account, subject to review by departmental business staff for the identification of alternate funding sources. To prevent non-personnel expenditures beyond the performance period, LSUHSC-S assigns end dates to sponsored awards. Training. LSUHSC-S continues to conduct and improve training sessions and educational meetings that cover federal, state, and institutional requirements. Mandatory annual training for all employees involved or planning to engage in research includes a module on time and effort certifications and expense monitoring. In addition to the annual training, supplementary education consists of one-on-one departmental meetings held by the Office for Sponsored Programs, continuing education for department business managers and administrative staff, and specialized sessions designed for research personnel. Examples of such educational opportunities include a New Grant Award Meeting and additional training sessions publicized in the Research Matters Newsletter. Emphasis is placed on grant management organizational podcasts and classes for seasoned and new business staff, principal investigators, and institutional grant and contract support staff. Name of Contact(s) Responsible for Action Plan Marcia Scarmardo, Chief Advisor to Chancellor Jen Katzman, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Administration and Finance (with Departmental Business Managers) Bill Haacker, Assistant Director of Grants Accounting Steven McAlister, Associate Director of General Accounting Annella Nelson, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Research Development Anticipated Completion Date: Continuous If you have questions or require additional information, please contact me at (318) 675-5230 or via email at cindy.rives@lsuhs.edu.
View Audit 301612
Finding 390930 (2023-015)
Significant Deficiency 2023
State of Louisiana
LA
Special Tests & Provisions HUD Housing Programs Reporting
Dear Mr. Waguespack: The Department is in receipt of your single audit finding entitled "Untimely Submission of Summary of Samples and Test Results Form". I appreciate the opportunity to respond to the finding and also to have my response letter included as an attachment in the final report. The D...
Dear Mr. Waguespack: The Department is in receipt of your single audit finding entitled "Untimely Submission of Summary of Samples and Test Results Form". I appreciate the opportunity to respond to the finding and also to have my response letter included as an attachment in the final report. The Department concurs with the finding. While the Department has not identified any Quality Assurance issues with projects, the final documents were not submitted timely which could cause a delay in validating that the sampling and test results were completed in accordance with our requirements. Document submittal must be made by either the DOTD Project Engineers; District Lab Engineers; Construction, Engineering & Inspection (CEI) Consultants; or local entities, depending on contract. DOTD will investigate and pursue the following possible corrective actions as a plan to address the issues identified for each contract type. • The Local Public Agency (LPA) training will be developed as an online training that can be accessed remotely, in addition to the in person training currently offered. All entities and CEI Consultants will be required to provide proof of completion of this mandatory LPA training prior to CEI contract award. This will ensure all responsibilities for the contract holder are defined prior to project, including the requirement to submit all paperwork in a timely manner and potential ramifications. • DOTD will update the Louisiana Standard Specifications for Roads and Bridges book to document that the Department reserves the right to not pay for quantities installed if all required paperwork is not submitted by the contractor. • Project Engineers will be instructed to hold future payments for projects where appropriate paperwork was not received. • LPA contracts will be adjusted to include language that DOTD will be allowed to withhold retainage until all Final estimates and 2059 packages are submitted. • DOTD Construction will continue to pursue improvements to fully implement Headlight Materials and all accompanying modules to automate and oversee real time status updates of the QA/QC process. • DOTD Construction will review the Construction Contracts Administration Manual to determine appropriate internal timeline requirements for document submittals based on the legal requirements for all documents types. • All action plan items will be discussed at the District Administrator meetings and at all Shade Tree meetings with Consultants. • District Project Engineers who routinely appear on the project aging report disseminated by Construction will have performance goals and metrics added to their Performance Evaluation System (PES) and/or the soon to be rolled out SuccessFactors documentation. Mr. Michael Vosburg, Deputy Chief Engineer, will be responsible for pursuit of the Construction related initiatives above and implementation of those which are deemed feasible. Mr. M. Todd Donmyer, Assistant Secretary of Operations, will be responsible for pursuit of the Operations related initiatives above and implementation of those deemed feasible. Implementation dates will be ongoing as we review the related internal policies, processes and procedures to determine viability and will be tracked internally once established. Thank you for the opportunity to respond to this audit finding and to have this Management Response Letter included in the final audit report. Please feel free to contact me at (225) 379-1200 or Don Johnson, Undersecretary, at (225) 379-1270, should you have any questions.
View Audit 301612
Finding 390928 (2023-014)
Significant Deficiency 2023
State of Louisiana
LA
Special Tests & Provisions HUD Housing Programs Internal Control / Segregation of Duties
Dear Mr. Waguespack: The Department is in receipt of your single audit finding entitled "Inadequate Controls over and Noncompliance with Wage Rate Requirements". I appreciate the opportunity to respond to the finding and also to have my response letter included as an attachment in the final report....
Dear Mr. Waguespack: The Department is in receipt of your single audit finding entitled "Inadequate Controls over and Noncompliance with Wage Rate Requirements". I appreciate the opportunity to respond to the finding and also to have my response letter included as an attachment in the final report. The Department concurs with the finding. We plan to implement all corrective actions by April 30, 2024. Ms. Paula Roddy, Compliance Programs Director, will be responsible for ensuring implementation for all Compliance related matters. Mr. M. Todd Donmyer, Assistant Secretary of Operations, will be responsible for ensuring implementation for all Operations related matters. The following are our corrective action plans for each of the issues noted: • To address the exceptions identified with DOTD's compliance with the Copeland Act ensuring that contractor's estimates are only approved after all required payrolls for the service period are submitted, we offer the following control enhancements: o Compliance Programs will update the Labor Compliance Manual to add the Estimate Approval Process with specific instructions for the following Construction phases of a project: • Assembly Period 1st estimate • Zero Dollar estimate • Project estimate (payroll coverage needed to approve) • 30-day estimate • 30 plus day estimate • Closeout estimate o Responsible Compliance Programs employee and backup will be trained on Manual updates o Compliance Programs will discuss these requirements at any Project Engineer and District Administrator meetings section personnel attend, as well as at the annual shade tree meetings, when possible. • To address the exceptions identified with compliance with DOTD's policy for site interviews for Davis-Bacon eligible projects, we offer the following control enhancements: o The Office of Operations will develop a District by District process to schedule, coordinate, and follow-up with their respective Project Engineers to ensure site interviews are performed, signed, and scanned into the system of record. Additionally, part of this process will be to develop an internal audit process to ensure the controls implemented are working effectively. o Compliance Programs will work with the Enterprise Support Services to develop a report identifying all Davis-Bacon eligible projects. This list will be communicated on an ongoing basis to the responsible District personnel and will be used by the Labor Compliance Manager to perform spot audits for compliance. Any areas of deficiency should be addressed or exceptions documented accordingly. o Compliance Programs will discuss these requirements at any Project Engineer and District Administrator meetings section personnel attend, as well as at the annual shade tree meeting when possible. Thank you for the opportunity to respond to this audit finding and to have this Management Response Letter included in the final audit report. Please feel free to contact me at (225) 379-1200 or Don Johnson, Undersecretary, at (225) 379-1010, should you have any questions.
View Audit 301612
Finding 390923 (2023-013)
Significant Deficiency 2023
State of Louisiana
LA
Reporting Subrecipient Monitoring Matching / Level of Effort / Earmarking § 200.303
Dear Mr. Waguespack, LWC does concur with this finding that we did not have adequate controls in place to review and ensure timely submission to the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act Subaward Reporting System (FSRS) website. Corrective action: Staff responsible for entering data ...
Dear Mr. Waguespack, LWC does concur with this finding that we did not have adequate controls in place to review and ensure timely submission to the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act Subaward Reporting System (FSRS) website. Corrective action: Staff responsible for entering data into the FSRS website will do so no later than the end the month following the month the obligation was made. The responsible staff will print the FFATA report and submit to the appropriate supervisor as evidence that the data was submitted timely and a copy of said report will be maintained within the Office of Workforce Development and made available upon request. If you have any questions, please contact me at (225) 342-3474 or email at swilliams@lwc.la.gov.
View Audit 301612
Finding 390922 (2023-012)
Material Weakness 2023
State of Louisiana
LA
Subrecipient Monitoring § 200.332 § 200.521
Dear Mr. Waguespack, Please find enclosed the Louisiana Workforce Commission's response to the above-mentioned finding. On behalf of Secretary Susana Schowen, we thank your staff for their guidance and technical assistance throughout this process. If you have any questions or need additional inform...
Dear Mr. Waguespack, Please find enclosed the Louisiana Workforce Commission's response to the above-mentioned finding. On behalf of Secretary Susana Schowen, we thank your staff for their guidance and technical assistance throughout this process. If you have any questions or need additional information, please do not hesitate to give me a call at (225) 342-3474 or email at swilliams@lwc.la.gov. LWC Response: LWC concurs with this finding concluding that five close out letters were issued 111 to 183 days after monitoring report issuance and that four close out letters were not issued as of January 2024 while the monitoring reports for these reviews were issued more than 195 days prior. LWC's policy has established timelines for the monitoring process, which should be followed by all monitoring staff. As established in policy, a subrecipient has 45 days of issuance of the monitoring report to submit their corrective action plan (CAP). An extension may be granted for an additional 15 days per approval of the monitoring director. Failure to submit the CAP within the allowable timeline will result in the issuance of an initial determination letter. The subrecipient has 30 days to respond. At this point, the monitoring staff works diligently back and forth with the subrecipient in an attempt to resolve the findings. This process can be a lengthy process and may extend beyond the established timelines within the policy. Staff’s goal is to resolve each finding to re-establish compliance. However, not all efforts may resolve each finding. At the conclusion of this process and when all avenues have been exhausted, LWC makes a final determination and issues a letter. Additionally, The Louisiana Workforce Commission is currently implementing changes within the structure of the agency's executive leadership. During this transition, deficiencies and neglect of internal controls has been discovered within the Office of Workforce Development leading to non-compliance of monitoring policy and procedures. The individuals responsible for most of the neglect are no longer employed with the agency. With the onboarding of new leadership, LWC will ensure compliance with all federal and state regulations, internal controls and policies, and transparency within all levels of management. The agency will provide timely and meaningful monitoring actions and provide continuous staff training and development. LWC is currently reviewing our monitoring policy and will make updates to implement all necessary changes ensuring compliance by March 1, 2024. Staff will be re-trained on the required monitoring process and will be required to incorporate the learned information in their monitoring review process. Staff will participate in continuous trainings each quarter to identify any deficiencies in the process or in its implementation. LWC concurs with this finding concluding three Single Audit reports with findings affecting the WIOA cluster of programs, management decision letters were issued 66 to 264 days after the due date set by federal regulations. LWC staff responsible for the issuance of the management decision letters has since reviewed the policy to ensure an understanding of the submission timelines has been received and will apply this knowledge when processing the letters. For the two reports, LWC incorrectly issued management decisions letters noting no WIOA affected findings, LWC staff has performed a second review of the audit reports and management letters have been drafted and are currently under review. We expect that these management letters will be finalized and emailed to the two subrecipients within the month of February 2024, and will include follow-up requests for corrective actions on the identified findings where necessary. LWC will develop and issue a policy that requires the appointing authority to issue management decisions on Single Audit reports within six months of the acceptance of the audit report by the Federal Clearinghouse. The policy will also include second level approvals to ensure audit findings are properly identified and follow up procedures are established to ensure subrecipients take prompt and appropriate action on all audit findings. Staff will train on the proper review and submission of the single audit reports, what constitutes a finding for LWC/WIOA purposes and the work that should be completed to close out the review. A process has been implemented that requires the LWC staff responsible for the review and submission of the single audit reports to obtained an approval of all work performed prior to the issuance of the letters to the subreceipents'.
View Audit 301612
State of Louisiana
LA
Questioned Costs Eligibility Subrecipient Monitoring
Dear Mr. Waguespack: The Division of Administration, Louisiana Office of Community Development (LOCD) is submitting the following in response to the audit finding titled "Restore Louisiana Homeowner Assistance Program Awards Identified for Grant Recovery." LOCD acknowledges the LLA finding of "Res...
Dear Mr. Waguespack: The Division of Administration, Louisiana Office of Community Development (LOCD) is submitting the following in response to the audit finding titled "Restore Louisiana Homeowner Assistance Program Awards Identified for Grant Recovery." LOCD acknowledges the LLA finding of "Restore Homeowner awards identified for Grant Recovery." In response to the 2016 Floods, the LOCD created the Restore Louisiana Homeowner Assistance Program (HAP). Grant recapture procedures were established from the beginning of the program and have been implemented timely. It is impossible to administer a disaster recovery program that will not have certain files requiring grant recapture during the life of the program. The Restore Program requires a duplication of benefits check on all files prior to grant execution. For example, it is always possible an applicant may receive additional funding, e.g., insurance proceeds that are deemed duplicative by law. The Restore Program has controls in place to capture these amounts in the grants management system, subrogation agreements executed with each applicant, and recapture procedures to recover the funds. From the very beginning, the Restore Program was created to minimize the potential of applicants' ending up in recapture. As a result, the state has issued over $670 million to 17,262 homeowners of which 86, or 0.50% are in recapture. As the Restore Homeowner Program comes to a close, LOCD does not anticipate further files requiring recapture of funds. LOCD agrees with the observation of 10 files with a potential grant recapture as a necessary ongoing activity for the Program. LOCD will continue to follow the established recapture procedures for these grant awards to ensure ultimate compliance, however, this is not a corrective action, but rather the continued implementation of program protocols. The contact person responsible for these ongoing compliance activities is Ginger Moses, OCD Chief Operating Officer. The anticipated completion date for activities addressing this finding will coincide with the closing of the Restore Louisiana program. If you have questions or require additional information, please feel free to contact me.
View Audit 301612 Questioned Costs: $1
State of Louisiana
LA
Questioned Costs Eligibility Subrecipient Monitoring
Dear Mr. Waguespack : The Division of Administration, Louisiana Office of Community Development (OCD) submits the following in response to the audit finding titled "Inadequate Recovery of Small Rental Property Program Loans." The Small Rental Property Program (SRPP) has two tiers of compliance ob...
Dear Mr. Waguespack : The Division of Administration, Louisiana Office of Community Development (OCD) submits the following in response to the audit finding titled "Inadequate Recovery of Small Rental Property Program Loans." The Small Rental Property Program (SRPP) has two tiers of compliance obligations. The federal compliance requirements are for the CDBG funds issued to a borrower to meet a National Objective and be expended on an Eligible Activity. On top of the federal requirements, the State has its own program requirements. Upon the initial placement of an eligible tenant in a habitable unit at a restricted rent amount, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requirements have been satisfied. Most of the matters made the subject of your report deal with the borrower's non-compliance with the State's program rules, not the HUD requirements. OCD has allocated approximately $653 million to the SRPP program to fund approximately 4,500 applicants and we maintain an ongoing monitoring process to promote compliance and continued availability of affordable housing. Consistent with the program's mission of preserving and expanding much needed affordable housing, OCD's primary focus for the SRPP is to assist property owners in achieving and maintaining compliance, i.e., creating and continuing affordable housing opportunities, as opposed to foreclosure and/or recapture of funds, and are, therefore, not subject to recapture by HUD. In summary, as of June 30, 2023, the LLA reports that 814 applicant files have been identified as noncompliant. Of these, 166 files have been determined to be uncollectible, leaving 648 files that are actively being addressed. OCD's compliance and repayment efforts relating to the state imposed continuing requirements of the program are ongoing. The optimal outcome of these efforts is the continued availability of affordable housing through compliance. In June 2016, OCD, working with the Louisiana Housing Corporation (LHC) and HUD, identified 397 SRPP borrowers that did not meet a National Objective. Immediately thereafter, OCD's Legal Section and LHC program staff began communicating with non-compliant borrowers and evaluating proposed workouts. OCD sent default letters to and initiated recapture efforts on all borrowers. Each file is processed with a goal of either achieving compliance, securing repayment, or identifying another viable workout plan. As of June 30, 2023, of the 397 files identified, 83 borrowers have become compliant, 20 have either partially or fully repaid their loans, 18 borrowers have transferred their housing obligations to other compliant properties and 166 have been determined uncollectable for various reasons. As noted in the audit, OCD continues to seek technical assistance regarding the enforcement of mortgages through the judicial foreclosure/public auction process. In conclusion, OCD will continue the efforts to recover those loans determined to be ineligible in accordance with policies and procedures that are acceptable to HUD. Concurrently, OCD will also continue to assist rental property owners to become compliant and to resolve any program compliance issues, thus increasing available affordable rental housing and reducing or eliminating the need to recapture funds from rental property owners, where appropriate. The contact person responsible for the corrective action is Ginger Moses, OCD Chief Operating Officer. Once approved by HUD, the anticipated completion date for this corrective action plan will coincide with the closing of the SRPP program. If you have questions or require additional information, please feel free to contact me.
View Audit 301612 Questioned Costs: $1
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