Finding No. 2022-002 Significant Deficiency
Personnel Responsible
For Corrective Action: Mike Higgins, Vice President of Development, Christina Green, Vice President of Finance and Human Resources, Procurement and Compliance Officer, to be hired, Grant Manager, to be hired
Anticipated Completion Dat...
Finding No. 2022-002 Significant Deficiency
Personnel Responsible
For Corrective Action: Mike Higgins, Vice President of Development, Christina Green, Vice President of Finance and Human Resources, Procurement and Compliance Officer, to be hired, Grant Manager, to be hired
Anticipated Completion Date: Completed
Corrective Action Plan: Along with strengthening of reporting, the hiring of the dedicated Grants Coordinator position additionally improved controls related to procurement. Updated internal forms to document purchasing and classify procurement requirements were established and integrated with project management tools; new procurement templates were established; and improved repositories for cataloguing procurement materials and invoices were established. Additionally, in 2023, as noted above, BioSTL created a new position to ensure internal
programmatic and financial control for grants – initiating the hiring of a new Grants Manager role that has already been posted to our website and recruiting has begun. This role will have more dedicated time and responsibility for internal controls and be responsible for oversight and effectiveness of all internal controls – above and beyond existing and previous supervisory review from the VP, Development and SVP, Programs. In 2024, a Procurement and Compliance Officer role is being added to further ensure internal controls for all contracts are adhered to and to provide further structure around the processes. The required language provided by the EDA is included in all BioSTL contracts as specifically noted by the EDA. There is not a call out specifically to suspension and disbarment, however, the language provided by the EDA entails these aspects. Moving forward, the suspension and disbarment language will now be included specifically in all contracts and has been added into the contract template.