Findings 2022-056, 2022-057, and 2022-058 Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) Procurement Compliance The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act was signed into law on March 27, 2020 and appropriated federal funds to provide economic aid to the American people negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of the CARES Act, funds were given to the System under the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) Program. The Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2021 (CRRSAA), was signed into law on December 27, 2020, and authorized additional funding under the HEERF program (HEERF II). Finally, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP), enacted on March 11, 2021, authorized a third round of funding (HEERF III) in order for higher education institutions to serve students and ensure learning continues during the COVID-19 pandemic. The HEERF Program is one of the subprograms of the federal Education Stabilization Fund [ALN 84.425]. The HEERF program contains two portions: The Student Aid portion [ALN 84.425E] and the Institutional portion, which is made up of the following: ? HEERF Institutional Aid Portion (ALN 84.425F); ? HEERF Minority Serving Institutions (ALN 84.425L); ? HEERF Strengthening Institutions Program (ALN 84.425M); ? Institutional Resilience and Expanded Postsecondary Opportunity (ALN 84.425P); ? HEERF Supplemental Assistance to Institutions of Higher Education program (ALN 84.425S). Since April 2020, the System has been awarded a total of approximately $255.6 million in HEERF funding. From inception through June 30, 2022, the System spent a total of approximately $97.8 million for the HEERF program Student Aid portion and $113.9 million for the HEERF Institutional Portion. During Fiscal Year 2022, the System spent $71.9 million for the Student Aid portion and $45.1 million for the Institutional Portion; of this amount, $28.7 million represented the System?s procurement for goods and services. The System reports that it will spend the remaining amount of funding during Fiscal Year 2023 and beyond. Each of the System?s 13 campuses separately signed an agreement titled the ?Certification and Agreement? with the U.S. Department of Education (ED) to indicate each campus? acceptance of the HEERF funding and the applicable terms and requirements. Under the requirements, each campus is required to follow the State?s procurement policies and procedures. Federal procurement regulations also require that each campus include any clauses required by federal regulations in every HEERF-related purchase order or other contract. In addition, non-federal entities, including the System and its campuses, are prohibited from contracting with or making subawards under ?covered transactions? to parties that are suspended or debarred from doing business with the federal government. ?Covered transactions? include those procurement contracts for goods and services awarded under a grant or cooperative agreement. In order to comply with federal suspension and debarment requirements, the campuses can perform a search in the federal System of Award Management (SAM) website, which tracks the entities that the federal government has determined are ineligible to receive federal funding; collect a certification from the entity; or add a clause or condition to the contract. What was the purpose of our audit work and what work was performed? The purpose of the audit work was to determine whether the System?s campuses had effective internal controls in place over, and complied with, federal procurement and suspension and debarment requirements for the HEERF grant during Fiscal Year 2022. As part of our audit work, we reviewed the campuses? internal controls over the HEERF grant procurement requirements. In addition, we tested a sample of 60 of the campuses? HEERF-related 435 procurement transactions, totaling $18.8 million, to determine if the campuses were in compliance with federal procurement requirements, and whether the campuses? contractors were suspended, debarred, or otherwise excluded from participating in the contract by the federal government, through verification on the SAM website exclusions listing. How were the results of the audit work measured? We measured the results of our audit work against the following requirements: ? Federal regulation [2 CFR 180.220] states that a contract for goods or services is a covered transaction if awarded as a grant or payment for specified use and if the amount of the contract is expected to equal or exceed $25,000. Also, federal regulation [2 CFR 180.300] requires that when a non-federal entity enters into a covered transaction with another entity, the non-federal entity must verify that the person or entity they intend to do business with is not excluded or disqualified from receiving federal funds. This can be done by: (1) checking the SAM exclusions, (2) collecting a certification from that entity, or (3) adding a clause or condition to the covered transaction with that entity. ? Federal regulation [2 CFR 200.303] states that the System and its campuses, as recipients of federal funds, must establish and maintain effective internal control over their federal awards that provides reasonable assurance that the System?s campuses are managing the federal awards in compliance with federal statutes, regulations, and the award terms and conditions. ? Federal regulation [2 CFR 200.318] states that the System must document procurement procedures. The System and its campuses utilize Colorado Revised Statute Section 24, Government -State, Procurement Code; Articles 101- 112, as their procurement policy. Relevant sections of the policy include: o R-24-103-201-01 Purchasing Thresholds - (b) Small purchases are goods and services purchases costing less than $150,000. Goods and services between $25,000 and $150,000 may be purchased using a documented quote process, described in rule R-24-103-204-01. o R-24-103-201-01 Purchasing Thresholds - (c) Invitation for bids, described in rule R-24-103-202-01, request for proposals, described in rule R-24-103-203, and invitations to negotiate, described in rule R-24-103-208-03, may be used for goods or services estimated to exceed the small purchase threshold of $150,000. o R-24-103-205 Sole Source Procurements -Contracts may be awarded by use of a sole source procurement only if the following conditions are met: (a) A sole source procurement is justified when there is only one good or service that can reasonably meet the need and there is only one vendor who can provide the good or service. A requirement for a particular proprietary item (i.e., a brand name specification) does not justify a sole source procurement if there is more than one potential bidder or offeror for that item; (b) The procurement official or his or her designee shall make a written determination that a procurement is sole source, setting forth the reasons. In cases of reasonable doubt, competition should be solicited. Any request by a using agency that a procurement be restricted to one potential contractor shall be accompanied by an explanation as to why no other contractors will be suitable or acceptable to meet the need. What problems did the audit work identify? We identified at least one issue with 34 of the 60 transactions tested (57 percent), which resulted in a total of $3,254,216 in known federal questioned costs. In total, we identified 43 errors within the 34 transactions tested. Specifically, we identified the following: ? Community College of Aurora (CCA) and Pueblo Community College (PCC) could not provide documentation to support that suspension and debarment verification procedures were performed for nine transactions we reviewed for CCA and for 21 transactions we reviewed for PCC. We confirmed through additional audit work that none of the vendors were suspended or debarred; as a result, we determined that these errors did not result in questioned costs. ? Otero College (OC) did not complete the required Sole Source justification for four transactions. These errors resulted in $1,535,455 of questioned costs. ? PCC did not perform a request for proposals for two transactions which exceeded $150,000 and did not obtain documented quotes for seven transactions which were between $25,000 and $150,000, as required. These errors resulted in questioned costs of $1,718,761. Why did these problems occur? OC and PCC did not have adequate internal controls in place to ensure they complied with HEERF procurement requirements. In addition, CCA and PCC did not have adequate internal controls in place to ensure they complied with HEERF suspension and debarment requirements. Specifically, at OC and PCC, the secondary reviewer did not require staff follow procedures in place for procurement. At PCC the secondary reviewer also did not ensure that staff searched the federal System of Award Management to verify that entities it contracted with were not suspended, debarred, or otherwise excluded from participating in a contract for federal funds. In addition, they did not provide training over grant processes related to state procurement rules, such as training on requirements for staff to maintain appropriate supporting documentation for procurement-related verifications and procurement decisions. Further, CCA and OC experienced staff turnover in key positions, and existing employees could not locate the supporting documentation. Why do these problems matter? It is important for CCA, OC, and PCC to ensure that they obtain and maintain appropriate documentation to support procurement decisions, especially when they are the basis for determining CCA, OC, and PCC?s compliance with specific HEERF program requirements. In addition, CCA and PCC?s failure to perform procedures to ensure an entity is not suspended or debarred could result in the System paying funds to an entity that is disallowed from receiving such funds, thereby exposing the State to increased business risk and potential federal disallowances. See Schedule of Findings and Questioned Costs for chart/table Recommendation 2022-058 Pueblo Community College should strengthen their internal controls over procurement, suspension and debarment and ensure they comply with the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) requirements and State procurement policies by: A. Ensuring the secondary reviewer enforces compliance with the Colorado Community College System?s (System) procurement procedures and that staff perform procedures to verify contracted entities are not excluded or disqualified from receiving federal funds. B. Ensuring staff maintain supporting documentation for procurements and suspension and debarment checks. C. Providing training and cross-training to existing employees over procurement, suspension and debarment requirements. Response Pueblo Community College A. Agree Implementation Date: September 2022 Going forward, the Director of Purchasing will perform all Sam.Gov searches. The secondary reviews to ensure compliance for the System's procurement and suspension and debarment procedures will be conducted by the Vice President of Administration and Finance. B. Agree Implementation Date: September 2022 The corresponding documents supporting procurement transactions and suspension and debarment checks will be scanned and filed along with the Purchase order. C. Agree Implementation Date: September 2022 Training will be provided to fiscal and grant staff for identifying when suspension and debarment must be checked for vendors of federal programs, processes and websites to access, and methodology for documenting with the purchase documentation.
Findings 2022-056, 2022-057, and 2022-058 Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) Procurement Compliance The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act was signed into law on March 27, 2020 and appropriated federal funds to provide economic aid to the American people negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of the CARES Act, funds were given to the System under the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) Program. The Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2021 (CRRSAA), was signed into law on December 27, 2020, and authorized additional funding under the HEERF program (HEERF II). Finally, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP), enacted on March 11, 2021, authorized a third round of funding (HEERF III) in order for higher education institutions to serve students and ensure learning continues during the COVID-19 pandemic. The HEERF Program is one of the subprograms of the federal Education Stabilization Fund [ALN 84.425]. The HEERF program contains two portions: The Student Aid portion [ALN 84.425E] and the Institutional portion, which is made up of the following: ? HEERF Institutional Aid Portion (ALN 84.425F); ? HEERF Minority Serving Institutions (ALN 84.425L); ? HEERF Strengthening Institutions Program (ALN 84.425M); ? Institutional Resilience and Expanded Postsecondary Opportunity (ALN 84.425P); ? HEERF Supplemental Assistance to Institutions of Higher Education program (ALN 84.425S). Since April 2020, the System has been awarded a total of approximately $255.6 million in HEERF funding. From inception through June 30, 2022, the System spent a total of approximately $97.8 million for the HEERF program Student Aid portion and $113.9 million for the HEERF Institutional Portion. During Fiscal Year 2022, the System spent $71.9 million for the Student Aid portion and $45.1 million for the Institutional Portion; of this amount, $28.7 million represented the System?s procurement for goods and services. The System reports that it will spend the remaining amount of funding during Fiscal Year 2023 and beyond. Each of the System?s 13 campuses separately signed an agreement titled the ?Certification and Agreement? with the U.S. Department of Education (ED) to indicate each campus? acceptance of the HEERF funding and the applicable terms and requirements. Under the requirements, each campus is required to follow the State?s procurement policies and procedures. Federal procurement regulations also require that each campus include any clauses required by federal regulations in every HEERF-related purchase order or other contract. In addition, non-federal entities, including the System and its campuses, are prohibited from contracting with or making subawards under ?covered transactions? to parties that are suspended or debarred from doing business with the federal government. ?Covered transactions? include those procurement contracts for goods and services awarded under a grant or cooperative agreement. In order to comply with federal suspension and debarment requirements, the campuses can perform a search in the federal System of Award Management (SAM) website, which tracks the entities that the federal government has determined are ineligible to receive federal funding; collect a certification from the entity; or add a clause or condition to the contract. What was the purpose of our audit work and what work was performed? The purpose of the audit work was to determine whether the System?s campuses had effective internal controls in place over, and complied with, federal procurement and suspension and debarment requirements for the HEERF grant during Fiscal Year 2022. As part of our audit work, we reviewed the campuses? internal controls over the HEERF grant procurement requirements. In addition, we tested a sample of 60 of the campuses? HEERF-related 435 procurement transactions, totaling $18.8 million, to determine if the campuses were in compliance with federal procurement requirements, and whether the campuses? contractors were suspended, debarred, or otherwise excluded from participating in the contract by the federal government, through verification on the SAM website exclusions listing. How were the results of the audit work measured? We measured the results of our audit work against the following requirements: ? Federal regulation [2 CFR 180.220] states that a contract for goods or services is a covered transaction if awarded as a grant or payment for specified use and if the amount of the contract is expected to equal or exceed $25,000. Also, federal regulation [2 CFR 180.300] requires that when a non-federal entity enters into a covered transaction with another entity, the non-federal entity must verify that the person or entity they intend to do business with is not excluded or disqualified from receiving federal funds. This can be done by: (1) checking the SAM exclusions, (2) collecting a certification from that entity, or (3) adding a clause or condition to the covered transaction with that entity. ? Federal regulation [2 CFR 200.303] states that the System and its campuses, as recipients of federal funds, must establish and maintain effective internal control over their federal awards that provides reasonable assurance that the System?s campuses are managing the federal awards in compliance with federal statutes, regulations, and the award terms and conditions. ? Federal regulation [2 CFR 200.318] states that the System must document procurement procedures. The System and its campuses utilize Colorado Revised Statute Section 24, Government -State, Procurement Code; Articles 101- 112, as their procurement policy. Relevant sections of the policy include: o R-24-103-201-01 Purchasing Thresholds - (b) Small purchases are goods and services purchases costing less than $150,000. Goods and services between $25,000 and $150,000 may be purchased using a documented quote process, described in rule R-24-103-204-01. o R-24-103-201-01 Purchasing Thresholds - (c) Invitation for bids, described in rule R-24-103-202-01, request for proposals, described in rule R-24-103-203, and invitations to negotiate, described in rule R-24-103-208-03, may be used for goods or services estimated to exceed the small purchase threshold of $150,000. o R-24-103-205 Sole Source Procurements -Contracts may be awarded by use of a sole source procurement only if the following conditions are met: (a) A sole source procurement is justified when there is only one good or service that can reasonably meet the need and there is only one vendor who can provide the good or service. A requirement for a particular proprietary item (i.e., a brand name specification) does not justify a sole source procurement if there is more than one potential bidder or offeror for that item; (b) The procurement official or his or her designee shall make a written determination that a procurement is sole source, setting forth the reasons. In cases of reasonable doubt, competition should be solicited. Any request by a using agency that a procurement be restricted to one potential contractor shall be accompanied by an explanation as to why no other contractors will be suitable or acceptable to meet the need. What problems did the audit work identify? We identified at least one issue with 34 of the 60 transactions tested (57 percent), which resulted in a total of $3,254,216 in known federal questioned costs. In total, we identified 43 errors within the 34 transactions tested. Specifically, we identified the following: ? Community College of Aurora (CCA) and Pueblo Community College (PCC) could not provide documentation to support that suspension and debarment verification procedures were performed for nine transactions we reviewed for CCA and for 21 transactions we reviewed for PCC. We confirmed through additional audit work that none of the vendors were suspended or debarred; as a result, we determined that these errors did not result in questioned costs. ? Otero College (OC) did not complete the required Sole Source justification for four transactions. These errors resulted in $1,535,455 of questioned costs. ? PCC did not perform a request for proposals for two transactions which exceeded $150,000 and did not obtain documented quotes for seven transactions which were between $25,000 and $150,000, as required. These errors resulted in questioned costs of $1,718,761. Why did these problems occur? OC and PCC did not have adequate internal controls in place to ensure they complied with HEERF procurement requirements. In addition, CCA and PCC did not have adequate internal controls in place to ensure they complied with HEERF suspension and debarment requirements. Specifically, at OC and PCC, the secondary reviewer did not require staff follow procedures in place for procurement. At PCC the secondary reviewer also did not ensure that staff searched the federal System of Award Management to verify that entities it contracted with were not suspended, debarred, or otherwise excluded from participating in a contract for federal funds. In addition, they did not provide training over grant processes related to state procurement rules, such as training on requirements for staff to maintain appropriate supporting documentation for procurement-related verifications and procurement decisions. Further, CCA and OC experienced staff turnover in key positions, and existing employees could not locate the supporting documentation. Why do these problems matter? It is important for CCA, OC, and PCC to ensure that they obtain and maintain appropriate documentation to support procurement decisions, especially when they are the basis for determining CCA, OC, and PCC?s compliance with specific HEERF program requirements. In addition, CCA and PCC?s failure to perform procedures to ensure an entity is not suspended or debarred could result in the System paying funds to an entity that is disallowed from receiving such funds, thereby exposing the State to increased business risk and potential federal disallowances. See Schedule of Findings and Questioned Costs for chart/table Recommendation 2022-057 Otero College should strengthen their internal controls over procurement and ensure they comply with the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) requirements and State procurement policies by: A. Ensuring the secondary reviewer enforces compliance with the Colorado Community College System?s (System) procurement procedures. B. Ensuring staff maintain supporting documentation for procurements. C. Providing training and cross-training to existing employees over procurement requirements. Response Otero College A. Agree Implementation Date: August 2022 Otero College has adopted the system offices Sole Source justification form that will be posted to the State procurement site, requires supervisory approval, and has put that into place as of August 2022. B. Agree Implementation Date: August 2022 Otero College will ensure they maintain supporting documentation for procurements. C. Agree Implementation Date: August 2022 Otero College has a new procurement official that has attended various trainings regarding procurement rules.
Findings 2022-056, 2022-057, and 2022-058 Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) Procurement Compliance The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act was signed into law on March 27, 2020 and appropriated federal funds to provide economic aid to the American people negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of the CARES Act, funds were given to the System under the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) Program. The Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2021 (CRRSAA), was signed into law on December 27, 2020, and authorized additional funding under the HEERF program (HEERF II). Finally, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP), enacted on March 11, 2021, authorized a third round of funding (HEERF III) in order for higher education institutions to serve students and ensure learning continues during the COVID-19 pandemic. The HEERF Program is one of the subprograms of the federal Education Stabilization Fund [ALN 84.425]. The HEERF program contains two portions: The Student Aid portion [ALN 84.425E] and the Institutional portion, which is made up of the following: ? HEERF Institutional Aid Portion (ALN 84.425F); ? HEERF Minority Serving Institutions (ALN 84.425L); ? HEERF Strengthening Institutions Program (ALN 84.425M); ? Institutional Resilience and Expanded Postsecondary Opportunity (ALN 84.425P); ? HEERF Supplemental Assistance to Institutions of Higher Education program (ALN 84.425S). Since April 2020, the System has been awarded a total of approximately $255.6 million in HEERF funding. From inception through June 30, 2022, the System spent a total of approximately $97.8 million for the HEERF program Student Aid portion and $113.9 million for the HEERF Institutional Portion. During Fiscal Year 2022, the System spent $71.9 million for the Student Aid portion and $45.1 million for the Institutional Portion; of this amount, $28.7 million represented the System?s procurement for goods and services. The System reports that it will spend the remaining amount of funding during Fiscal Year 2023 and beyond. Each of the System?s 13 campuses separately signed an agreement titled the ?Certification and Agreement? with the U.S. Department of Education (ED) to indicate each campus? acceptance of the HEERF funding and the applicable terms and requirements. Under the requirements, each campus is required to follow the State?s procurement policies and procedures. Federal procurement regulations also require that each campus include any clauses required by federal regulations in every HEERF-related purchase order or other contract. In addition, non-federal entities, including the System and its campuses, are prohibited from contracting with or making subawards under ?covered transactions? to parties that are suspended or debarred from doing business with the federal government. ?Covered transactions? include those procurement contracts for goods and services awarded under a grant or cooperative agreement. In order to comply with federal suspension and debarment requirements, the campuses can perform a search in the federal System of Award Management (SAM) website, which tracks the entities that the federal government has determined are ineligible to receive federal funding; collect a certification from the entity; or add a clause or condition to the contract. What was the purpose of our audit work and what work was performed? The purpose of the audit work was to determine whether the System?s campuses had effective internal controls in place over, and complied with, federal procurement and suspension and debarment requirements for the HEERF grant during Fiscal Year 2022. As part of our audit work, we reviewed the campuses? internal controls over the HEERF grant procurement requirements. In addition, we tested a sample of 60 of the campuses? HEERF-related 435 procurement transactions, totaling $18.8 million, to determine if the campuses were in compliance with federal procurement requirements, and whether the campuses? contractors were suspended, debarred, or otherwise excluded from participating in the contract by the federal government, through verification on the SAM website exclusions listing. How were the results of the audit work measured? We measured the results of our audit work against the following requirements: ? Federal regulation [2 CFR 180.220] states that a contract for goods or services is a covered transaction if awarded as a grant or payment for specified use and if the amount of the contract is expected to equal or exceed $25,000. Also, federal regulation [2 CFR 180.300] requires that when a non-federal entity enters into a covered transaction with another entity, the non-federal entity must verify that the person or entity they intend to do business with is not excluded or disqualified from receiving federal funds. This can be done by: (1) checking the SAM exclusions, (2) collecting a certification from that entity, or (3) adding a clause or condition to the covered transaction with that entity. ? Federal regulation [2 CFR 200.303] states that the System and its campuses, as recipients of federal funds, must establish and maintain effective internal control over their federal awards that provides reasonable assurance that the System?s campuses are managing the federal awards in compliance with federal statutes, regulations, and the award terms and conditions. ? Federal regulation [2 CFR 200.318] states that the System must document procurement procedures. The System and its campuses utilize Colorado Revised Statute Section 24, Government -State, Procurement Code; Articles 101- 112, as their procurement policy. Relevant sections of the policy include: o R-24-103-201-01 Purchasing Thresholds - (b) Small purchases are goods and services purchases costing less than $150,000. Goods and services between $25,000 and $150,000 may be purchased using a documented quote process, described in rule R-24-103-204-01. o R-24-103-201-01 Purchasing Thresholds - (c) Invitation for bids, described in rule R-24-103-202-01, request for proposals, described in rule R-24-103-203, and invitations to negotiate, described in rule R-24-103-208-03, may be used for goods or services estimated to exceed the small purchase threshold of $150,000. o R-24-103-205 Sole Source Procurements -Contracts may be awarded by use of a sole source procurement only if the following conditions are met: (a) A sole source procurement is justified when there is only one good or service that can reasonably meet the need and there is only one vendor who can provide the good or service. A requirement for a particular proprietary item (i.e., a brand name specification) does not justify a sole source procurement if there is more than one potential bidder or offeror for that item; (b) The procurement official or his or her designee shall make a written determination that a procurement is sole source, setting forth the reasons. In cases of reasonable doubt, competition should be solicited. Any request by a using agency that a procurement be restricted to one potential contractor shall be accompanied by an explanation as to why no other contractors will be suitable or acceptable to meet the need. What problems did the audit work identify? We identified at least one issue with 34 of the 60 transactions tested (57 percent), which resulted in a total of $3,254,216 in known federal questioned costs. In total, we identified 43 errors within the 34 transactions tested. Specifically, we identified the following: ? Community College of Aurora (CCA) and Pueblo Community College (PCC) could not provide documentation to support that suspension and debarment verification procedures were performed for nine transactions we reviewed for CCA and for 21 transactions we reviewed for PCC. We confirmed through additional audit work that none of the vendors were suspended or debarred; as a result, we determined that these errors did not result in questioned costs. ? Otero College (OC) did not complete the required Sole Source justification for four transactions. These errors resulted in $1,535,455 of questioned costs. ? PCC did not perform a request for proposals for two transactions which exceeded $150,000 and did not obtain documented quotes for seven transactions which were between $25,000 and $150,000, as required. These errors resulted in questioned costs of $1,718,761. Why did these problems occur? OC and PCC did not have adequate internal controls in place to ensure they complied with HEERF procurement requirements. In addition, CCA and PCC did not have adequate internal controls in place to ensure they complied with HEERF suspension and debarment requirements. Specifically, at OC and PCC, the secondary reviewer did not require staff follow procedures in place for procurement. At PCC the secondary reviewer also did not ensure that staff searched the federal System of Award Management to verify that entities it contracted with were not suspended, debarred, or otherwise excluded from participating in a contract for federal funds. In addition, they did not provide training over grant processes related to state procurement rules, such as training on requirements for staff to maintain appropriate supporting documentation for procurement-related verifications and procurement decisions. Further, CCA and OC experienced staff turnover in key positions, and existing employees could not locate the supporting documentation. Why do these problems matter? It is important for CCA, OC, and PCC to ensure that they obtain and maintain appropriate documentation to support procurement decisions, especially when they are the basis for determining CCA, OC, and PCC?s compliance with specific HEERF program requirements. In addition, CCA and PCC?s failure to perform procedures to ensure an entity is not suspended or debarred could result in the System paying funds to an entity that is disallowed from receiving such funds, thereby exposing the State to increased business risk and potential federal disallowances. See Schedule of Findings and Questioned Costs for chart/table Recommendation 2022-056 Community College of Aurora should strengthen their internal controls over suspension and debarment and ensure they comply with the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) requirements by: A. Ensuring staff maintain supporting documentation of suspension and debarment checks. B. Providing training and cross-training to existing employees over suspension and debarment requirements. Response Community College of Aurora A. Agree Implementation Date: October 2022 Beginning in October 2022, the duty was moved from the Principal Investigator or instructional staff previously responsible for this step to the Director of Purchasing to ensure compliance for all grant transactions. B. Agree Implementation Date: October 2022 Training will be provided for identifying when suspension and debarment must be checked for vendors of federal programs, processes and websites to access, and methodology for documenting with the purchase, to fiscal and grant staff
Findings 2022-056, 2022-057, and 2022-058 Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) Procurement Compliance The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act was signed into law on March 27, 2020 and appropriated federal funds to provide economic aid to the American people negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of the CARES Act, funds were given to the System under the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) Program. The Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2021 (CRRSAA), was signed into law on December 27, 2020, and authorized additional funding under the HEERF program (HEERF II). Finally, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP), enacted on March 11, 2021, authorized a third round of funding (HEERF III) in order for higher education institutions to serve students and ensure learning continues during the COVID-19 pandemic. The HEERF Program is one of the subprograms of the federal Education Stabilization Fund [ALN 84.425]. The HEERF program contains two portions: The Student Aid portion [ALN 84.425E] and the Institutional portion, which is made up of the following: ? HEERF Institutional Aid Portion (ALN 84.425F); ? HEERF Minority Serving Institutions (ALN 84.425L); ? HEERF Strengthening Institutions Program (ALN 84.425M); ? Institutional Resilience and Expanded Postsecondary Opportunity (ALN 84.425P); ? HEERF Supplemental Assistance to Institutions of Higher Education program (ALN 84.425S). Since April 2020, the System has been awarded a total of approximately $255.6 million in HEERF funding. From inception through June 30, 2022, the System spent a total of approximately $97.8 million for the HEERF program Student Aid portion and $113.9 million for the HEERF Institutional Portion. During Fiscal Year 2022, the System spent $71.9 million for the Student Aid portion and $45.1 million for the Institutional Portion; of this amount, $28.7 million represented the System?s procurement for goods and services. The System reports that it will spend the remaining amount of funding during Fiscal Year 2023 and beyond. Each of the System?s 13 campuses separately signed an agreement titled the ?Certification and Agreement? with the U.S. Department of Education (ED) to indicate each campus? acceptance of the HEERF funding and the applicable terms and requirements. Under the requirements, each campus is required to follow the State?s procurement policies and procedures. Federal procurement regulations also require that each campus include any clauses required by federal regulations in every HEERF-related purchase order or other contract. In addition, non-federal entities, including the System and its campuses, are prohibited from contracting with or making subawards under ?covered transactions? to parties that are suspended or debarred from doing business with the federal government. ?Covered transactions? include those procurement contracts for goods and services awarded under a grant or cooperative agreement. In order to comply with federal suspension and debarment requirements, the campuses can perform a search in the federal System of Award Management (SAM) website, which tracks the entities that the federal government has determined are ineligible to receive federal funding; collect a certification from the entity; or add a clause or condition to the contract. What was the purpose of our audit work and what work was performed? The purpose of the audit work was to determine whether the System?s campuses had effective internal controls in place over, and complied with, federal procurement and suspension and debarment requirements for the HEERF grant during Fiscal Year 2022. As part of our audit work, we reviewed the campuses? internal controls over the HEERF grant procurement requirements. In addition, we tested a sample of 60 of the campuses? HEERF-related 435 procurement transactions, totaling $18.8 million, to determine if the campuses were in compliance with federal procurement requirements, and whether the campuses? contractors were suspended, debarred, or otherwise excluded from participating in the contract by the federal government, through verification on the SAM website exclusions listing. How were the results of the audit work measured? We measured the results of our audit work against the following requirements: ? Federal regulation [2 CFR 180.220] states that a contract for goods or services is a covered transaction if awarded as a grant or payment for specified use and if the amount of the contract is expected to equal or exceed $25,000. Also, federal regulation [2 CFR 180.300] requires that when a non-federal entity enters into a covered transaction with another entity, the non-federal entity must verify that the person or entity they intend to do business with is not excluded or disqualified from receiving federal funds. This can be done by: (1) checking the SAM exclusions, (2) collecting a certification from that entity, or (3) adding a clause or condition to the covered transaction with that entity. ? Federal regulation [2 CFR 200.303] states that the System and its campuses, as recipients of federal funds, must establish and maintain effective internal control over their federal awards that provides reasonable assurance that the System?s campuses are managing the federal awards in compliance with federal statutes, regulations, and the award terms and conditions. ? Federal regulation [2 CFR 200.318] states that the System must document procurement procedures. The System and its campuses utilize Colorado Revised Statute Section 24, Government -State, Procurement Code; Articles 101- 112, as their procurement policy. Relevant sections of the policy include: o R-24-103-201-01 Purchasing Thresholds - (b) Small purchases are goods and services purchases costing less than $150,000. Goods and services between $25,000 and $150,000 may be purchased using a documented quote process, described in rule R-24-103-204-01. o R-24-103-201-01 Purchasing Thresholds - (c) Invitation for bids, described in rule R-24-103-202-01, request for proposals, described in rule R-24-103-203, and invitations to negotiate, described in rule R-24-103-208-03, may be used for goods or services estimated to exceed the small purchase threshold of $150,000. o R-24-103-205 Sole Source Procurements -Contracts may be awarded by use of a sole source procurement only if the following conditions are met: (a) A sole source procurement is justified when there is only one good or service that can reasonably meet the need and there is only one vendor who can provide the good or service. A requirement for a particular proprietary item (i.e., a brand name specification) does not justify a sole source procurement if there is more than one potential bidder or offeror for that item; (b) The procurement official or his or her designee shall make a written determination that a procurement is sole source, setting forth the reasons. In cases of reasonable doubt, competition should be solicited. Any request by a using agency that a procurement be restricted to one potential contractor shall be accompanied by an explanation as to why no other contractors will be suitable or acceptable to meet the need. What problems did the audit work identify? We identified at least one issue with 34 of the 60 transactions tested (57 percent), which resulted in a total of $3,254,216 in known federal questioned costs. In total, we identified 43 errors within the 34 transactions tested. Specifically, we identified the following: ? Community College of Aurora (CCA) and Pueblo Community College (PCC) could not provide documentation to support that suspension and debarment verification procedures were performed for nine transactions we reviewed for CCA and for 21 transactions we reviewed for PCC. We confirmed through additional audit work that none of the vendors were suspended or debarred; as a result, we determined that these errors did not result in questioned costs. ? Otero College (OC) did not complete the required Sole Source justification for four transactions. These errors resulted in $1,535,455 of questioned costs. ? PCC did not perform a request for proposals for two transactions which exceeded $150,000 and did not obtain documented quotes for seven transactions which were between $25,000 and $150,000, as required. These errors resulted in questioned costs of $1,718,761. Why did these problems occur? OC and PCC did not have adequate internal controls in place to ensure they complied with HEERF procurement requirements. In addition, CCA and PCC did not have adequate internal controls in place to ensure they complied with HEERF suspension and debarment requirements. Specifically, at OC and PCC, the secondary reviewer did not require staff follow procedures in place for procurement. At PCC the secondary reviewer also did not ensure that staff searched the federal System of Award Management to verify that entities it contracted with were not suspended, debarred, or otherwise excluded from participating in a contract for federal funds. In addition, they did not provide training over grant processes related to state procurement rules, such as training on requirements for staff to maintain appropriate supporting documentation for procurement-related verifications and procurement decisions. Further, CCA and OC experienced staff turnover in key positions, and existing employees could not locate the supporting documentation. Why do these problems matter? It is important for CCA, OC, and PCC to ensure that they obtain and maintain appropriate documentation to support procurement decisions, especially when they are the basis for determining CCA, OC, and PCC?s compliance with specific HEERF program requirements. In addition, CCA and PCC?s failure to perform procedures to ensure an entity is not suspended or debarred could result in the System paying funds to an entity that is disallowed from receiving such funds, thereby exposing the State to increased business risk and potential federal disallowances. See Schedule of Findings and Questioned Costs for chart/table Recommendation 2022-058 Pueblo Community College should strengthen their internal controls over procurement, suspension and debarment and ensure they comply with the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) requirements and State procurement policies by: A. Ensuring the secondary reviewer enforces compliance with the Colorado Community College System?s (System) procurement procedures and that staff perform procedures to verify contracted entities are not excluded or disqualified from receiving federal funds. B. Ensuring staff maintain supporting documentation for procurements and suspension and debarment checks. C. Providing training and cross-training to existing employees over procurement, suspension and debarment requirements. Response Pueblo Community College A. Agree Implementation Date: September 2022 Going forward, the Director of Purchasing will perform all Sam.Gov searches. The secondary reviews to ensure compliance for the System's procurement and suspension and debarment procedures will be conducted by the Vice President of Administration and Finance. B. Agree Implementation Date: September 2022 The corresponding documents supporting procurement transactions and suspension and debarment checks will be scanned and filed along with the Purchase order. C. Agree Implementation Date: September 2022 Training will be provided to fiscal and grant staff for identifying when suspension and debarment must be checked for vendors of federal programs, processes and websites to access, and methodology for documenting with the purchase documentation.
Findings 2022-056, 2022-057, and 2022-058 Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) Procurement Compliance The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act was signed into law on March 27, 2020 and appropriated federal funds to provide economic aid to the American people negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of the CARES Act, funds were given to the System under the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) Program. The Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2021 (CRRSAA), was signed into law on December 27, 2020, and authorized additional funding under the HEERF program (HEERF II). Finally, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP), enacted on March 11, 2021, authorized a third round of funding (HEERF III) in order for higher education institutions to serve students and ensure learning continues during the COVID-19 pandemic. The HEERF Program is one of the subprograms of the federal Education Stabilization Fund [ALN 84.425]. The HEERF program contains two portions: The Student Aid portion [ALN 84.425E] and the Institutional portion, which is made up of the following: ? HEERF Institutional Aid Portion (ALN 84.425F); ? HEERF Minority Serving Institutions (ALN 84.425L); ? HEERF Strengthening Institutions Program (ALN 84.425M); ? Institutional Resilience and Expanded Postsecondary Opportunity (ALN 84.425P); ? HEERF Supplemental Assistance to Institutions of Higher Education program (ALN 84.425S). Since April 2020, the System has been awarded a total of approximately $255.6 million in HEERF funding. From inception through June 30, 2022, the System spent a total of approximately $97.8 million for the HEERF program Student Aid portion and $113.9 million for the HEERF Institutional Portion. During Fiscal Year 2022, the System spent $71.9 million for the Student Aid portion and $45.1 million for the Institutional Portion; of this amount, $28.7 million represented the System?s procurement for goods and services. The System reports that it will spend the remaining amount of funding during Fiscal Year 2023 and beyond. Each of the System?s 13 campuses separately signed an agreement titled the ?Certification and Agreement? with the U.S. Department of Education (ED) to indicate each campus? acceptance of the HEERF funding and the applicable terms and requirements. Under the requirements, each campus is required to follow the State?s procurement policies and procedures. Federal procurement regulations also require that each campus include any clauses required by federal regulations in every HEERF-related purchase order or other contract. In addition, non-federal entities, including the System and its campuses, are prohibited from contracting with or making subawards under ?covered transactions? to parties that are suspended or debarred from doing business with the federal government. ?Covered transactions? include those procurement contracts for goods and services awarded under a grant or cooperative agreement. In order to comply with federal suspension and debarment requirements, the campuses can perform a search in the federal System of Award Management (SAM) website, which tracks the entities that the federal government has determined are ineligible to receive federal funding; collect a certification from the entity; or add a clause or condition to the contract. What was the purpose of our audit work and what work was performed? The purpose of the audit work was to determine whether the System?s campuses had effective internal controls in place over, and complied with, federal procurement and suspension and debarment requirements for the HEERF grant during Fiscal Year 2022. As part of our audit work, we reviewed the campuses? internal controls over the HEERF grant procurement requirements. In addition, we tested a sample of 60 of the campuses? HEERF-related 435 procurement transactions, totaling $18.8 million, to determine if the campuses were in compliance with federal procurement requirements, and whether the campuses? contractors were suspended, debarred, or otherwise excluded from participating in the contract by the federal government, through verification on the SAM website exclusions listing. How were the results of the audit work measured? We measured the results of our audit work against the following requirements: ? Federal regulation [2 CFR 180.220] states that a contract for goods or services is a covered transaction if awarded as a grant or payment for specified use and if the amount of the contract is expected to equal or exceed $25,000. Also, federal regulation [2 CFR 180.300] requires that when a non-federal entity enters into a covered transaction with another entity, the non-federal entity must verify that the person or entity they intend to do business with is not excluded or disqualified from receiving federal funds. This can be done by: (1) checking the SAM exclusions, (2) collecting a certification from that entity, or (3) adding a clause or condition to the covered transaction with that entity. ? Federal regulation [2 CFR 200.303] states that the System and its campuses, as recipients of federal funds, must establish and maintain effective internal control over their federal awards that provides reasonable assurance that the System?s campuses are managing the federal awards in compliance with federal statutes, regulations, and the award terms and conditions. ? Federal regulation [2 CFR 200.318] states that the System must document procurement procedures. The System and its campuses utilize Colorado Revised Statute Section 24, Government -State, Procurement Code; Articles 101- 112, as their procurement policy. Relevant sections of the policy include: o R-24-103-201-01 Purchasing Thresholds - (b) Small purchases are goods and services purchases costing less than $150,000. Goods and services between $25,000 and $150,000 may be purchased using a documented quote process, described in rule R-24-103-204-01. o R-24-103-201-01 Purchasing Thresholds - (c) Invitation for bids, described in rule R-24-103-202-01, request for proposals, described in rule R-24-103-203, and invitations to negotiate, described in rule R-24-103-208-03, may be used for goods or services estimated to exceed the small purchase threshold of $150,000. o R-24-103-205 Sole Source Procurements -Contracts may be awarded by use of a sole source procurement only if the following conditions are met: (a) A sole source procurement is justified when there is only one good or service that can reasonably meet the need and there is only one vendor who can provide the good or service. A requirement for a particular proprietary item (i.e., a brand name specification) does not justify a sole source procurement if there is more than one potential bidder or offeror for that item; (b) The procurement official or his or her designee shall make a written determination that a procurement is sole source, setting forth the reasons. In cases of reasonable doubt, competition should be solicited. Any request by a using agency that a procurement be restricted to one potential contractor shall be accompanied by an explanation as to why no other contractors will be suitable or acceptable to meet the need. What problems did the audit work identify? We identified at least one issue with 34 of the 60 transactions tested (57 percent), which resulted in a total of $3,254,216 in known federal questioned costs. In total, we identified 43 errors within the 34 transactions tested. Specifically, we identified the following: ? Community College of Aurora (CCA) and Pueblo Community College (PCC) could not provide documentation to support that suspension and debarment verification procedures were performed for nine transactions we reviewed for CCA and for 21 transactions we reviewed for PCC. We confirmed through additional audit work that none of the vendors were suspended or debarred; as a result, we determined that these errors did not result in questioned costs. ? Otero College (OC) did not complete the required Sole Source justification for four transactions. These errors resulted in $1,535,455 of questioned costs. ? PCC did not perform a request for proposals for two transactions which exceeded $150,000 and did not obtain documented quotes for seven transactions which were between $25,000 and $150,000, as required. These errors resulted in questioned costs of $1,718,761. Why did these problems occur? OC and PCC did not have adequate internal controls in place to ensure they complied with HEERF procurement requirements. In addition, CCA and PCC did not have adequate internal controls in place to ensure they complied with HEERF suspension and debarment requirements. Specifically, at OC and PCC, the secondary reviewer did not require staff follow procedures in place for procurement. At PCC the secondary reviewer also did not ensure that staff searched the federal System of Award Management to verify that entities it contracted with were not suspended, debarred, or otherwise excluded from participating in a contract for federal funds. In addition, they did not provide training over grant processes related to state procurement rules, such as training on requirements for staff to maintain appropriate supporting documentation for procurement-related verifications and procurement decisions. Further, CCA and OC experienced staff turnover in key positions, and existing employees could not locate the supporting documentation. Why do these problems matter? It is important for CCA, OC, and PCC to ensure that they obtain and maintain appropriate documentation to support procurement decisions, especially when they are the basis for determining CCA, OC, and PCC?s compliance with specific HEERF program requirements. In addition, CCA and PCC?s failure to perform procedures to ensure an entity is not suspended or debarred could result in the System paying funds to an entity that is disallowed from receiving such funds, thereby exposing the State to increased business risk and potential federal disallowances. See Schedule of Findings and Questioned Costs for chart/table Recommendation 2022-056 Community College of Aurora should strengthen their internal controls over suspension and debarment and ensure they comply with the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) requirements by: A. Ensuring staff maintain supporting documentation of suspension and debarment checks. B. Providing training and cross-training to existing employees over suspension and debarment requirements. Response Community College of Aurora A. Agree Implementation Date: October 2022 Beginning in October 2022, the duty was moved from the Principal Investigator or instructional staff previously responsible for this step to the Director of Purchasing to ensure compliance for all grant transactions. B. Agree Implementation Date: October 2022 Training will be provided for identifying when suspension and debarment must be checked for vendors of federal programs, processes and websites to access, and methodology for documenting with the purchase, to fiscal and grant staff
Findings 2022-056, 2022-057, and 2022-058 Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) Procurement Compliance The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act was signed into law on March 27, 2020 and appropriated federal funds to provide economic aid to the American people negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of the CARES Act, funds were given to the System under the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) Program. The Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2021 (CRRSAA), was signed into law on December 27, 2020, and authorized additional funding under the HEERF program (HEERF II). Finally, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP), enacted on March 11, 2021, authorized a third round of funding (HEERF III) in order for higher education institutions to serve students and ensure learning continues during the COVID-19 pandemic. The HEERF Program is one of the subprograms of the federal Education Stabilization Fund [ALN 84.425]. The HEERF program contains two portions: The Student Aid portion [ALN 84.425E] and the Institutional portion, which is made up of the following: ? HEERF Institutional Aid Portion (ALN 84.425F); ? HEERF Minority Serving Institutions (ALN 84.425L); ? HEERF Strengthening Institutions Program (ALN 84.425M); ? Institutional Resilience and Expanded Postsecondary Opportunity (ALN 84.425P); ? HEERF Supplemental Assistance to Institutions of Higher Education program (ALN 84.425S). Since April 2020, the System has been awarded a total of approximately $255.6 million in HEERF funding. From inception through June 30, 2022, the System spent a total of approximately $97.8 million for the HEERF program Student Aid portion and $113.9 million for the HEERF Institutional Portion. During Fiscal Year 2022, the System spent $71.9 million for the Student Aid portion and $45.1 million for the Institutional Portion; of this amount, $28.7 million represented the System?s procurement for goods and services. The System reports that it will spend the remaining amount of funding during Fiscal Year 2023 and beyond. Each of the System?s 13 campuses separately signed an agreement titled the ?Certification and Agreement? with the U.S. Department of Education (ED) to indicate each campus? acceptance of the HEERF funding and the applicable terms and requirements. Under the requirements, each campus is required to follow the State?s procurement policies and procedures. Federal procurement regulations also require that each campus include any clauses required by federal regulations in every HEERF-related purchase order or other contract. In addition, non-federal entities, including the System and its campuses, are prohibited from contracting with or making subawards under ?covered transactions? to parties that are suspended or debarred from doing business with the federal government. ?Covered transactions? include those procurement contracts for goods and services awarded under a grant or cooperative agreement. In order to comply with federal suspension and debarment requirements, the campuses can perform a search in the federal System of Award Management (SAM) website, which tracks the entities that the federal government has determined are ineligible to receive federal funding; collect a certification from the entity; or add a clause or condition to the contract. What was the purpose of our audit work and what work was performed? The purpose of the audit work was to determine whether the System?s campuses had effective internal controls in place over, and complied with, federal procurement and suspension and debarment requirements for the HEERF grant during Fiscal Year 2022. As part of our audit work, we reviewed the campuses? internal controls over the HEERF grant procurement requirements. In addition, we tested a sample of 60 of the campuses? HEERF-related 435 procurement transactions, totaling $18.8 million, to determine if the campuses were in compliance with federal procurement requirements, and whether the campuses? contractors were suspended, debarred, or otherwise excluded from participating in the contract by the federal government, through verification on the SAM website exclusions listing. How were the results of the audit work measured? We measured the results of our audit work against the following requirements: ? Federal regulation [2 CFR 180.220] states that a contract for goods or services is a covered transaction if awarded as a grant or payment for specified use and if the amount of the contract is expected to equal or exceed $25,000. Also, federal regulation [2 CFR 180.300] requires that when a non-federal entity enters into a covered transaction with another entity, the non-federal entity must verify that the person or entity they intend to do business with is not excluded or disqualified from receiving federal funds. This can be done by: (1) checking the SAM exclusions, (2) collecting a certification from that entity, or (3) adding a clause or condition to the covered transaction with that entity. ? Federal regulation [2 CFR 200.303] states that the System and its campuses, as recipients of federal funds, must establish and maintain effective internal control over their federal awards that provides reasonable assurance that the System?s campuses are managing the federal awards in compliance with federal statutes, regulations, and the award terms and conditions. ? Federal regulation [2 CFR 200.318] states that the System must document procurement procedures. The System and its campuses utilize Colorado Revised Statute Section 24, Government -State, Procurement Code; Articles 101- 112, as their procurement policy. Relevant sections of the policy include: o R-24-103-201-01 Purchasing Thresholds - (b) Small purchases are goods and services purchases costing less than $150,000. Goods and services between $25,000 and $150,000 may be purchased using a documented quote process, described in rule R-24-103-204-01. o R-24-103-201-01 Purchasing Thresholds - (c) Invitation for bids, described in rule R-24-103-202-01, request for proposals, described in rule R-24-103-203, and invitations to negotiate, described in rule R-24-103-208-03, may be used for goods or services estimated to exceed the small purchase threshold of $150,000. o R-24-103-205 Sole Source Procurements -Contracts may be awarded by use of a sole source procurement only if the following conditions are met: (a) A sole source procurement is justified when there is only one good or service that can reasonably meet the need and there is only one vendor who can provide the good or service. A requirement for a particular proprietary item (i.e., a brand name specification) does not justify a sole source procurement if there is more than one potential bidder or offeror for that item; (b) The procurement official or his or her designee shall make a written determination that a procurement is sole source, setting forth the reasons. In cases of reasonable doubt, competition should be solicited. Any request by a using agency that a procurement be restricted to one potential contractor shall be accompanied by an explanation as to why no other contractors will be suitable or acceptable to meet the need. What problems did the audit work identify? We identified at least one issue with 34 of the 60 transactions tested (57 percent), which resulted in a total of $3,254,216 in known federal questioned costs. In total, we identified 43 errors within the 34 transactions tested. Specifically, we identified the following: ? Community College of Aurora (CCA) and Pueblo Community College (PCC) could not provide documentation to support that suspension and debarment verification procedures were performed for nine transactions we reviewed for CCA and for 21 transactions we reviewed for PCC. We confirmed through additional audit work that none of the vendors were suspended or debarred; as a result, we determined that these errors did not result in questioned costs. ? Otero College (OC) did not complete the required Sole Source justification for four transactions. These errors resulted in $1,535,455 of questioned costs. ? PCC did not perform a request for proposals for two transactions which exceeded $150,000 and did not obtain documented quotes for seven transactions which were between $25,000 and $150,000, as required. These errors resulted in questioned costs of $1,718,761. Why did these problems occur? OC and PCC did not have adequate internal controls in place to ensure they complied with HEERF procurement requirements. In addition, CCA and PCC did not have adequate internal controls in place to ensure they complied with HEERF suspension and debarment requirements. Specifically, at OC and PCC, the secondary reviewer did not require staff follow procedures in place for procurement. At PCC the secondary reviewer also did not ensure that staff searched the federal System of Award Management to verify that entities it contracted with were not suspended, debarred, or otherwise excluded from participating in a contract for federal funds. In addition, they did not provide training over grant processes related to state procurement rules, such as training on requirements for staff to maintain appropriate supporting documentation for procurement-related verifications and procurement decisions. Further, CCA and OC experienced staff turnover in key positions, and existing employees could not locate the supporting documentation. Why do these problems matter? It is important for CCA, OC, and PCC to ensure that they obtain and maintain appropriate documentation to support procurement decisions, especially when they are the basis for determining CCA, OC, and PCC?s compliance with specific HEERF program requirements. In addition, CCA and PCC?s failure to perform procedures to ensure an entity is not suspended or debarred could result in the System paying funds to an entity that is disallowed from receiving such funds, thereby exposing the State to increased business risk and potential federal disallowances. See Schedule of Findings and Questioned Costs for chart/table Recommendation 2022-057 Otero College should strengthen their internal controls over procurement and ensure they comply with the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) requirements and State procurement policies by: A. Ensuring the secondary reviewer enforces compliance with the Colorado Community College System?s (System) procurement procedures. B. Ensuring staff maintain supporting documentation for procurements. C. Providing training and cross-training to existing employees over procurement requirements. Response Otero College A. Agree Implementation Date: August 2022 Otero College has adopted the system offices Sole Source justification form that will be posted to the State procurement site, requires supervisory approval, and has put that into place as of August 2022. B. Agree Implementation Date: August 2022 Otero College will ensure they maintain supporting documentation for procurements. C. Agree Implementation Date: August 2022 Otero College has a new procurement official that has attended various trainings regarding procurement rules.
Findings 2022-056, 2022-057, and 2022-058 Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) Procurement Compliance The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act was signed into law on March 27, 2020 and appropriated federal funds to provide economic aid to the American people negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of the CARES Act, funds were given to the System under the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) Program. The Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2021 (CRRSAA), was signed into law on December 27, 2020, and authorized additional funding under the HEERF program (HEERF II). Finally, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP), enacted on March 11, 2021, authorized a third round of funding (HEERF III) in order for higher education institutions to serve students and ensure learning continues during the COVID-19 pandemic. The HEERF Program is one of the subprograms of the federal Education Stabilization Fund [ALN 84.425]. The HEERF program contains two portions: The Student Aid portion [ALN 84.425E] and the Institutional portion, which is made up of the following: ? HEERF Institutional Aid Portion (ALN 84.425F); ? HEERF Minority Serving Institutions (ALN 84.425L); ? HEERF Strengthening Institutions Program (ALN 84.425M); ? Institutional Resilience and Expanded Postsecondary Opportunity (ALN 84.425P); ? HEERF Supplemental Assistance to Institutions of Higher Education program (ALN 84.425S). Since April 2020, the System has been awarded a total of approximately $255.6 million in HEERF funding. From inception through June 30, 2022, the System spent a total of approximately $97.8 million for the HEERF program Student Aid portion and $113.9 million for the HEERF Institutional Portion. During Fiscal Year 2022, the System spent $71.9 million for the Student Aid portion and $45.1 million for the Institutional Portion; of this amount, $28.7 million represented the System?s procurement for goods and services. The System reports that it will spend the remaining amount of funding during Fiscal Year 2023 and beyond. Each of the System?s 13 campuses separately signed an agreement titled the ?Certification and Agreement? with the U.S. Department of Education (ED) to indicate each campus? acceptance of the HEERF funding and the applicable terms and requirements. Under the requirements, each campus is required to follow the State?s procurement policies and procedures. Federal procurement regulations also require that each campus include any clauses required by federal regulations in every HEERF-related purchase order or other contract. In addition, non-federal entities, including the System and its campuses, are prohibited from contracting with or making subawards under ?covered transactions? to parties that are suspended or debarred from doing business with the federal government. ?Covered transactions? include those procurement contracts for goods and services awarded under a grant or cooperative agreement. In order to comply with federal suspension and debarment requirements, the campuses can perform a search in the federal System of Award Management (SAM) website, which tracks the entities that the federal government has determined are ineligible to receive federal funding; collect a certification from the entity; or add a clause or condition to the contract. What was the purpose of our audit work and what work was performed? The purpose of the audit work was to determine whether the System?s campuses had effective internal controls in place over, and complied with, federal procurement and suspension and debarment requirements for the HEERF grant during Fiscal Year 2022. As part of our audit work, we reviewed the campuses? internal controls over the HEERF grant procurement requirements. In addition, we tested a sample of 60 of the campuses? HEERF-related 435 procurement transactions, totaling $18.8 million, to determine if the campuses were in compliance with federal procurement requirements, and whether the campuses? contractors were suspended, debarred, or otherwise excluded from participating in the contract by the federal government, through verification on the SAM website exclusions listing. How were the results of the audit work measured? We measured the results of our audit work against the following requirements: ? Federal regulation [2 CFR 180.220] states that a contract for goods or services is a covered transaction if awarded as a grant or payment for specified use and if the amount of the contract is expected to equal or exceed $25,000. Also, federal regulation [2 CFR 180.300] requires that when a non-federal entity enters into a covered transaction with another entity, the non-federal entity must verify that the person or entity they intend to do business with is not excluded or disqualified from receiving federal funds. This can be done by: (1) checking the SAM exclusions, (2) collecting a certification from that entity, or (3) adding a clause or condition to the covered transaction with that entity. ? Federal regulation [2 CFR 200.303] states that the System and its campuses, as recipients of federal funds, must establish and maintain effective internal control over their federal awards that provides reasonable assurance that the System?s campuses are managing the federal awards in compliance with federal statutes, regulations, and the award terms and conditions. ? Federal regulation [2 CFR 200.318] states that the System must document procurement procedures. The System and its campuses utilize Colorado Revised Statute Section 24, Government -State, Procurement Code; Articles 101- 112, as their procurement policy. Relevant sections of the policy include: o R-24-103-201-01 Purchasing Thresholds - (b) Small purchases are goods and services purchases costing less than $150,000. Goods and services between $25,000 and $150,000 may be purchased using a documented quote process, described in rule R-24-103-204-01. o R-24-103-201-01 Purchasing Thresholds - (c) Invitation for bids, described in rule R-24-103-202-01, request for proposals, described in rule R-24-103-203, and invitations to negotiate, described in rule R-24-103-208-03, may be used for goods or services estimated to exceed the small purchase threshold of $150,000. o R-24-103-205 Sole Source Procurements -Contracts may be awarded by use of a sole source procurement only if the following conditions are met: (a) A sole source procurement is justified when there is only one good or service that can reasonably meet the need and there is only one vendor who can provide the good or service. A requirement for a particular proprietary item (i.e., a brand name specification) does not justify a sole source procurement if there is more than one potential bidder or offeror for that item; (b) The procurement official or his or her designee shall make a written determination that a procurement is sole source, setting forth the reasons. In cases of reasonable doubt, competition should be solicited. Any request by a using agency that a procurement be restricted to one potential contractor shall be accompanied by an explanation as to why no other contractors will be suitable or acceptable to meet the need. What problems did the audit work identify? We identified at least one issue with 34 of the 60 transactions tested (57 percent), which resulted in a total of $3,254,216 in known federal questioned costs. In total, we identified 43 errors within the 34 transactions tested. Specifically, we identified the following: ? Community College of Aurora (CCA) and Pueblo Community College (PCC) could not provide documentation to support that suspension and debarment verification procedures were performed for nine transactions we reviewed for CCA and for 21 transactions we reviewed for PCC. We confirmed through additional audit work that none of the vendors were suspended or debarred; as a result, we determined that these errors did not result in questioned costs. ? Otero College (OC) did not complete the required Sole Source justification for four transactions. These errors resulted in $1,535,455 of questioned costs. ? PCC did not perform a request for proposals for two transactions which exceeded $150,000 and did not obtain documented quotes for seven transactions which were between $25,000 and $150,000, as required. These errors resulted in questioned costs of $1,718,761. Why did these problems occur? OC and PCC did not have adequate internal controls in place to ensure they complied with HEERF procurement requirements. In addition, CCA and PCC did not have adequate internal controls in place to ensure they complied with HEERF suspension and debarment requirements. Specifically, at OC and PCC, the secondary reviewer did not require staff follow procedures in place for procurement. At PCC the secondary reviewer also did not ensure that staff searched the federal System of Award Management to verify that entities it contracted with were not suspended, debarred, or otherwise excluded from participating in a contract for federal funds. In addition, they did not provide training over grant processes related to state procurement rules, such as training on requirements for staff to maintain appropriate supporting documentation for procurement-related verifications and procurement decisions. Further, CCA and OC experienced staff turnover in key positions, and existing employees could not locate the supporting documentation. Why do these problems matter? It is important for CCA, OC, and PCC to ensure that they obtain and maintain appropriate documentation to support procurement decisions, especially when they are the basis for determining CCA, OC, and PCC?s compliance with specific HEERF program requirements. In addition, CCA and PCC?s failure to perform procedures to ensure an entity is not suspended or debarred could result in the System paying funds to an entity that is disallowed from receiving such funds, thereby exposing the State to increased business risk and potential federal disallowances. See Schedule of Findings and Questioned Costs for chart/table Recommendation 2022-058 Pueblo Community College should strengthen their internal controls over procurement, suspension and debarment and ensure they comply with the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) requirements and State procurement policies by: A. Ensuring the secondary reviewer enforces compliance with the Colorado Community College System?s (System) procurement procedures and that staff perform procedures to verify contracted entities are not excluded or disqualified from receiving federal funds. B. Ensuring staff maintain supporting documentation for procurements and suspension and debarment checks. C. Providing training and cross-training to existing employees over procurement, suspension and debarment requirements. Response Pueblo Community College A. Agree Implementation Date: September 2022 Going forward, the Director of Purchasing will perform all Sam.Gov searches. The secondary reviews to ensure compliance for the System's procurement and suspension and debarment procedures will be conducted by the Vice President of Administration and Finance. B. Agree Implementation Date: September 2022 The corresponding documents supporting procurement transactions and suspension and debarment checks will be scanned and filed along with the Purchase order. C. Agree Implementation Date: September 2022 Training will be provided to fiscal and grant staff for identifying when suspension and debarment must be checked for vendors of federal programs, processes and websites to access, and methodology for documenting with the purchase documentation.
Finding 2022-064 Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) Reporting Compliance The federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) was signed into law on March 27, 2020 and appropriated federal funds to provide emergency financial assistance to the American people negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of the CARES Act, funds were given to the University under the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF I) Program. The federal Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2021 (CRRSAA), was signed into law on December 27, 2020 and authorized additional funding under the HEERF program (HEERF II). Finally, the federal American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP), enacted on March 11, 2021, authorized a third round of funding (HEERF III) in order for higher education institutions to serve students and ensure learning continues during the COVID-19 pandemic. The HEERF Program is one of the subprograms of the federal COVID-19 ? Education Stabilization Fund [ALN 84.425]. The HEERF program contains two portions: the Student Aid Portion [ALN 84.425E] and the Institutional Portion [ALN 84.425F]. Each of the University?s campuses separately signed an agreement titled the ?Certification and Agreement? with the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) to indicate each campus? acceptance of the HEERF funding and the applicable terms and requirements. Under the requirements of the HEERF program there are three components to reporting: (1) public reporting on the Student Aid Portion; (2) public reporting on the Institutional Portion, and (3) the annual report, which includes summarized information on the Student Aid and Institutional Portions for the reporting period. The DOE specified that the Student Aid Portion and Institutional Portion reports needed to be posted to an institution?s website at specified times. The University?s campuses are required to submit the annual report directly to the DOE. During Fiscal Year 2022, each University campus was required to complete and post 8 reports (four Student Aid and four Institutional) to their website. During Fiscal Year 2022, the University?s three campuses in total expended approximately $60 million in HEERF grant funds: $27 million was expended by the Boulder campus, $10.5 million was expended by the Colorado Springs campus, and $22.5 million was expended by the Denver campus. What was the purpose of our audit work and what work was performed? The purpose of the audit work was to determine whether the University?s campuses had adequate internal controls in place over and complied with the HEERF grant reporting requirements for Fiscal Year 2022. As part of our audit work, we tested the University?s campuses? internal controls over the HEERF grant reporting requirements. In addition, we tested 11 of the 12 student reports and 3 of the 12 institutional reports posted by the University during Fiscal Year 2022 to determine whether the University campuses posted the required information on each campus? website accurately, and by the federal due dates. How were the results of the audit work measured? We measured the results of our audit work against the following requirements: ? The DOE issued a notice on May 13, 2021, requiring institutions to publicly post their required HEERF reports on the institution?s website as soon as possible, but no later than 30 days after the publication of the notice, or 30 days after the date the DOE first obligated funds under HEERF I, II, or III to the institution for emergency financial assistance to students; whichever comes later. The institution is required to post the report no later than 10 days after the end of each calendar quarter, after the initial posting. ? Federal regulation [2 CFR 200.303] states that the System?s campuses, as federal grant recipients, must ?establish and maintain effective internal controls over the Federal awards that provides reasonable assurance that the non-Federal entity is managing the Federal award in compliance with Federal statutes, regulation, and the terms and conditions of the Federal award.? What problem did the audit work identify? We identified 2 out of the 14 reports tested (14.3 percent) that did not meet the HEERF grant report posting requirements. Specifically, the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs Campus, did not post the required information for the HEERF Student Aid Portion on its website for two of four quarters of Fiscal Year 2022 timely. First, the University posted the quarter-ending September 30, 2021 report to its website on December 23, 2021, or 74 days after the deadline of October 10. Second, the University did not post the quarter-ending March 31, 2022 report, which was due April 10, 2022, until October 2022, after we notified them of the error; this was approximately 6 months late. We did not identify any issues with the accuracy of the reports, and we found that the other two campuses in the University of Colorado System posted the required information on their respective websites as required by federal regulations. Why did this problem occur? The University?s Colorado Springs campus did not have adequate internal controls in place to ensure it complied with the HEERF grant reporting requirements. Specifically, the Colorado Springs Campus did not have appropriate policies and procedures in place for identifying and researching changes in HEERF reporting requirements. The federal government updated and provided a new form for HEERF reporting in September 2021 that included a section for institutional information but inadvertently excluded student information from the form. Because the form no longer required the student information, the Colorado Springs campus staff inaccurately assumed that the student information was no longer required to be reported. Why does this problem matter? The University is obligated to adhere to specified requirements as outlined in the DOE Certification and Agreement that is signed and agreed to by the University. By failing to report required information in accordance with federal regulations, the University failed to comply with the requirements of the HEERF program and potentially risks repercussions from the DOE as specified in the Certification and Agreement. See Schedule of Findings and Questioned Costs for chart/table Recommendation 2022-064 The University of Colorado?s Colorado Springs campus should strengthen its internal controls over and ensure that it complies with the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) reporting requirements by establishing policies and procedures for identifying and researching changes in HEERF reporting requirements and posting reports to the campus website as required by federal regulations. Response University of Colorado Agree Implementation Date: Implemented Management agrees. After the notification of the missing HEERF report in December 2021, the UCCS Controller proposed a ?cross-check? process to ensure all future reporting is in compliance and reported in a timely manner. This process is used for both the quarterly and annual reporting process. In the quarterly reporting process, the UCCS Controller completes the institutional report and emails the report to the UCCS Financial Aid office Senior Executive Director for verification of the amounts and the data submitted. The Senior Executive Director then enters the student aid portion?s information and provides this to the UCCS Controller for verification of the data. Once verified, the report is uploaded to the UCCS website and a confirmation email is sent to the UCCS Controller as well as the heerfreporting@ed.gov for verification of completion of the website posting. This process has been duplicated with the annual reporting process. Before the annual report is submitted a review will be done to verify the report figures match the CU financials for the calendar year.
Finding 2022-063 Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund Reporting Compliance Finding The CARES Act was signed into law on March 27, 2020, and appropriated federal funds to provide economic aid to the American people negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of the CARES Act, funds were given to the (HEERF Program. CRRSAA was signed into law on December 27, 2020 and authorized additional funding under the HEERF program (HEERF II). Finally, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP), enacted on March 11, 2021, authorized a third round of funding (HEERF III) in order for higher education institutions to serve students and ensure learning continues during the COVID-19 pandemic. The HEERF Program is one of the subprograms of the federal COVID-19 ? Education Stabilization Fund [ALN 84.425]. The HEERF program contains two portions: the Student Aid Portion [ALN 84.425E] and the Institutional Portion [ALN 84.425F]. Since April 2020, the University has been awarded a total of $86.3 million in HEERF funding. From inception through June 30, 2022, the University spent $35.4 million for the HEERF program Student Aid Portion and $48.9 million for the HEERF program Institutional Portion. The University reports that it will spend the remaining amount of funding during Fiscal Year 2023. The University signed an agreement titled the ?Certification and Agreement? with the U.S. Department of Education (ED) to indicate the University?s acceptance of the HEERF funding and the applicable terms and requirements. Under the HEERF program requirements, there are three components to reporting: (1) public reporting on the Student Aid Portion; (2) public reporting on the Institutional Portion, and (3) the annual report, which includes summarized information on the Student Aid and Institutional Portions for the reporting period. The ED specified that Student Aid Portion and Institutional Portion reports needed to be posted to an institution?s website at specified times. The annual report is to be submitted directly to the federal ED. What was the purpose of our audit work and what work was performed? The purpose of the audit work was to determine whether the University had adequate internal controls in place over and complied with HEERF Institutional and Student Aid Portion grant reporting requirements for Fiscal Year 2022. As part of our audit work, we reviewed the University?s internal controls over the HEERF grant reporting requirements. In addition, we tested a sample of 5 of the 8 HEERF reports submitted by the University during Fiscal Year 2022 to determine whether the reports were posted on the University?s primary website or submitted directly to the ED by the federal due dates and complied with federal regulations. How were the results of the audit work measured? We measured the results of our audit work against the following requirements: ? For the Student Aid Portion, beginning on May 6, 2020, the ED required institutions to publicly post certain information on their website, including the number of awards distributed to students, the total amount awarded, and the methodologies used by the institution to determine which students receive awards, no later than 30 days after the award date, and to update that information every 45 days thereafter (by posting a new report). ? On August 31, 2020, the ED revised the reporting requirement by decreasing the frequency of reporting after the initial 30-day period from every 45 days thereafter to every calendar quarter. This revision from every 45 days to a calendar quarter was effective for the first calendar quarter report due by October 10, 2020, and covering the period from after the institution?s last report through the end of the calendar quarter on September 30, 2020. ? For the Institutional Portion, a federal form filled out by the institution must be posted on the institution?s website covering aggregate expenditure amounts for each calendar quarter (September 30, December 31, March 31, and June 30) and concluding after an institution has spent the institutional portion of their HEERF Funds. The institution must post their first report by October 30, 2020, the first quarter of 2021 report by July 20, 2021, and post all other reports no later than 10 days after the end of each calendar quarter (October 10, January 10, April 10, and July 10). ? Section 18004(e) of the CARES Act and Section 314(e) of the CRRSAA require an institution receiving funds under HEERF to submit a report to the Secretary of the ED at ?such time in such a manner as the Secretary may require?. ? Federal regulation [2 CFR 200.334] states that ?financial records, supporting documents, statistical records, and all other non-Federal entity records pertinent to a Federal award must be retained for a period of three years from the date of submission of the final expenditure report or, for Federal awards that are renewed quarterly or annually, from the date of the submission of the quarterly or annual financial report, respectively, as reported to the Federal awarding agency or pass-through entity in the case of a subrecipient.? The instructions for the Quarterly HEERF Reporting Form notes, ?any changes or updates after the initial posting must be conspicuously noted after initial posting and the date of the change must be noted in the `Date of Report? line.? ? Federal regulation [2 CFR 200.303] states that the University, as a federal grant recipient, must ?establish and maintain effective internal controls over the Federal awards that provides reasonable assurance that the non-Federal entity is managing the Federal award in compliance with Federal statutes, regulation, and the terms and conditions of the Federal award.? The University signed a HEERF Certification and Agreement to accept the funding and acknowledge its responsibilities under the grant; therefore, the University was responsible under the Agreement to ensure that it complied with HEERF reporting and other requirements. What problems did the audit work identify? We determined that 2 out of 5 reports tested (40 percent) did not meet the HEERF grant report posting requirements. Specifically: ? The University did not post the HEERF CRRSAA Student quarterly report for the quarter ending September 30, 2021 on the University?s primary website, as required. ? The University published the HEERF ARP Student quarterly report for the quarter ending March 31, 2022 on May 26, 2022?46 days past the due date of April 10, 2022. No issues were noted on the accuracy of the financial information on this report. Why did these problems occur? The University did not implement adequate internal controls to ensure it complied with the HEERF grant reporting requirements. Specifically, the University did not have appropriate policies and procedures in place to ensure that staff submit the required reports within federally required timeframes. Why do these problems matter? Federal oversight agencies, including ED, depend on accurate reports to measure program results and states? compliance with federal requirements. By failing to report the HEERF spending information in accordance with federal regulations, the University failed to comply with the requirements of the Certification and Agreement. See Schedule of Findings and Questioned Costs for chart/table Recommendation 2022-063 Metropolitan State University of Denver (University) should strengthen its internal controls over reporting and ensure it complies with the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) reporting requirements by developing and documenting policies and procedures for identifying and researching the specific reporting requirements and ensuring that staff post to the University?s website the required reports within federally required timeframes. In addition, the University should ensure that all the HEERF reports that are currently required to be posted are on the website. Response Metropolitan State University Agree Implementation Date: December 2022 In December 2022, the Office of Financial Aid strengthened its internal control over the reporting requirements for the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF), by adding the report due dates to the internal operational calendar. Additional level reviews were also added to the submission process before the required reports will be sent to the Department of Education and posted on the financial aid website.
Finding 2022-062 Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund Student Aid Finding The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act was signed into law on March 27, 2020 and appropriated federal funds to provide economic aid to the American people negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of the CARES Act, funds were given to higher education institutions, including the University, under the HEERF program. The Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2021 (CRRSAA) was signed into law on December 27, 2020 and authorized additional funding under the HEERF program (HEERF II). Finally, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP), enacted on March 11, 2021, authorized a third round of funding (HEERF III) in order for higher education institutions to serve students and ensure learning continues during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since March 11, 2021, the University has been awarded $45.6 million in HEERF grant funds through the American Rescue Plan (ARP), otherwise known as HEERF III. Of this award, the University was provided both 1) Student Aid monies, along with 2) Institutional Aid monies. Student Aid monies must be used to provide financial aid grants to students (including students exclusively enrolled in distance education), which may be used for ?any component of the student?s cost of attendance or for emergency costs that arise due to coronavirus, such as tuition, food, housing, healthcare (including mental health care), or childcare. Institutional Aid monies may be used to defray expenses associated with coronavirus (including lost revenue, reimbursement for expenses already incurred, technology costs associated with a transition to distance education, faculty and staff trainings, and payroll) and to make additional financial grants to students. During Fiscal Year 2022, the University spent $21.0 million for the Student Aid portion and $20.2 million for the Institutional portion of HEERF III funds. For the Student Aid portion of the HEERF III funding, the University divided the funding into different groups. The University developed a written plan (that applied during Fiscal Year 2022) for each group and a control process for awarding the monies to students. One of the groups of funding was to be awarded to students with unpaid balances in their tuition or auxiliary accounts with past due balances incurred during the 2020-2021 or 2021-2022 academic years. A team of University employees (CARES Team) was tasked with identifying those students, then contacting those students and asking if they would like the University to apply the student?s HEERF award to pay down the student?s account balance or pay it to the student directly. Once the student informed the University of their election, then the University awarded and disbursed the funds. What was the purpose of our audit work and what was performed? The purpose of the audit work was to determine whether the University was in compliance with the HEERF program regulations for awarding and paying the Student Aid portion of the HEERF funding, and whether proper controls were in place over the program during Fiscal Year 2022. Our testing included conducting interviews with management and selecting a sample of 60 disbursements made to students during Fiscal Year 2022 to test controls and compliance. We performed testing on the 60 disbursements to determine whether awards and disbursements were made in accordance with the University?s documented plan. How were the results of the audit work measured? In accordance with HEERF III requirements, the University must prioritize student aid distributions to students with exceptional needs. In addition, the University must have a documented plan to distribute funds to students. Federal regulations [2 CFR 200.303] require any non-federal grant award recipient to establish and maintain effective internal control over the federal award that provides reasonable assurance that the grant award recipient is managing the federal award in compliance with federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the award. Lastly, student aid application best practices discourage employees from awarding aid to family members. What problem did the audit work identify? Based on interviews with University management, the University identified that a University employee inappropriately provided $700 in HEERF Student Aid funding to the employee?s family member who was a student at the University but was not eligible to receive the funds. Specifically, the CARES Team selected students to receive these funds that met the following criteria: 1) Student was enrolled in the Fall of 2021 or Spring 2022, 2) student had past due balances incurred during the 2020-2021 or 2021-2022 academic years, 3) the student was in good academic standing, and 4) they were participating in a payment plan or in the College Completion Advising program. The student was not selected by the CARES Team as eligible to receive these funds. During our testing of additional 60 student disbursement transactions we found no other exceptions. Why did this problem occur? The University has not established proper segregation of duties to prevent University employees from awarding federal funding to a member of their family. Specifically, the employee had access rights within the University?s financial aid system that granted the employee the ability to both award and disburse federal funds without another employee reviewing or approving. In addition, the University did not have a written policy, as recommended by industry best practices, that prohibits employees from applying aid to family members? accounts. Why does this problem matter? Federal funds that are misapplied or used for unallowable purposes could be subject to repayment from the University to the federal granting agency. Without ensuring adequate segregation of duties within the University?s financial aid system for awarding and disbursing federal funds, the University increases the risk that fraud could occur. In the instance identified, the University recovered the funding from the student. See Schedule of Findings and Questioned Costs for chart/table Recommendation 2022-062 Metropolitan State University of Denver (University) should improve its internal controls over federal Higher Education Emergency Relief Funds by instituting appropriate segregation of duties over the awarding of federal funds to students. This should include requiring that no one employee can both award then disburse aid to students and developing and implementing a formal written policy that prohibits University employees from awarding financial aid to their family members. Response Metropolitan State University Agree Implementation Date: June 2023 In January 2023, the Executive Director of Financial Aid and Scholarships implemented a code of conduct that addresses and prohibits University personnel from awarding financial aid to their family members or other persons considered conflicts of interest. The Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships will draft policy by June 30, 2023, to address the segregation of duties that prohibits awarding and disbursing federal, state, or institutional funding to students by one employee.
Finding 2022-059 Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) Reporting Compliance The federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) was signed into law on March 27, 2020 and appropriated federal funds to provide economic aid to the American people negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of the CARES Act, funds were given to the System under the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF I) Program. The Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2021 (CRRSAA), was signed into law on December 27, 2020, and authorized additional funding under the HEERF program (HEERF II). Finally, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP), enacted on March 11, 2021, authorized a third round of funding (HEERF III) in order for higher education institutions to serve students and ensure learning continues during the COVID-19 pandemic. The HEERF Program is one of the subprograms of the federal Education Stabilization Fund (Assistance Listing No. 84.425). The HEERF program contains two portions: the Student Aid portion (Assistance Listing No. 84.425E) and the Institutional portion, which is made up of the following: HEERF Institutional Aid Portion (Assistance Listing No. 84.425F), HEERF Minority Serving Institutions (Assistance Listing No. 84.425L), HEERF Strengthening Institutions Program (Assistance Listing No. 84.425M), Institutional Resilience and Expanded Postsecondary Opportunity (Assistance Listing No. 84.425P), and HEERF Supplemental Assistance to Institutions of Higher Education program (Assistance Listing No. 84.425S). Amounts provided to students through HEERF are considered to be ?Emergency Financial Aid Grants to Students? under the Program. Since April 2020, the System has been awarded a total of approximately $255.6 million in HEERF funding. From inception through June 30, 2022, the System spent approximately $97.8 million for the HEERF program Student Aid portion which is used to award Emergency Financial Aid Grants to students and $113.9 million for the HEERF Institutional Portion, which is used to support the colleges. $117.3 of this amount was expended by the System during Fiscal Year 2022. The System reports that it will spend the remaining amount of funding during Fiscal Year 2023 and beyond. Each of the System?s 13 campuses separately signed an agreement titled the ?Certification and Agreement? with the ED to indicate each campus? acceptance of the HEERF funding and the applicable terms and requirements. Under the HEERF program requirements, there are three components to reporting: (1) public reporting on the Student Aid Portion; (2) public reporting on the Institutional Portion, and (3) the annual report, which includes summarized information on the Student Aid and Institutional Portions for the reporting period. The annual report is to be submitted directly to the ED. The ED has specified certain criteria that must be included in each report. What was the purpose of our audit work and what work was performed? The purpose of the audit work was to determine whether the System had adequate internal controls in place over, and complied with, the HEERF Institutional and Student Aid grant reporting requirements for Fiscal Year 2022. As part of our audit work, we reviewed the System?s internal controls over the HEERF grant reporting requirements. In addition, we tested a sample of 25 of the 117 HEERF reports submitted by the System?s campuses during Fiscal Year 2022 to determine whether the reports were posted on each campus? primary website (quarterly reports) or submitted to ED (annual reports) by the federal due dates. Furthermore, for the Student Aid Quarterly Report we requested from each Campus the underlying support for the reports, which consisted of student data detailing how much aid was awarded and the methods the campuses used to determine which students would receive Emergency Financial Aid Grants. How were the results of the audit work measured? We measured the results of our audit work against the following requirements: ? On May 13, 2021, the ED published in the Federal Register a notice for student aid public reporting under CRRSAA and ARP, which requires that institutions publicly post certain information on their website. The following information must appear in a format and location that is easily accessible to the public: o An acknowledgement that the institution signed and returned to the ED the Certification and Agreement and the assurance that the institution has used the applicable amount of funds designated under the CRRSAA and ARP programs to provide Emergency Financial Aid Grants to Students. o The total amount of funds that the institution will receive or has received from the ED pursuant to the institution's Certification and Agreement for Emergency Financial Aid Grants to Students under the CRRSAA and ARP programs. o The total amount of Emergency Financial Aid Grants distributed to students under the CRRSAA and ARP programs as of the date of submission (i.e., as of the initial report and every calendar quarter thereafter). o The estimated total number of students at the institution that are eligible to receive Emergency Financial Aid Grants to Students under the CRRSAA and ARP programs. o The total number of students who have received an Emergency Financial Aid Grant to students under the CRRSAA and ARP programs. o The method(s) used by the institution to determine which students receive Emergency Financial Aid Grants and how much they would receive under the CRRSAA and ARP programs. o Any instructions, directions, or guidance provided by the institution to students concerning the Emergency Financial Aid Grants. ? Federal Uniform Guidance [2 CFR 200.303] requires that recipients of federal awards have internal controls in place to ensure that federal reports are accurate and report complete information. Appropriate supporting documentation is evidence of such internal controls. What problems did the audit work identify? We identified issues with 5 of the 25 Fiscal Year 2022 reports we tested (20 percent). Specifically, Front Range Community College (FRCC), Pueblo Community College (PCC), and Lamar Community College (LCC) could not provide appropriate supporting documentation for one or more of the following data elements in five of the Student Aid Quarterly Reports: student data detailing (a) the total amount of Emergency Financial Aid Grants distributed to students, (b) the total number of students eligible to receive Emergency Financial Aid Grants and/or (c) the total number of students at the institution who have received an Emergency Financial Aid Grant. The specific issues we found the following: ? FRCC reported the total number of students eligible to receive Emergency Financial Aid Grants for the quarter ended September 30, 2021 as 20,684; based on our review, we determined the supported number was 20,782. ? FRCC reported the total number of students at the institution who have received an Emergency Financial Aid Grant for the quarter ended June 30, 2022 as 20,385 (student portion) and 3,207 (institutional portion); based on our review, we determined the supported numbers were 20,401 and 3,222, respectively. ? LCC reported the total number of students eligible to receive Emergency Financial Aid Grants for the quarter ended June 30, 2022 as 1,007; based on our review, we determined the supported number was 1,034. In addition, the amount disbursed directly to student emergency financial aid grants to date was reported as 961 and total for all HEERF funds was 1,124; based on our review, we determined the supported numbers were 988 and 1,151, respectively. ? PCC reported the total number of students eligible to receive Emergency Financial Aid Grants for the quarters ending September 30, 2021 and December 31, 2021 as 3,191; based on our review, we determined this amount could not be supported and PCC did not provide a revised count. Why did these problems occur? FRCC, PCC, and LCC campuses did not have procedures in place to ensure that supporting documentation was maintained for its Student Aid Quarterly Reporting. Employee turnover in the FRCC Controller position and FRCC, PCC, and LCC Student Financial Aid Director positions further contributed to FRCC, PCC, and LCC?s inability to locate or recreate the supporting documentation. Why do these problems matter? It is important for FRCC, PCC, and LCC to ensure that they obtain and maintain appropriate documentation to support amounts reported to federal awarding agencies, especially when they are the basis for determining FRCC, PCC, and LCC?s compliance with specific federal program requirements. This issue could lead to inaccurate federal reporting and potential noncompliance, which could result in the federal government requiring FRCC, PCC, and LCC to return funds or a negative impact to the System?s future federal program funding. See Schedule of Findings and Questioned Costs for chart/table Recommendation 2022-059 Front Range Community College, Lamar Community College, and Pueblo Community College campuses should strengthen their internal controls over federal reporting and ensure they comply with the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund reporting requirements by reviewing reports for accuracy and developing procedures for ensuring the required maintenance of all related supporting documentation. Response Front Range Community College Agree Implementation Date: September 2022 Moving forward the Director of Financial Aid will engage the Restricted Funds Accountants in a quality assurance review of both dollars spent, type of fund, and student counts before it is submitted for final review and publishing by the Director of Resource Development and Senior Grant Administrator. The most recently submitted information for the quarterly report of September 30, 2022 will be sent to the Restricted Funds Accountants to validate that FRCC has been and will continue to be in compliance for quarterly HEERF reporting. Response Lamar Community College Agree Implementation Date: July 2022 The Financial Aid Director and the Controller will compile their reporting support on the shared drive they utilize for other routine purposes as well, to ensure clear documentation of the numbers reported. The original report containing errors was corrected, validated, and reposted. All past year?s reporting data was made available on the shared drive as of July 2022. Response Pueblo Community College Agree Implementation Date: October 2022 Each quarter Financial aid will obtain and compare Cognos and Banner disbursement reports for accuracy. Once the unduplicated student count is determined it will be sent to the Vice President of Student Success to validate and approve going forward. Financial aid will ensure staff maintain supporting documentation for any institutional expenditures information that was obtained from the fiscal office. Disbursement and expenditure data will be compiled for the Department of Education?s Quarterly Report by the submission deadline and will be submitted as PDF to webmaster for posting on PCC?s website and a copy emailed to a contact at the Department of Education and will archive the submission for future reference.
Findings 2022-056, 2022-057, and 2022-058 Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) Procurement Compliance The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act was signed into law on March 27, 2020 and appropriated federal funds to provide economic aid to the American people negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of the CARES Act, funds were given to the System under the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) Program. The Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2021 (CRRSAA), was signed into law on December 27, 2020, and authorized additional funding under the HEERF program (HEERF II). Finally, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP), enacted on March 11, 2021, authorized a third round of funding (HEERF III) in order for higher education institutions to serve students and ensure learning continues during the COVID-19 pandemic. The HEERF Program is one of the subprograms of the federal Education Stabilization Fund [ALN 84.425]. The HEERF program contains two portions: The Student Aid portion [ALN 84.425E] and the Institutional portion, which is made up of the following: ? HEERF Institutional Aid Portion (ALN 84.425F); ? HEERF Minority Serving Institutions (ALN 84.425L); ? HEERF Strengthening Institutions Program (ALN 84.425M); ? Institutional Resilience and Expanded Postsecondary Opportunity (ALN 84.425P); ? HEERF Supplemental Assistance to Institutions of Higher Education program (ALN 84.425S). Since April 2020, the System has been awarded a total of approximately $255.6 million in HEERF funding. From inception through June 30, 2022, the System spent a total of approximately $97.8 million for the HEERF program Student Aid portion and $113.9 million for the HEERF Institutional Portion. During Fiscal Year 2022, the System spent $71.9 million for the Student Aid portion and $45.1 million for the Institutional Portion; of this amount, $28.7 million represented the System?s procurement for goods and services. The System reports that it will spend the remaining amount of funding during Fiscal Year 2023 and beyond. Each of the System?s 13 campuses separately signed an agreement titled the ?Certification and Agreement? with the U.S. Department of Education (ED) to indicate each campus? acceptance of the HEERF funding and the applicable terms and requirements. Under the requirements, each campus is required to follow the State?s procurement policies and procedures. Federal procurement regulations also require that each campus include any clauses required by federal regulations in every HEERF-related purchase order or other contract. In addition, non-federal entities, including the System and its campuses, are prohibited from contracting with or making subawards under ?covered transactions? to parties that are suspended or debarred from doing business with the federal government. ?Covered transactions? include those procurement contracts for goods and services awarded under a grant or cooperative agreement. In order to comply with federal suspension and debarment requirements, the campuses can perform a search in the federal System of Award Management (SAM) website, which tracks the entities that the federal government has determined are ineligible to receive federal funding; collect a certification from the entity; or add a clause or condition to the contract. What was the purpose of our audit work and what work was performed? The purpose of the audit work was to determine whether the System?s campuses had effective internal controls in place over, and complied with, federal procurement and suspension and debarment requirements for the HEERF grant during Fiscal Year 2022. As part of our audit work, we reviewed the campuses? internal controls over the HEERF grant procurement requirements. In addition, we tested a sample of 60 of the campuses? HEERF-related 435 procurement transactions, totaling $18.8 million, to determine if the campuses were in compliance with federal procurement requirements, and whether the campuses? contractors were suspended, debarred, or otherwise excluded from participating in the contract by the federal government, through verification on the SAM website exclusions listing. How were the results of the audit work measured? We measured the results of our audit work against the following requirements: ? Federal regulation [2 CFR 180.220] states that a contract for goods or services is a covered transaction if awarded as a grant or payment for specified use and if the amount of the contract is expected to equal or exceed $25,000. Also, federal regulation [2 CFR 180.300] requires that when a non-federal entity enters into a covered transaction with another entity, the non-federal entity must verify that the person or entity they intend to do business with is not excluded or disqualified from receiving federal funds. This can be done by: (1) checking the SAM exclusions, (2) collecting a certification from that entity, or (3) adding a clause or condition to the covered transaction with that entity. ? Federal regulation [2 CFR 200.303] states that the System and its campuses, as recipients of federal funds, must establish and maintain effective internal control over their federal awards that provides reasonable assurance that the System?s campuses are managing the federal awards in compliance with federal statutes, regulations, and the award terms and conditions. ? Federal regulation [2 CFR 200.318] states that the System must document procurement procedures. The System and its campuses utilize Colorado Revised Statute Section 24, Government -State, Procurement Code; Articles 101- 112, as their procurement policy. Relevant sections of the policy include: o R-24-103-201-01 Purchasing Thresholds - (b) Small purchases are goods and services purchases costing less than $150,000. Goods and services between $25,000 and $150,000 may be purchased using a documented quote process, described in rule R-24-103-204-01. o R-24-103-201-01 Purchasing Thresholds - (c) Invitation for bids, described in rule R-24-103-202-01, request for proposals, described in rule R-24-103-203, and invitations to negotiate, described in rule R-24-103-208-03, may be used for goods or services estimated to exceed the small purchase threshold of $150,000. o R-24-103-205 Sole Source Procurements -Contracts may be awarded by use of a sole source procurement only if the following conditions are met: (a) A sole source procurement is justified when there is only one good or service that can reasonably meet the need and there is only one vendor who can provide the good or service. A requirement for a particular proprietary item (i.e., a brand name specification) does not justify a sole source procurement if there is more than one potential bidder or offeror for that item; (b) The procurement official or his or her designee shall make a written determination that a procurement is sole source, setting forth the reasons. In cases of reasonable doubt, competition should be solicited. Any request by a using agency that a procurement be restricted to one potential contractor shall be accompanied by an explanation as to why no other contractors will be suitable or acceptable to meet the need. What problems did the audit work identify? We identified at least one issue with 34 of the 60 transactions tested (57 percent), which resulted in a total of $3,254,216 in known federal questioned costs. In total, we identified 43 errors within the 34 transactions tested. Specifically, we identified the following: ? Community College of Aurora (CCA) and Pueblo Community College (PCC) could not provide documentation to support that suspension and debarment verification procedures were performed for nine transactions we reviewed for CCA and for 21 transactions we reviewed for PCC. We confirmed through additional audit work that none of the vendors were suspended or debarred; as a result, we determined that these errors did not result in questioned costs. ? Otero College (OC) did not complete the required Sole Source justification for four transactions. These errors resulted in $1,535,455 of questioned costs. ? PCC did not perform a request for proposals for two transactions which exceeded $150,000 and did not obtain documented quotes for seven transactions which were between $25,000 and $150,000, as required. These errors resulted in questioned costs of $1,718,761. Why did these problems occur? OC and PCC did not have adequate internal controls in place to ensure they complied with HEERF procurement requirements. In addition, CCA and PCC did not have adequate internal controls in place to ensure they complied with HEERF suspension and debarment requirements. Specifically, at OC and PCC, the secondary reviewer did not require staff follow procedures in place for procurement. At PCC the secondary reviewer also did not ensure that staff searched the federal System of Award Management to verify that entities it contracted with were not suspended, debarred, or otherwise excluded from participating in a contract for federal funds. In addition, they did not provide training over grant processes related to state procurement rules, such as training on requirements for staff to maintain appropriate supporting documentation for procurement-related verifications and procurement decisions. Further, CCA and OC experienced staff turnover in key positions, and existing employees could not locate the supporting documentation. Why do these problems matter? It is important for CCA, OC, and PCC to ensure that they obtain and maintain appropriate documentation to support procurement decisions, especially when they are the basis for determining CCA, OC, and PCC?s compliance with specific HEERF program requirements. In addition, CCA and PCC?s failure to perform procedures to ensure an entity is not suspended or debarred could result in the System paying funds to an entity that is disallowed from receiving such funds, thereby exposing the State to increased business risk and potential federal disallowances. See Schedule of Findings and Questioned Costs for chart/table Recommendation 2022-057 Otero College should strengthen their internal controls over procurement and ensure they comply with the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) requirements and State procurement policies by: A. Ensuring the secondary reviewer enforces compliance with the Colorado Community College System?s (System) procurement procedures. B. Ensuring staff maintain supporting documentation for procurements. C. Providing training and cross-training to existing employees over procurement requirements. Response Otero College A. Agree Implementation Date: August 2022 Otero College has adopted the system offices Sole Source justification form that will be posted to the State procurement site, requires supervisory approval, and has put that into place as of August 2022. B. Agree Implementation Date: August 2022 Otero College will ensure they maintain supporting documentation for procurements. C. Agree Implementation Date: August 2022 Otero College has a new procurement official that has attended various trainings regarding procurement rules.
Findings 2022-056, 2022-057, and 2022-058 Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) Procurement Compliance The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act was signed into law on March 27, 2020 and appropriated federal funds to provide economic aid to the American people negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of the CARES Act, funds were given to the System under the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) Program. The Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2021 (CRRSAA), was signed into law on December 27, 2020, and authorized additional funding under the HEERF program (HEERF II). Finally, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP), enacted on March 11, 2021, authorized a third round of funding (HEERF III) in order for higher education institutions to serve students and ensure learning continues during the COVID-19 pandemic. The HEERF Program is one of the subprograms of the federal Education Stabilization Fund [ALN 84.425]. The HEERF program contains two portions: The Student Aid portion [ALN 84.425E] and the Institutional portion, which is made up of the following: ? HEERF Institutional Aid Portion (ALN 84.425F); ? HEERF Minority Serving Institutions (ALN 84.425L); ? HEERF Strengthening Institutions Program (ALN 84.425M); ? Institutional Resilience and Expanded Postsecondary Opportunity (ALN 84.425P); ? HEERF Supplemental Assistance to Institutions of Higher Education program (ALN 84.425S). Since April 2020, the System has been awarded a total of approximately $255.6 million in HEERF funding. From inception through June 30, 2022, the System spent a total of approximately $97.8 million for the HEERF program Student Aid portion and $113.9 million for the HEERF Institutional Portion. During Fiscal Year 2022, the System spent $71.9 million for the Student Aid portion and $45.1 million for the Institutional Portion; of this amount, $28.7 million represented the System?s procurement for goods and services. The System reports that it will spend the remaining amount of funding during Fiscal Year 2023 and beyond. Each of the System?s 13 campuses separately signed an agreement titled the ?Certification and Agreement? with the U.S. Department of Education (ED) to indicate each campus? acceptance of the HEERF funding and the applicable terms and requirements. Under the requirements, each campus is required to follow the State?s procurement policies and procedures. Federal procurement regulations also require that each campus include any clauses required by federal regulations in every HEERF-related purchase order or other contract. In addition, non-federal entities, including the System and its campuses, are prohibited from contracting with or making subawards under ?covered transactions? to parties that are suspended or debarred from doing business with the federal government. ?Covered transactions? include those procurement contracts for goods and services awarded under a grant or cooperative agreement. In order to comply with federal suspension and debarment requirements, the campuses can perform a search in the federal System of Award Management (SAM) website, which tracks the entities that the federal government has determined are ineligible to receive federal funding; collect a certification from the entity; or add a clause or condition to the contract. What was the purpose of our audit work and what work was performed? The purpose of the audit work was to determine whether the System?s campuses had effective internal controls in place over, and complied with, federal procurement and suspension and debarment requirements for the HEERF grant during Fiscal Year 2022. As part of our audit work, we reviewed the campuses? internal controls over the HEERF grant procurement requirements. In addition, we tested a sample of 60 of the campuses? HEERF-related 435 procurement transactions, totaling $18.8 million, to determine if the campuses were in compliance with federal procurement requirements, and whether the campuses? contractors were suspended, debarred, or otherwise excluded from participating in the contract by the federal government, through verification on the SAM website exclusions listing. How were the results of the audit work measured? We measured the results of our audit work against the following requirements: ? Federal regulation [2 CFR 180.220] states that a contract for goods or services is a covered transaction if awarded as a grant or payment for specified use and if the amount of the contract is expected to equal or exceed $25,000. Also, federal regulation [2 CFR 180.300] requires that when a non-federal entity enters into a covered transaction with another entity, the non-federal entity must verify that the person or entity they intend to do business with is not excluded or disqualified from receiving federal funds. This can be done by: (1) checking the SAM exclusions, (2) collecting a certification from that entity, or (3) adding a clause or condition to the covered transaction with that entity. ? Federal regulation [2 CFR 200.303] states that the System and its campuses, as recipients of federal funds, must establish and maintain effective internal control over their federal awards that provides reasonable assurance that the System?s campuses are managing the federal awards in compliance with federal statutes, regulations, and the award terms and conditions. ? Federal regulation [2 CFR 200.318] states that the System must document procurement procedures. The System and its campuses utilize Colorado Revised Statute Section 24, Government -State, Procurement Code; Articles 101- 112, as their procurement policy. Relevant sections of the policy include: o R-24-103-201-01 Purchasing Thresholds - (b) Small purchases are goods and services purchases costing less than $150,000. Goods and services between $25,000 and $150,000 may be purchased using a documented quote process, described in rule R-24-103-204-01. o R-24-103-201-01 Purchasing Thresholds - (c) Invitation for bids, described in rule R-24-103-202-01, request for proposals, described in rule R-24-103-203, and invitations to negotiate, described in rule R-24-103-208-03, may be used for goods or services estimated to exceed the small purchase threshold of $150,000. o R-24-103-205 Sole Source Procurements -Contracts may be awarded by use of a sole source procurement only if the following conditions are met: (a) A sole source procurement is justified when there is only one good or service that can reasonably meet the need and there is only one vendor who can provide the good or service. A requirement for a particular proprietary item (i.e., a brand name specification) does not justify a sole source procurement if there is more than one potential bidder or offeror for that item; (b) The procurement official or his or her designee shall make a written determination that a procurement is sole source, setting forth the reasons. In cases of reasonable doubt, competition should be solicited. Any request by a using agency that a procurement be restricted to one potential contractor shall be accompanied by an explanation as to why no other contractors will be suitable or acceptable to meet the need. What problems did the audit work identify? We identified at least one issue with 34 of the 60 transactions tested (57 percent), which resulted in a total of $3,254,216 in known federal questioned costs. In total, we identified 43 errors within the 34 transactions tested. Specifically, we identified the following: ? Community College of Aurora (CCA) and Pueblo Community College (PCC) could not provide documentation to support that suspension and debarment verification procedures were performed for nine transactions we reviewed for CCA and for 21 transactions we reviewed for PCC. We confirmed through additional audit work that none of the vendors were suspended or debarred; as a result, we determined that these errors did not result in questioned costs. ? Otero College (OC) did not complete the required Sole Source justification for four transactions. These errors resulted in $1,535,455 of questioned costs. ? PCC did not perform a request for proposals for two transactions which exceeded $150,000 and did not obtain documented quotes for seven transactions which were between $25,000 and $150,000, as required. These errors resulted in questioned costs of $1,718,761. Why did these problems occur? OC and PCC did not have adequate internal controls in place to ensure they complied with HEERF procurement requirements. In addition, CCA and PCC did not have adequate internal controls in place to ensure they complied with HEERF suspension and debarment requirements. Specifically, at OC and PCC, the secondary reviewer did not require staff follow procedures in place for procurement. At PCC the secondary reviewer also did not ensure that staff searched the federal System of Award Management to verify that entities it contracted with were not suspended, debarred, or otherwise excluded from participating in a contract for federal funds. In addition, they did not provide training over grant processes related to state procurement rules, such as training on requirements for staff to maintain appropriate supporting documentation for procurement-related verifications and procurement decisions. Further, CCA and OC experienced staff turnover in key positions, and existing employees could not locate the supporting documentation. Why do these problems matter? It is important for CCA, OC, and PCC to ensure that they obtain and maintain appropriate documentation to support procurement decisions, especially when they are the basis for determining CCA, OC, and PCC?s compliance with specific HEERF program requirements. In addition, CCA and PCC?s failure to perform procedures to ensure an entity is not suspended or debarred could result in the System paying funds to an entity that is disallowed from receiving such funds, thereby exposing the State to increased business risk and potential federal disallowances. See Schedule of Findings and Questioned Costs for chart/table Recommendation 2022-056 Community College of Aurora should strengthen their internal controls over suspension and debarment and ensure they comply with the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) requirements by: A. Ensuring staff maintain supporting documentation of suspension and debarment checks. B. Providing training and cross-training to existing employees over suspension and debarment requirements. Response Community College of Aurora A. Agree Implementation Date: October 2022 Beginning in October 2022, the duty was moved from the Principal Investigator or instructional staff previously responsible for this step to the Director of Purchasing to ensure compliance for all grant transactions. B. Agree Implementation Date: October 2022 Training will be provided for identifying when suspension and debarment must be checked for vendors of federal programs, processes and websites to access, and methodology for documenting with the purchase, to fiscal and grant staff
Findings 2022-056, 2022-057, and 2022-058 Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) Procurement Compliance The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act was signed into law on March 27, 2020 and appropriated federal funds to provide economic aid to the American people negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of the CARES Act, funds were given to the System under the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) Program. The Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2021 (CRRSAA), was signed into law on December 27, 2020, and authorized additional funding under the HEERF program (HEERF II). Finally, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP), enacted on March 11, 2021, authorized a third round of funding (HEERF III) in order for higher education institutions to serve students and ensure learning continues during the COVID-19 pandemic. The HEERF Program is one of the subprograms of the federal Education Stabilization Fund [ALN 84.425]. The HEERF program contains two portions: The Student Aid portion [ALN 84.425E] and the Institutional portion, which is made up of the following: ? HEERF Institutional Aid Portion (ALN 84.425F); ? HEERF Minority Serving Institutions (ALN 84.425L); ? HEERF Strengthening Institutions Program (ALN 84.425M); ? Institutional Resilience and Expanded Postsecondary Opportunity (ALN 84.425P); ? HEERF Supplemental Assistance to Institutions of Higher Education program (ALN 84.425S). Since April 2020, the System has been awarded a total of approximately $255.6 million in HEERF funding. From inception through June 30, 2022, the System spent a total of approximately $97.8 million for the HEERF program Student Aid portion and $113.9 million for the HEERF Institutional Portion. During Fiscal Year 2022, the System spent $71.9 million for the Student Aid portion and $45.1 million for the Institutional Portion; of this amount, $28.7 million represented the System?s procurement for goods and services. The System reports that it will spend the remaining amount of funding during Fiscal Year 2023 and beyond. Each of the System?s 13 campuses separately signed an agreement titled the ?Certification and Agreement? with the U.S. Department of Education (ED) to indicate each campus? acceptance of the HEERF funding and the applicable terms and requirements. Under the requirements, each campus is required to follow the State?s procurement policies and procedures. Federal procurement regulations also require that each campus include any clauses required by federal regulations in every HEERF-related purchase order or other contract. In addition, non-federal entities, including the System and its campuses, are prohibited from contracting with or making subawards under ?covered transactions? to parties that are suspended or debarred from doing business with the federal government. ?Covered transactions? include those procurement contracts for goods and services awarded under a grant or cooperative agreement. In order to comply with federal suspension and debarment requirements, the campuses can perform a search in the federal System of Award Management (SAM) website, which tracks the entities that the federal government has determined are ineligible to receive federal funding; collect a certification from the entity; or add a clause or condition to the contract. What was the purpose of our audit work and what work was performed? The purpose of the audit work was to determine whether the System?s campuses had effective internal controls in place over, and complied with, federal procurement and suspension and debarment requirements for the HEERF grant during Fiscal Year 2022. As part of our audit work, we reviewed the campuses? internal controls over the HEERF grant procurement requirements. In addition, we tested a sample of 60 of the campuses? HEERF-related 435 procurement transactions, totaling $18.8 million, to determine if the campuses were in compliance with federal procurement requirements, and whether the campuses? contractors were suspended, debarred, or otherwise excluded from participating in the contract by the federal government, through verification on the SAM website exclusions listing. How were the results of the audit work measured? We measured the results of our audit work against the following requirements: ? Federal regulation [2 CFR 180.220] states that a contract for goods or services is a covered transaction if awarded as a grant or payment for specified use and if the amount of the contract is expected to equal or exceed $25,000. Also, federal regulation [2 CFR 180.300] requires that when a non-federal entity enters into a covered transaction with another entity, the non-federal entity must verify that the person or entity they intend to do business with is not excluded or disqualified from receiving federal funds. This can be done by: (1) checking the SAM exclusions, (2) collecting a certification from that entity, or (3) adding a clause or condition to the covered transaction with that entity. ? Federal regulation [2 CFR 200.303] states that the System and its campuses, as recipients of federal funds, must establish and maintain effective internal control over their federal awards that provides reasonable assurance that the System?s campuses are managing the federal awards in compliance with federal statutes, regulations, and the award terms and conditions. ? Federal regulation [2 CFR 200.318] states that the System must document procurement procedures. The System and its campuses utilize Colorado Revised Statute Section 24, Government -State, Procurement Code; Articles 101- 112, as their procurement policy. Relevant sections of the policy include: o R-24-103-201-01 Purchasing Thresholds - (b) Small purchases are goods and services purchases costing less than $150,000. Goods and services between $25,000 and $150,000 may be purchased using a documented quote process, described in rule R-24-103-204-01. o R-24-103-201-01 Purchasing Thresholds - (c) Invitation for bids, described in rule R-24-103-202-01, request for proposals, described in rule R-24-103-203, and invitations to negotiate, described in rule R-24-103-208-03, may be used for goods or services estimated to exceed the small purchase threshold of $150,000. o R-24-103-205 Sole Source Procurements -Contracts may be awarded by use of a sole source procurement only if the following conditions are met: (a) A sole source procurement is justified when there is only one good or service that can reasonably meet the need and there is only one vendor who can provide the good or service. A requirement for a particular proprietary item (i.e., a brand name specification) does not justify a sole source procurement if there is more than one potential bidder or offeror for that item; (b) The procurement official or his or her designee shall make a written determination that a procurement is sole source, setting forth the reasons. In cases of reasonable doubt, competition should be solicited. Any request by a using agency that a procurement be restricted to one potential contractor shall be accompanied by an explanation as to why no other contractors will be suitable or acceptable to meet the need. What problems did the audit work identify? We identified at least one issue with 34 of the 60 transactions tested (57 percent), which resulted in a total of $3,254,216 in known federal questioned costs. In total, we identified 43 errors within the 34 transactions tested. Specifically, we identified the following: ? Community College of Aurora (CCA) and Pueblo Community College (PCC) could not provide documentation to support that suspension and debarment verification procedures were performed for nine transactions we reviewed for CCA and for 21 transactions we reviewed for PCC. We confirmed through additional audit work that none of the vendors were suspended or debarred; as a result, we determined that these errors did not result in questioned costs. ? Otero College (OC) did not complete the required Sole Source justification for four transactions. These errors resulted in $1,535,455 of questioned costs. ? PCC did not perform a request for proposals for two transactions which exceeded $150,000 and did not obtain documented quotes for seven transactions which were between $25,000 and $150,000, as required. These errors resulted in questioned costs of $1,718,761. Why did these problems occur? OC and PCC did not have adequate internal controls in place to ensure they complied with HEERF procurement requirements. In addition, CCA and PCC did not have adequate internal controls in place to ensure they complied with HEERF suspension and debarment requirements. Specifically, at OC and PCC, the secondary reviewer did not require staff follow procedures in place for procurement. At PCC the secondary reviewer also did not ensure that staff searched the federal System of Award Management to verify that entities it contracted with were not suspended, debarred, or otherwise excluded from participating in a contract for federal funds. In addition, they did not provide training over grant processes related to state procurement rules, such as training on requirements for staff to maintain appropriate supporting documentation for procurement-related verifications and procurement decisions. Further, CCA and OC experienced staff turnover in key positions, and existing employees could not locate the supporting documentation. Why do these problems matter? It is important for CCA, OC, and PCC to ensure that they obtain and maintain appropriate documentation to support procurement decisions, especially when they are the basis for determining CCA, OC, and PCC?s compliance with specific HEERF program requirements. In addition, CCA and PCC?s failure to perform procedures to ensure an entity is not suspended or debarred could result in the System paying funds to an entity that is disallowed from receiving such funds, thereby exposing the State to increased business risk and potential federal disallowances. See Schedule of Findings and Questioned Costs for chart/table Recommendation 2022-056 Community College of Aurora should strengthen their internal controls over suspension and debarment and ensure they comply with the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) requirements by: A. Ensuring staff maintain supporting documentation of suspension and debarment checks. B. Providing training and cross-training to existing employees over suspension and debarment requirements. Response Community College of Aurora A. Agree Implementation Date: October 2022 Beginning in October 2022, the duty was moved from the Principal Investigator or instructional staff previously responsible for this step to the Director of Purchasing to ensure compliance for all grant transactions. B. Agree Implementation Date: October 2022 Training will be provided for identifying when suspension and debarment must be checked for vendors of federal programs, processes and websites to access, and methodology for documenting with the purchase, to fiscal and grant staff
Findings 2022-056, 2022-057, and 2022-058 Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) Procurement Compliance The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act was signed into law on March 27, 2020 and appropriated federal funds to provide economic aid to the American people negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of the CARES Act, funds were given to the System under the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) Program. The Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2021 (CRRSAA), was signed into law on December 27, 2020, and authorized additional funding under the HEERF program (HEERF II). Finally, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP), enacted on March 11, 2021, authorized a third round of funding (HEERF III) in order for higher education institutions to serve students and ensure learning continues during the COVID-19 pandemic. The HEERF Program is one of the subprograms of the federal Education Stabilization Fund [ALN 84.425]. The HEERF program contains two portions: The Student Aid portion [ALN 84.425E] and the Institutional portion, which is made up of the following: ? HEERF Institutional Aid Portion (ALN 84.425F); ? HEERF Minority Serving Institutions (ALN 84.425L); ? HEERF Strengthening Institutions Program (ALN 84.425M); ? Institutional Resilience and Expanded Postsecondary Opportunity (ALN 84.425P); ? HEERF Supplemental Assistance to Institutions of Higher Education program (ALN 84.425S). Since April 2020, the System has been awarded a total of approximately $255.6 million in HEERF funding. From inception through June 30, 2022, the System spent a total of approximately $97.8 million for the HEERF program Student Aid portion and $113.9 million for the HEERF Institutional Portion. During Fiscal Year 2022, the System spent $71.9 million for the Student Aid portion and $45.1 million for the Institutional Portion; of this amount, $28.7 million represented the System?s procurement for goods and services. The System reports that it will spend the remaining amount of funding during Fiscal Year 2023 and beyond. Each of the System?s 13 campuses separately signed an agreement titled the ?Certification and Agreement? with the U.S. Department of Education (ED) to indicate each campus? acceptance of the HEERF funding and the applicable terms and requirements. Under the requirements, each campus is required to follow the State?s procurement policies and procedures. Federal procurement regulations also require that each campus include any clauses required by federal regulations in every HEERF-related purchase order or other contract. In addition, non-federal entities, including the System and its campuses, are prohibited from contracting with or making subawards under ?covered transactions? to parties that are suspended or debarred from doing business with the federal government. ?Covered transactions? include those procurement contracts for goods and services awarded under a grant or cooperative agreement. In order to comply with federal suspension and debarment requirements, the campuses can perform a search in the federal System of Award Management (SAM) website, which tracks the entities that the federal government has determined are ineligible to receive federal funding; collect a certification from the entity; or add a clause or condition to the contract. What was the purpose of our audit work and what work was performed? The purpose of the audit work was to determine whether the System?s campuses had effective internal controls in place over, and complied with, federal procurement and suspension and debarment requirements for the HEERF grant during Fiscal Year 2022. As part of our audit work, we reviewed the campuses? internal controls over the HEERF grant procurement requirements. In addition, we tested a sample of 60 of the campuses? HEERF-related 435 procurement transactions, totaling $18.8 million, to determine if the campuses were in compliance with federal procurement requirements, and whether the campuses? contractors were suspended, debarred, or otherwise excluded from participating in the contract by the federal government, through verification on the SAM website exclusions listing. How were the results of the audit work measured? We measured the results of our audit work against the following requirements: ? Federal regulation [2 CFR 180.220] states that a contract for goods or services is a covered transaction if awarded as a grant or payment for specified use and if the amount of the contract is expected to equal or exceed $25,000. Also, federal regulation [2 CFR 180.300] requires that when a non-federal entity enters into a covered transaction with another entity, the non-federal entity must verify that the person or entity they intend to do business with is not excluded or disqualified from receiving federal funds. This can be done by: (1) checking the SAM exclusions, (2) collecting a certification from that entity, or (3) adding a clause or condition to the covered transaction with that entity. ? Federal regulation [2 CFR 200.303] states that the System and its campuses, as recipients of federal funds, must establish and maintain effective internal control over their federal awards that provides reasonable assurance that the System?s campuses are managing the federal awards in compliance with federal statutes, regulations, and the award terms and conditions. ? Federal regulation [2 CFR 200.318] states that the System must document procurement procedures. The System and its campuses utilize Colorado Revised Statute Section 24, Government -State, Procurement Code; Articles 101- 112, as their procurement policy. Relevant sections of the policy include: o R-24-103-201-01 Purchasing Thresholds - (b) Small purchases are goods and services purchases costing less than $150,000. Goods and services between $25,000 and $150,000 may be purchased using a documented quote process, described in rule R-24-103-204-01. o R-24-103-201-01 Purchasing Thresholds - (c) Invitation for bids, described in rule R-24-103-202-01, request for proposals, described in rule R-24-103-203, and invitations to negotiate, described in rule R-24-103-208-03, may be used for goods or services estimated to exceed the small purchase threshold of $150,000. o R-24-103-205 Sole Source Procurements -Contracts may be awarded by use of a sole source procurement only if the following conditions are met: (a) A sole source procurement is justified when there is only one good or service that can reasonably meet the need and there is only one vendor who can provide the good or service. A requirement for a particular proprietary item (i.e., a brand name specification) does not justify a sole source procurement if there is more than one potential bidder or offeror for that item; (b) The procurement official or his or her designee shall make a written determination that a procurement is sole source, setting forth the reasons. In cases of reasonable doubt, competition should be solicited. Any request by a using agency that a procurement be restricted to one potential contractor shall be accompanied by an explanation as to why no other contractors will be suitable or acceptable to meet the need. What problems did the audit work identify? We identified at least one issue with 34 of the 60 transactions tested (57 percent), which resulted in a total of $3,254,216 in known federal questioned costs. In total, we identified 43 errors within the 34 transactions tested. Specifically, we identified the following: ? Community College of Aurora (CCA) and Pueblo Community College (PCC) could not provide documentation to support that suspension and debarment verification procedures were performed for nine transactions we reviewed for CCA and for 21 transactions we reviewed for PCC. We confirmed through additional audit work that none of the vendors were suspended or debarred; as a result, we determined that these errors did not result in questioned costs. ? Otero College (OC) did not complete the required Sole Source justification for four transactions. These errors resulted in $1,535,455 of questioned costs. ? PCC did not perform a request for proposals for two transactions which exceeded $150,000 and did not obtain documented quotes for seven transactions which were between $25,000 and $150,000, as required. These errors resulted in questioned costs of $1,718,761. Why did these problems occur? OC and PCC did not have adequate internal controls in place to ensure they complied with HEERF procurement requirements. In addition, CCA and PCC did not have adequate internal controls in place to ensure they complied with HEERF suspension and debarment requirements. Specifically, at OC and PCC, the secondary reviewer did not require staff follow procedures in place for procurement. At PCC the secondary reviewer also did not ensure that staff searched the federal System of Award Management to verify that entities it contracted with were not suspended, debarred, or otherwise excluded from participating in a contract for federal funds. In addition, they did not provide training over grant processes related to state procurement rules, such as training on requirements for staff to maintain appropriate supporting documentation for procurement-related verifications and procurement decisions. Further, CCA and OC experienced staff turnover in key positions, and existing employees could not locate the supporting documentation. Why do these problems matter? It is important for CCA, OC, and PCC to ensure that they obtain and maintain appropriate documentation to support procurement decisions, especially when they are the basis for determining CCA, OC, and PCC?s compliance with specific HEERF program requirements. In addition, CCA and PCC?s failure to perform procedures to ensure an entity is not suspended or debarred could result in the System paying funds to an entity that is disallowed from receiving such funds, thereby exposing the State to increased business risk and potential federal disallowances. See Schedule of Findings and Questioned Costs for chart/table Recommendation 2022-057 Otero College should strengthen their internal controls over procurement and ensure they comply with the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) requirements and State procurement policies by: A. Ensuring the secondary reviewer enforces compliance with the Colorado Community College System?s (System) procurement procedures. B. Ensuring staff maintain supporting documentation for procurements. C. Providing training and cross-training to existing employees over procurement requirements. Response Otero College A. Agree Implementation Date: August 2022 Otero College has adopted the system offices Sole Source justification form that will be posted to the State procurement site, requires supervisory approval, and has put that into place as of August 2022. B. Agree Implementation Date: August 2022 Otero College will ensure they maintain supporting documentation for procurements. C. Agree Implementation Date: August 2022 Otero College has a new procurement official that has attended various trainings regarding procurement rules.
Findings 2022-056, 2022-057, and 2022-058 Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) Procurement Compliance The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act was signed into law on March 27, 2020 and appropriated federal funds to provide economic aid to the American people negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of the CARES Act, funds were given to the System under the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) Program. The Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2021 (CRRSAA), was signed into law on December 27, 2020, and authorized additional funding under the HEERF program (HEERF II). Finally, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP), enacted on March 11, 2021, authorized a third round of funding (HEERF III) in order for higher education institutions to serve students and ensure learning continues during the COVID-19 pandemic. The HEERF Program is one of the subprograms of the federal Education Stabilization Fund [ALN 84.425]. The HEERF program contains two portions: The Student Aid portion [ALN 84.425E] and the Institutional portion, which is made up of the following: ? HEERF Institutional Aid Portion (ALN 84.425F); ? HEERF Minority Serving Institutions (ALN 84.425L); ? HEERF Strengthening Institutions Program (ALN 84.425M); ? Institutional Resilience and Expanded Postsecondary Opportunity (ALN 84.425P); ? HEERF Supplemental Assistance to Institutions of Higher Education program (ALN 84.425S). Since April 2020, the System has been awarded a total of approximately $255.6 million in HEERF funding. From inception through June 30, 2022, the System spent a total of approximately $97.8 million for the HEERF program Student Aid portion and $113.9 million for the HEERF Institutional Portion. During Fiscal Year 2022, the System spent $71.9 million for the Student Aid portion and $45.1 million for the Institutional Portion; of this amount, $28.7 million represented the System?s procurement for goods and services. The System reports that it will spend the remaining amount of funding during Fiscal Year 2023 and beyond. Each of the System?s 13 campuses separately signed an agreement titled the ?Certification and Agreement? with the U.S. Department of Education (ED) to indicate each campus? acceptance of the HEERF funding and the applicable terms and requirements. Under the requirements, each campus is required to follow the State?s procurement policies and procedures. Federal procurement regulations also require that each campus include any clauses required by federal regulations in every HEERF-related purchase order or other contract. In addition, non-federal entities, including the System and its campuses, are prohibited from contracting with or making subawards under ?covered transactions? to parties that are suspended or debarred from doing business with the federal government. ?Covered transactions? include those procurement contracts for goods and services awarded under a grant or cooperative agreement. In order to comply with federal suspension and debarment requirements, the campuses can perform a search in the federal System of Award Management (SAM) website, which tracks the entities that the federal government has determined are ineligible to receive federal funding; collect a certification from the entity; or add a clause or condition to the contract. What was the purpose of our audit work and what work was performed? The purpose of the audit work was to determine whether the System?s campuses had effective internal controls in place over, and complied with, federal procurement and suspension and debarment requirements for the HEERF grant during Fiscal Year 2022. As part of our audit work, we reviewed the campuses? internal controls over the HEERF grant procurement requirements. In addition, we tested a sample of 60 of the campuses? HEERF-related 435 procurement transactions, totaling $18.8 million, to determine if the campuses were in compliance with federal procurement requirements, and whether the campuses? contractors were suspended, debarred, or otherwise excluded from participating in the contract by the federal government, through verification on the SAM website exclusions listing. How were the results of the audit work measured? We measured the results of our audit work against the following requirements: ? Federal regulation [2 CFR 180.220] states that a contract for goods or services is a covered transaction if awarded as a grant or payment for specified use and if the amount of the contract is expected to equal or exceed $25,000. Also, federal regulation [2 CFR 180.300] requires that when a non-federal entity enters into a covered transaction with another entity, the non-federal entity must verify that the person or entity they intend to do business with is not excluded or disqualified from receiving federal funds. This can be done by: (1) checking the SAM exclusions, (2) collecting a certification from that entity, or (3) adding a clause or condition to the covered transaction with that entity. ? Federal regulation [2 CFR 200.303] states that the System and its campuses, as recipients of federal funds, must establish and maintain effective internal control over their federal awards that provides reasonable assurance that the System?s campuses are managing the federal awards in compliance with federal statutes, regulations, and the award terms and conditions. ? Federal regulation [2 CFR 200.318] states that the System must document procurement procedures. The System and its campuses utilize Colorado Revised Statute Section 24, Government -State, Procurement Code; Articles 101- 112, as their procurement policy. Relevant sections of the policy include: o R-24-103-201-01 Purchasing Thresholds - (b) Small purchases are goods and services purchases costing less than $150,000. Goods and services between $25,000 and $150,000 may be purchased using a documented quote process, described in rule R-24-103-204-01. o R-24-103-201-01 Purchasing Thresholds - (c) Invitation for bids, described in rule R-24-103-202-01, request for proposals, described in rule R-24-103-203, and invitations to negotiate, described in rule R-24-103-208-03, may be used for goods or services estimated to exceed the small purchase threshold of $150,000. o R-24-103-205 Sole Source Procurements -Contracts may be awarded by use of a sole source procurement only if the following conditions are met: (a) A sole source procurement is justified when there is only one good or service that can reasonably meet the need and there is only one vendor who can provide the good or service. A requirement for a particular proprietary item (i.e., a brand name specification) does not justify a sole source procurement if there is more than one potential bidder or offeror for that item; (b) The procurement official or his or her designee shall make a written determination that a procurement is sole source, setting forth the reasons. In cases of reasonable doubt, competition should be solicited. Any request by a using agency that a procurement be restricted to one potential contractor shall be accompanied by an explanation as to why no other contractors will be suitable or acceptable to meet the need. What problems did the audit work identify? We identified at least one issue with 34 of the 60 transactions tested (57 percent), which resulted in a total of $3,254,216 in known federal questioned costs. In total, we identified 43 errors within the 34 transactions tested. Specifically, we identified the following: ? Community College of Aurora (CCA) and Pueblo Community College (PCC) could not provide documentation to support that suspension and debarment verification procedures were performed for nine transactions we reviewed for CCA and for 21 transactions we reviewed for PCC. We confirmed through additional audit work that none of the vendors were suspended or debarred; as a result, we determined that these errors did not result in questioned costs. ? Otero College (OC) did not complete the required Sole Source justification for four transactions. These errors resulted in $1,535,455 of questioned costs. ? PCC did not perform a request for proposals for two transactions which exceeded $150,000 and did not obtain documented quotes for seven transactions which were between $25,000 and $150,000, as required. These errors resulted in questioned costs of $1,718,761. Why did these problems occur? OC and PCC did not have adequate internal controls in place to ensure they complied with HEERF procurement requirements. In addition, CCA and PCC did not have adequate internal controls in place to ensure they complied with HEERF suspension and debarment requirements. Specifically, at OC and PCC, the secondary reviewer did not require staff follow procedures in place for procurement. At PCC the secondary reviewer also did not ensure that staff searched the federal System of Award Management to verify that entities it contracted with were not suspended, debarred, or otherwise excluded from participating in a contract for federal funds. In addition, they did not provide training over grant processes related to state procurement rules, such as training on requirements for staff to maintain appropriate supporting documentation for procurement-related verifications and procurement decisions. Further, CCA and OC experienced staff turnover in key positions, and existing employees could not locate the supporting documentation. Why do these problems matter? It is important for CCA, OC, and PCC to ensure that they obtain and maintain appropriate documentation to support procurement decisions, especially when they are the basis for determining CCA, OC, and PCC?s compliance with specific HEERF program requirements. In addition, CCA and PCC?s failure to perform procedures to ensure an entity is not suspended or debarred could result in the System paying funds to an entity that is disallowed from receiving such funds, thereby exposing the State to increased business risk and potential federal disallowances. See Schedule of Findings and Questioned Costs for chart/table Recommendation 2022-058 Pueblo Community College should strengthen their internal controls over procurement, suspension and debarment and ensure they comply with the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) requirements and State procurement policies by: A. Ensuring the secondary reviewer enforces compliance with the Colorado Community College System?s (System) procurement procedures and that staff perform procedures to verify contracted entities are not excluded or disqualified from receiving federal funds. B. Ensuring staff maintain supporting documentation for procurements and suspension and debarment checks. C. Providing training and cross-training to existing employees over procurement, suspension and debarment requirements. Response Pueblo Community College A. Agree Implementation Date: September 2022 Going forward, the Director of Purchasing will perform all Sam.Gov searches. The secondary reviews to ensure compliance for the System's procurement and suspension and debarment procedures will be conducted by the Vice President of Administration and Finance. B. Agree Implementation Date: September 2022 The corresponding documents supporting procurement transactions and suspension and debarment checks will be scanned and filed along with the Purchase order. C. Agree Implementation Date: September 2022 Training will be provided to fiscal and grant staff for identifying when suspension and debarment must be checked for vendors of federal programs, processes and websites to access, and methodology for documenting with the purchase documentation.
Finding 2022-076 Compliance with Federal Subrecipient Monitoring Requirements The Department receives federal grant funds directly from the federal government for the Highway Planning and Construction Program (Program) and then subgrants, or passes through, a portion of the funds to cities and counties and other organizations that are considered to be either a subrecipient or a contractor. A subrecipient is a non-federal entity that expends federal awards received from a pass-through entity to carry out a federal program, but does not include an individual that is a beneficiary receiving direct payments from such a program. A contractor is a dealer, distributor, merchant, or other seller providing goods or services that are required to conduct a federal program; these goods or services may be for an organization?s own use or for the use of beneficiaries of the federal program. The Department executes an Intergovemental Agreement (IGA) between the Department and the subrecipient. Under Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards (Uniform Guidance), the Department is responsible for evaluating each subrecipient's risk of noncompliance with federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the subaward and for ultimately ensuring the subrecipient is determined eligible. In some instances, in coordination with the Federal Highway Association (FHWA), a Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO)? rather than the primary recipient, such as the Department?is responsible for performing eligibility determinations. As such, in those instances, the Department does not perform risk-assessments on these contracts and only is responsible for on-going monitoring. What was the purpose of our audit work and what work was performed? The purpose of the audit work was to determine whether the Department had effective internal controls in place and complied with subrecipient monitoring activities for the Program during Fiscal Year 2022. As part of our audit work, we reviewed the Department?s internal controls over compliance for subrecipient monitoring requirements for the Program, including the Department?s policies and procedures. We tested a random sample of 25 of the Department?s 92 subrecipients (27 percent) for the Program?for which the Department had an IGA in place during Fiscal Year 2022?to determine whether subrecipient monitoring procedures performed by Department staff during the year were compliant with federal regulations. Our testing included evaluating whether the Department performed risk assessments and determined the appropriate level of subrecipient monitoring for the entities, as required by federal Uniform Guidance. How were the results of the audit work measured? Our audit work was designed to measure the Department?s compliance with the following criteria: ? Federal regulations [2 CFR 200.303] state that the Department, as a federal grant recipient, must ?establish and maintain effective internal controls over the Federal awards that provides reasonable assurance that the non-Federal entity is managing the Federal award in compliance with Federal statutes, regulation, and the terms and conditions of the Federal award.? ? Federal regulations [2 CFR 200.332(b)] also state that the Department must evaluate each subrecipient?s risk of noncompliance for purposes of determining the appropriate subrecipient monitoring related to the subaward and may include various factors. ? Federal regulations [2 CFR 200.332(d) through (f)] and [2 CFR 200.521] further require the Department to monitor the activities of its subrecipients, as necessary, to ensure that each subaward is used for authorized purposes, the subrecipient complies with the terms and conditions of the subaward, and that the subrecipient achieves performance goals. The Department?s monitoring must include: o Reviewing financial and programmatic reports submitted by the subrecipient o Following-up on and ensuring the subrecipient takes timely and appropriate action on all deficiencies pertaining to the federal award o Issuing a management decision for audit findings pertaining to the federal award provided to the subrecipient from the pass-through entity What problems did the audit work identify? We determined that the Department did not comply with subrecipient monitoring requirements for the Highway Planning and Construction Program during Fiscal Year 2022, as noted below: ? The Department did not perform a risk assessment for 6 of the 25 subrecipients (24 percent) we tested, including subrecipients where eligibility was determined by a MPO. ? The Department improperly included one vendor in our population of subrecipients. The nature of services provided by the vendor was personal services, therefore, did not require the execution of an IGA. ? The Department did not provide supporting documentation for reviews of any Fiscal Year 2022 financial and programmatic reports. As a result, we were unable to determine if any reviews were conducted during the fiscal year, as required. Why did these problems occur? While the Department has created a subrecipient monitoring and risk assessment manual, the manual lacks clarity in a variety of areas, including the following: ? For contracts which extend over multiple fiscal years, the policies do not specify the frequency in which subrecipient risk-assessment should be reviewed or updated. ? There are multiple types of subrecipient contracts for which the full risk-assessment process may not be applicable, however, the current policies do not address acceptable exceptions to the policy. ? The Department?s current policies do not include guidance related to the review of financial and programmatic reports, including the extent to which required programmatic and financial reports should be obtained and reviewed. ? The Department?s policies and procedures do not clearly indicate that the Department is not required to complete a risk assessment when an MPO determines eligibility and therefore the nature of monitoring procedures to be performed is not defined. ? Requested audit documentation was not provided timely. Further, the Department did not provide sufficiently-detailed training to staff to ensure they were aware of and conducted required subrecipient monitoring responsibilities. Why do these problems matter? Performing timely and appropriate monitoring of subrecipients provides the Department with a method to ensure its subrecipients are complying with applicable federal grant requirements. By taking appropriate actions based on the results of its subrecipient monitoring activities, the Department can mitigate the risk of providing continuing funding to entities that may not be using funds in accordance with program requirements. Overall, the Department?s failure to comply with federal requirements could result in a loss of funding from the federal government. See Schedule of Findings and Questioned Costs for chart/table Recommendation 2022-076 The Department of Transportation should strengthen internal controls over and ensure that it complies with federal subrecipient monitoring requirements for the Highway Planning and Construction program by: A. Updating its current subrecipient monitoring and risk assessment policy to clarify the frequency in which a risk assessment is required to be completed or updated, as applicable for contracts that span multiple fiscal years, as well as direction regarding when it is acceptable to forgo performing a risk assessment and updating the policy to address the nature in which subrecipient programmatic and financial reports are reviewed B. Providing training to staff responsible for subrecipient monitoring activities related to the policies updated in Part A of the finding. Response Department of Transportation A. Agree Implementation Date: November 2023 The Department will update the policy to clarify the frequency in which the risk assessment is required to be completed or updated as applicable for contracts that span multiple fiscal years, as well as identifying exceptions, outlining when it is acceptable to forgo risk assessments. The Department will also update the policy to address the nature in which the subrecipient programmatic and financial reports are reviewed. The updates will be completed by November 2023. B. Agree Implementation Date: November 2023 The Department will provide training on the subrecipient monitoring policy manual to outline roles, responsibilities and the frequency of risk assessments that span over multiple fiscal years. The training will also provide guidance on the programmatic and financial information review process.
Finding 2022-076 Compliance with Federal Subrecipient Monitoring Requirements The Department receives federal grant funds directly from the federal government for the Highway Planning and Construction Program (Program) and then subgrants, or passes through, a portion of the funds to cities and counties and other organizations that are considered to be either a subrecipient or a contractor. A subrecipient is a non-federal entity that expends federal awards received from a pass-through entity to carry out a federal program, but does not include an individual that is a beneficiary receiving direct payments from such a program. A contractor is a dealer, distributor, merchant, or other seller providing goods or services that are required to conduct a federal program; these goods or services may be for an organization?s own use or for the use of beneficiaries of the federal program. The Department executes an Intergovemental Agreement (IGA) between the Department and the subrecipient. Under Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards (Uniform Guidance), the Department is responsible for evaluating each subrecipient's risk of noncompliance with federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the subaward and for ultimately ensuring the subrecipient is determined eligible. In some instances, in coordination with the Federal Highway Association (FHWA), a Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO)? rather than the primary recipient, such as the Department?is responsible for performing eligibility determinations. As such, in those instances, the Department does not perform risk-assessments on these contracts and only is responsible for on-going monitoring. What was the purpose of our audit work and what work was performed? The purpose of the audit work was to determine whether the Department had effective internal controls in place and complied with subrecipient monitoring activities for the Program during Fiscal Year 2022. As part of our audit work, we reviewed the Department?s internal controls over compliance for subrecipient monitoring requirements for the Program, including the Department?s policies and procedures. We tested a random sample of 25 of the Department?s 92 subrecipients (27 percent) for the Program?for which the Department had an IGA in place during Fiscal Year 2022?to determine whether subrecipient monitoring procedures performed by Department staff during the year were compliant with federal regulations. Our testing included evaluating whether the Department performed risk assessments and determined the appropriate level of subrecipient monitoring for the entities, as required by federal Uniform Guidance. How were the results of the audit work measured? Our audit work was designed to measure the Department?s compliance with the following criteria: ? Federal regulations [2 CFR 200.303] state that the Department, as a federal grant recipient, must ?establish and maintain effective internal controls over the Federal awards that provides reasonable assurance that the non-Federal entity is managing the Federal award in compliance with Federal statutes, regulation, and the terms and conditions of the Federal award.? ? Federal regulations [2 CFR 200.332(b)] also state that the Department must evaluate each subrecipient?s risk of noncompliance for purposes of determining the appropriate subrecipient monitoring related to the subaward and may include various factors. ? Federal regulations [2 CFR 200.332(d) through (f)] and [2 CFR 200.521] further require the Department to monitor the activities of its subrecipients, as necessary, to ensure that each subaward is used for authorized purposes, the subrecipient complies with the terms and conditions of the subaward, and that the subrecipient achieves performance goals. The Department?s monitoring must include: o Reviewing financial and programmatic reports submitted by the subrecipient o Following-up on and ensuring the subrecipient takes timely and appropriate action on all deficiencies pertaining to the federal award o Issuing a management decision for audit findings pertaining to the federal award provided to the subrecipient from the pass-through entity What problems did the audit work identify? We determined that the Department did not comply with subrecipient monitoring requirements for the Highway Planning and Construction Program during Fiscal Year 2022, as noted below: ? The Department did not perform a risk assessment for 6 of the 25 subrecipients (24 percent) we tested, including subrecipients where eligibility was determined by a MPO. ? The Department improperly included one vendor in our population of subrecipients. The nature of services provided by the vendor was personal services, therefore, did not require the execution of an IGA. ? The Department did not provide supporting documentation for reviews of any Fiscal Year 2022 financial and programmatic reports. As a result, we were unable to determine if any reviews were conducted during the fiscal year, as required. Why did these problems occur? While the Department has created a subrecipient monitoring and risk assessment manual, the manual lacks clarity in a variety of areas, including the following: ? For contracts which extend over multiple fiscal years, the policies do not specify the frequency in which subrecipient risk-assessment should be reviewed or updated. ? There are multiple types of subrecipient contracts for which the full risk-assessment process may not be applicable, however, the current policies do not address acceptable exceptions to the policy. ? The Department?s current policies do not include guidance related to the review of financial and programmatic reports, including the extent to which required programmatic and financial reports should be obtained and reviewed. ? The Department?s policies and procedures do not clearly indicate that the Department is not required to complete a risk assessment when an MPO determines eligibility and therefore the nature of monitoring procedures to be performed is not defined. ? Requested audit documentation was not provided timely. Further, the Department did not provide sufficiently-detailed training to staff to ensure they were aware of and conducted required subrecipient monitoring responsibilities. Why do these problems matter? Performing timely and appropriate monitoring of subrecipients provides the Department with a method to ensure its subrecipients are complying with applicable federal grant requirements. By taking appropriate actions based on the results of its subrecipient monitoring activities, the Department can mitigate the risk of providing continuing funding to entities that may not be using funds in accordance with program requirements. Overall, the Department?s failure to comply with federal requirements could result in a loss of funding from the federal government. See Schedule of Findings and Questioned Costs for chart/table Recommendation 2022-076 The Department of Transportation should strengthen internal controls over and ensure that it complies with federal subrecipient monitoring requirements for the Highway Planning and Construction program by: A. Updating its current subrecipient monitoring and risk assessment policy to clarify the frequency in which a risk assessment is required to be completed or updated, as applicable for contracts that span multiple fiscal years, as well as direction regarding when it is acceptable to forgo performing a risk assessment and updating the policy to address the nature in which subrecipient programmatic and financial reports are reviewed B. Providing training to staff responsible for subrecipient monitoring activities related to the policies updated in Part A of the finding. Response Department of Transportation A. Agree Implementation Date: November 2023 The Department will update the policy to clarify the frequency in which the risk assessment is required to be completed or updated as applicable for contracts that span multiple fiscal years, as well as identifying exceptions, outlining when it is acceptable to forgo risk assessments. The Department will also update the policy to address the nature in which the subrecipient programmatic and financial reports are reviewed. The updates will be completed by November 2023. B. Agree Implementation Date: November 2023 The Department will provide training on the subrecipient monitoring policy manual to outline roles, responsibilities and the frequency of risk assessments that span over multiple fiscal years. The training will also provide guidance on the programmatic and financial information review process.
The following finding and recommendation relating to an internal control deficiency classified as a Significant Deficiency was communicated to the Department of Transportation (Department) in the previous year and has not been remediated as of June 30, 2022 because the original implementation date provided by the Department was in a subsequent fiscal year. This complete finding and recommendation can be found within the original report and the complete recommendation can be found within Section IV: Prior Audit Recommendations of this report. See Schedule of Findings and Questioned Costs for chart/table Finding 2021-068 The following finding and recommendation relating to an internal control deficiency classified as a Significant Deficiency was communicated to the Department in the previous year and has not been remediated as of June 30, 2021, because the original implementation date provided by the Department is in a subsequent fiscal year. This complete finding and recommendation can be found in the original report and Section III: Prior Federal Recommendations of this report. See Schedule of Findings and Questioned Costs for chart/table. Finding 2020-075 FORMULA GRANTS FOR RURAL AREAS?INTERNAL CONTROLS AND COMPLIANCE WITH SUBRECIPIENT MONITORING The Department received funding from the Federal Transit Authority (FTA) for the Program during Fiscal Year 2020 and expended approximately $26.8 million under the Program; the expenditures included approximately $16.9 million from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act). The objective of this Program is to initiate, improve, or continue public transportation services in rural areas. FTA provides financial and technical assistance to local public transit systems, including buses, subways, light rail, commuter rail, trolleys, and ferries. FTA also oversees safety measures and helps develop next-generation technology research. Approximately $26.0 million (97 percent) of the Program funds expended by the Department were passed through to subrecipients in order to carry out a portion of the Program. WHAT WAS THE PURPOSE OF OUR AUDIT WORK AND WHAT WORK WAS PERFORMED? The purpose of the audit work was to determine whether the Department had effective internal controls in place during Fiscal Year 2020 over the Program, and complied with the Program?s subrecipient monitoring activities. As part of our audit work, we reviewed the Department?s internal controls over compliance for the Program?s subrecipient monitoring. In addition, we tested a random sample of five of 45 Program subrecipients for Fiscal Year 2020 to determine whether the subrecipient monitoring procedures the Department performed during the year were compliant with federal requirements. HOW WERE THE RESULTS OF THE AUDIT WORK MEASURED? Our audit work was designed to measure the results of compliance with the following criteria: ? Federal regulations [2 CFR 200.332(b)] require that the Department evaluate each subrecipient?s risk of noncompliance for purposes of determining the appropriate subrecipient monitoring related to the subaward and may include various factors. Federal regulations [2 CFR 200.332(d)-(f)] also require the Department to monitor the activities of the subrecipient as necessary to ensure that the subaward is used for authorized purposes, complies with the terms and conditions of the subaward, and achieves performance goals. Monitoring must include: ? Reviewing financial and programmatic reports. ? Following up and ensuring the subrecipient takes timely and appropriate action on all deficiencies pertaining to the federal award. ? Issuing a management decision for audit findings pertaining to the federal award provided to the subrecipient from the pass-through entity, as required by 2 CFR 200.521. ? Federal regulation [2 CFR 200.303] states that the Department, as a federal grant recipient, must ?establish and maintain effective internal controls over the Federal awards that provides reasonable assurance that the non-Federal entity is managing the Federal award in compliance with Federal statutes, regulation, and the terms and conditions of the Federal award.? The Department?s internal control policies and procedures require the Internal Audit Division to obtain and review single audit certification forms, whereby subrecipients are required to certify whether they are subject to a Single Audit. Internal Audit Division staff are required to review each certification and related Single Audit report, as applicable, and perform follow-up activities related to deficiencies and audit findings. ? Additionally, the Department is required to report the total amount of federal awards expended to the Office of the State Controller (OSC) via the Exhibit K1, Schedule of Federal Assistance. The Exhibit K1 is the document through which state departments report federal expenditure information to the OSC, including separate columns to indicate types of expenditures, for statewide compilation and reporting. WHAT PROBLEMS DID THE AUDIT WORK IDENTIFY? We identified issues related to two of the five (40 percent) Program subrecipients identified by the Department for Fiscal Year 2020 as follows: ? The Department did not take sufficient steps to address one subrecipient?s failure to obtain a 2019 Single Audit. Specifically, the subrecipient received approximately $78,500 in pass-through Program funding from the Department and communicated to the Department in its single audit certification for the year ending December 31, 2019, that it was subject to a Single Audit; however, that audit had not been conducted as of the completion of our Fiscal Year 2020 audit testwork in April 2021. While it appeared that the Department communicated various times with the subrecipient about the missing audit, the Department did not assess possible impacts from the missing audit or take any action to institute alternate monitoring procedures of the subrecipient. ? For the second subrecipient tested, the Department inappropriately considered the entity to be a subrecipient rather than a vendor and incorrectly reported $20,936 in funds paid to the entity as subrecipient expenditures on its Exhibit K1 submitted to the OSC. WHY DID THESE PROBLEMS OCCUR? The Department?s subrecipient policies and procedures are voluminous and performed throughout multiple divisions within the Department. Therefore, the results of monitoring procedures performed are documented in various areas and not contained in one central location. The Department also does not have policies and procedures in place to identify appropriate actions to be taken when issues are identified. In addition, the Department lacks a process for analyzing the types of entities it is contracting with for the Program in order to separately identify the entities as vendors or subrecipients; rather, staff indicated that, during the contracting process, all contract expenditures related to this Program are recorded as subrecipient expenditures, including service-related or vendor contracts. WHY DO THESE PROBLEMS MATTER? Performing timely and appropriate identification and monitoring of subrecipients, including ensuring that they undergo required Single Audits, provides the Department with a method to identify federal grant-related issues and to ensure its compliance with federal subrecipient monitoring requirements. By taking appropriate actions to address the results of its monitoring, the Department can mitigate the risk of providing continuing funding to entities that may not be using funds in accordance with Program requirements. This is particularly important because the Department passes 97 percent of these Program funds to subrecipients. The Department?s failure to comply with federal requirements could result in a loss of funding from the federal government. See Schedule of Findings and Questioned Costs for chart/table RECOMMENDATION 2020-075 The Department of Transportation (Department) should ensure that it improves its internal controls over, and complies with, federal Formula Grants for Rural Areas and Tribal Transit Program requirements for subrecipient monitoring by: A Ensuring that subrecipient monitoring policies and procedures are centralized, condensed, and available to all personnel who are responsible for performing subrecipient monitoring activities. The policies and procedures should clearly list responsibilities for each division within the Department and be inclusive of all monitoring activities performed and contain clear directives for acting on subrecipients? failure to comply with requirements, including providing its single audit report, by assessing possible impacts from the noncompliance and instituting appropriate alternative procedures. B Implementing a process for analyzing its contracted entities during the contracting and awarding process by reviewing the nature and terms of contracts, separately identifying the contracted entities as vendors or subrecipients, and recording the contract expenditures appropriately based on this assessment. RESPONSE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION A AGREE. IMPLEMENTATION DATE: JULY 2022. CDOT will work with various divisions to devise a plan that will comply with this finding and the recommendations noted within. This plan shall include identifying a centralized location for all policies and procedures related to subrecipient monitoring. We will look at all policies and procedures to ensure they clearly identify responsibilities and requirements for non-compliance. B AGREE. IMPLEMENTATION DATE: JULY 2022. CDOT will work with various divisions to devise a plan that will comply with this finding and the recommendations noted within. This plan shall include establishing a process by which an analysis of contracted entities will be performed to identify and properly record entities as a vendor or subrecipient.
The following finding and recommendation relating to an internal control deficiency classified as a Significant Deficiency was communicated to the Department of Transportation (Department) in the previous year and has not been remediated as of June 30, 2022 because the original implementation date provided by the Department was in a subsequent fiscal year. This complete finding and recommendation can be found within the original report and the complete recommendation can be found within Section IV: Prior Audit Recommendations of this report. See Schedule of Findings and Questioned Costs for chart/table Finding 2021-068 The following finding and recommendation relating to an internal control deficiency classified as a Significant Deficiency was communicated to the Department in the previous year and has not been remediated as of June 30, 2021, because the original implementation date provided by the Department is in a subsequent fiscal year. This complete finding and recommendation can be found in the original report and Section III: Prior Federal Recommendations of this report. See Schedule of Findings and Questioned Costs for chart/table. Finding 2020-075 FORMULA GRANTS FOR RURAL AREAS?INTERNAL CONTROLS AND COMPLIANCE WITH SUBRECIPIENT MONITORING The Department received funding from the Federal Transit Authority (FTA) for the Program during Fiscal Year 2020 and expended approximately $26.8 million under the Program; the expenditures included approximately $16.9 million from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act). The objective of this Program is to initiate, improve, or continue public transportation services in rural areas. FTA provides financial and technical assistance to local public transit systems, including buses, subways, light rail, commuter rail, trolleys, and ferries. FTA also oversees safety measures and helps develop next-generation technology research. Approximately $26.0 million (97 percent) of the Program funds expended by the Department were passed through to subrecipients in order to carry out a portion of the Program. WHAT WAS THE PURPOSE OF OUR AUDIT WORK AND WHAT WORK WAS PERFORMED? The purpose of the audit work was to determine whether the Department had effective internal controls in place during Fiscal Year 2020 over the Program, and complied with the Program?s subrecipient monitoring activities. As part of our audit work, we reviewed the Department?s internal controls over compliance for the Program?s subrecipient monitoring. In addition, we tested a random sample of five of 45 Program subrecipients for Fiscal Year 2020 to determine whether the subrecipient monitoring procedures the Department performed during the year were compliant with federal requirements. HOW WERE THE RESULTS OF THE AUDIT WORK MEASURED? Our audit work was designed to measure the results of compliance with the following criteria: ? Federal regulations [2 CFR 200.332(b)] require that the Department evaluate each subrecipient?s risk of noncompliance for purposes of determining the appropriate subrecipient monitoring related to the subaward and may include various factors. Federal regulations [2 CFR 200.332(d)-(f)] also require the Department to monitor the activities of the subrecipient as necessary to ensure that the subaward is used for authorized purposes, complies with the terms and conditions of the subaward, and achieves performance goals. Monitoring must include: ? Reviewing financial and programmatic reports. ? Following up and ensuring the subrecipient takes timely and appropriate action on all deficiencies pertaining to the federal award. ? Issuing a management decision for audit findings pertaining to the federal award provided to the subrecipient from the pass-through entity, as required by 2 CFR 200.521. ? Federal regulation [2 CFR 200.303] states that the Department, as a federal grant recipient, must ?establish and maintain effective internal controls over the Federal awards that provides reasonable assurance that the non-Federal entity is managing the Federal award in compliance with Federal statutes, regulation, and the terms and conditions of the Federal award.? The Department?s internal control policies and procedures require the Internal Audit Division to obtain and review single audit certification forms, whereby subrecipients are required to certify whether they are subject to a Single Audit. Internal Audit Division staff are required to review each certification and related Single Audit report, as applicable, and perform follow-up activities related to deficiencies and audit findings. ? Additionally, the Department is required to report the total amount of federal awards expended to the Office of the State Controller (OSC) via the Exhibit K1, Schedule of Federal Assistance. The Exhibit K1 is the document through which state departments report federal expenditure information to the OSC, including separate columns to indicate types of expenditures, for statewide compilation and reporting. WHAT PROBLEMS DID THE AUDIT WORK IDENTIFY? We identified issues related to two of the five (40 percent) Program subrecipients identified by the Department for Fiscal Year 2020 as follows: ? The Department did not take sufficient steps to address one subrecipient?s failure to obtain a 2019 Single Audit. Specifically, the subrecipient received approximately $78,500 in pass-through Program funding from the Department and communicated to the Department in its single audit certification for the year ending December 31, 2019, that it was subject to a Single Audit; however, that audit had not been conducted as of the completion of our Fiscal Year 2020 audit testwork in April 2021. While it appeared that the Department communicated various times with the subrecipient about the missing audit, the Department did not assess possible impacts from the missing audit or take any action to institute alternate monitoring procedures of the subrecipient. ? For the second subrecipient tested, the Department inappropriately considered the entity to be a subrecipient rather than a vendor and incorrectly reported $20,936 in funds paid to the entity as subrecipient expenditures on its Exhibit K1 submitted to the OSC. WHY DID THESE PROBLEMS OCCUR? The Department?s subrecipient policies and procedures are voluminous and performed throughout multiple divisions within the Department. Therefore, the results of monitoring procedures performed are documented in various areas and not contained in one central location. The Department also does not have policies and procedures in place to identify appropriate actions to be taken when issues are identified. In addition, the Department lacks a process for analyzing the types of entities it is contracting with for the Program in order to separately identify the entities as vendors or subrecipients; rather, staff indicated that, during the contracting process, all contract expenditures related to this Program are recorded as subrecipient expenditures, including service-related or vendor contracts. WHY DO THESE PROBLEMS MATTER? Performing timely and appropriate identification and monitoring of subrecipients, including ensuring that they undergo required Single Audits, provides the Department with a method to identify federal grant-related issues and to ensure its compliance with federal subrecipient monitoring requirements. By taking appropriate actions to address the results of its monitoring, the Department can mitigate the risk of providing continuing funding to entities that may not be using funds in accordance with Program requirements. This is particularly important because the Department passes 97 percent of these Program funds to subrecipients. The Department?s failure to comply with federal requirements could result in a loss of funding from the federal government. See Schedule of Findings and Questioned Costs for chart/table RECOMMENDATION 2020-075 The Department of Transportation (Department) should ensure that it improves its internal controls over, and complies with, federal Formula Grants for Rural Areas and Tribal Transit Program requirements for subrecipient monitoring by: A Ensuring that subrecipient monitoring policies and procedures are centralized, condensed, and available to all personnel who are responsible for performing subrecipient monitoring activities. The policies and procedures should clearly list responsibilities for each division within the Department and be inclusive of all monitoring activities performed and contain clear directives for acting on subrecipients? failure to comply with requirements, including providing its single audit report, by assessing possible impacts from the noncompliance and instituting appropriate alternative procedures. B Implementing a process for analyzing its contracted entities during the contracting and awarding process by reviewing the nature and terms of contracts, separately identifying the contracted entities as vendors or subrecipients, and recording the contract expenditures appropriately based on this assessment. RESPONSE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION A AGREE. IMPLEMENTATION DATE: JULY 2022. CDOT will work with various divisions to devise a plan that will comply with this finding and the recommendations noted within. This plan shall include identifying a centralized location for all policies and procedures related to subrecipient monitoring. We will look at all policies and procedures to ensure they clearly identify responsibilities and requirements for non-compliance. B AGREE. IMPLEMENTATION DATE: JULY 2022. CDOT will work with various divisions to devise a plan that will comply with this finding and the recommendations noted within. This plan shall include establishing a process by which an analysis of contracted entities will be performed to identify and properly record entities as a vendor or subrecipient.
The following finding and recommendation relating to an internal control deficiency classified as a Significant Deficiency was communicated to the Department of Transportation (Department) in the previous year and has not been remediated as of June 30, 2022 because the original implementation date provided by the Department was in a subsequent fiscal year. This complete finding and recommendation can be found within the original report and the complete recommendation can be found within Section IV: Prior Audit Recommendations of this report. See Schedule of Findings and Questioned Costs for chart/table Finding 2021-068 The following finding and recommendation relating to an internal control deficiency classified as a Significant Deficiency was communicated to the Department in the previous year and has not been remediated as of June 30, 2021, because the original implementation date provided by the Department is in a subsequent fiscal year. This complete finding and recommendation can be found in the original report and Section III: Prior Federal Recommendations of this report. See Schedule of Findings and Questioned Costs for chart/table. Finding 2020-075 FORMULA GRANTS FOR RURAL AREAS?INTERNAL CONTROLS AND COMPLIANCE WITH SUBRECIPIENT MONITORING The Department received funding from the Federal Transit Authority (FTA) for the Program during Fiscal Year 2020 and expended approximately $26.8 million under the Program; the expenditures included approximately $16.9 million from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act). The objective of this Program is to initiate, improve, or continue public transportation services in rural areas. FTA provides financial and technical assistance to local public transit systems, including buses, subways, light rail, commuter rail, trolleys, and ferries. FTA also oversees safety measures and helps develop next-generation technology research. Approximately $26.0 million (97 percent) of the Program funds expended by the Department were passed through to subrecipients in order to carry out a portion of the Program. WHAT WAS THE PURPOSE OF OUR AUDIT WORK AND WHAT WORK WAS PERFORMED? The purpose of the audit work was to determine whether the Department had effective internal controls in place during Fiscal Year 2020 over the Program, and complied with the Program?s subrecipient monitoring activities. As part of our audit work, we reviewed the Department?s internal controls over compliance for the Program?s subrecipient monitoring. In addition, we tested a random sample of five of 45 Program subrecipients for Fiscal Year 2020 to determine whether the subrecipient monitoring procedures the Department performed during the year were compliant with federal requirements. HOW WERE THE RESULTS OF THE AUDIT WORK MEASURED? Our audit work was designed to measure the results of compliance with the following criteria: ? Federal regulations [2 CFR 200.332(b)] require that the Department evaluate each subrecipient?s risk of noncompliance for purposes of determining the appropriate subrecipient monitoring related to the subaward and may include various factors. Federal regulations [2 CFR 200.332(d)-(f)] also require the Department to monitor the activities of the subrecipient as necessary to ensure that the subaward is used for authorized purposes, complies with the terms and conditions of the subaward, and achieves performance goals. Monitoring must include: ? Reviewing financial and programmatic reports. ? Following up and ensuring the subrecipient takes timely and appropriate action on all deficiencies pertaining to the federal award. ? Issuing a management decision for audit findings pertaining to the federal award provided to the subrecipient from the pass-through entity, as required by 2 CFR 200.521. ? Federal regulation [2 CFR 200.303] states that the Department, as a federal grant recipient, must ?establish and maintain effective internal controls over the Federal awards that provides reasonable assurance that the non-Federal entity is managing the Federal award in compliance with Federal statutes, regulation, and the terms and conditions of the Federal award.? The Department?s internal control policies and procedures require the Internal Audit Division to obtain and review single audit certification forms, whereby subrecipients are required to certify whether they are subject to a Single Audit. Internal Audit Division staff are required to review each certification and related Single Audit report, as applicable, and perform follow-up activities related to deficiencies and audit findings. ? Additionally, the Department is required to report the total amount of federal awards expended to the Office of the State Controller (OSC) via the Exhibit K1, Schedule of Federal Assistance. The Exhibit K1 is the document through which state departments report federal expenditure information to the OSC, including separate columns to indicate types of expenditures, for statewide compilation and reporting. WHAT PROBLEMS DID THE AUDIT WORK IDENTIFY? We identified issues related to two of the five (40 percent) Program subrecipients identified by the Department for Fiscal Year 2020 as follows: ? The Department did not take sufficient steps to address one subrecipient?s failure to obtain a 2019 Single Audit. Specifically, the subrecipient received approximately $78,500 in pass-through Program funding from the Department and communicated to the Department in its single audit certification for the year ending December 31, 2019, that it was subject to a Single Audit; however, that audit had not been conducted as of the completion of our Fiscal Year 2020 audit testwork in April 2021. While it appeared that the Department communicated various times with the subrecipient about the missing audit, the Department did not assess possible impacts from the missing audit or take any action to institute alternate monitoring procedures of the subrecipient. ? For the second subrecipient tested, the Department inappropriately considered the entity to be a subrecipient rather than a vendor and incorrectly reported $20,936 in funds paid to the entity as subrecipient expenditures on its Exhibit K1 submitted to the OSC. WHY DID THESE PROBLEMS OCCUR? The Department?s subrecipient policies and procedures are voluminous and performed throughout multiple divisions within the Department. Therefore, the results of monitoring procedures performed are documented in various areas and not contained in one central location. The Department also does not have policies and procedures in place to identify appropriate actions to be taken when issues are identified. In addition, the Department lacks a process for analyzing the types of entities it is contracting with for the Program in order to separately identify the entities as vendors or subrecipients; rather, staff indicated that, during the contracting process, all contract expenditures related to this Program are recorded as subrecipient expenditures, including service-related or vendor contracts. WHY DO THESE PROBLEMS MATTER? Performing timely and appropriate identification and monitoring of subrecipients, including ensuring that they undergo required Single Audits, provides the Department with a method to identify federal grant-related issues and to ensure its compliance with federal subrecipient monitoring requirements. By taking appropriate actions to address the results of its monitoring, the Department can mitigate the risk of providing continuing funding to entities that may not be using funds in accordance with Program requirements. This is particularly important because the Department passes 97 percent of these Program funds to subrecipients. The Department?s failure to comply with federal requirements could result in a loss of funding from the federal government. See Schedule of Findings and Questioned Costs for chart/table RECOMMENDATION 2020-075 The Department of Transportation (Department) should ensure that it improves its internal controls over, and complies with, federal Formula Grants for Rural Areas and Tribal Transit Program requirements for subrecipient monitoring by: A Ensuring that subrecipient monitoring policies and procedures are centralized, condensed, and available to all personnel who are responsible for performing subrecipient monitoring activities. The policies and procedures should clearly list responsibilities for each division within the Department and be inclusive of all monitoring activities performed and contain clear directives for acting on subrecipients? failure to comply with requirements, including providing its single audit report, by assessing possible impacts from the noncompliance and instituting appropriate alternative procedures. B Implementing a process for analyzing its contracted entities during the contracting and awarding process by reviewing the nature and terms of contracts, separately identifying the contracted entities as vendors or subrecipients, and recording the contract expenditures appropriately based on this assessment. RESPONSE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION A AGREE. IMPLEMENTATION DATE: JULY 2022. CDOT will work with various divisions to devise a plan that will comply with this finding and the recommendations noted within. This plan shall include identifying a centralized location for all policies and procedures related to subrecipient monitoring. We will look at all policies and procedures to ensure they clearly identify responsibilities and requirements for non-compliance. B AGREE. IMPLEMENTATION DATE: JULY 2022. CDOT will work with various divisions to devise a plan that will comply with this finding and the recommendations noted within. This plan shall include establishing a process by which an analysis of contracted entities will be performed to identify and properly record entities as a vendor or subrecipient.
The following finding and recommendation relating to an internal control deficiency classified as a Significant Deficiency was communicated to the Department of Transportation (Department) in the previous year and has not been remediated as of June 30, 2022 because the original implementation date provided by the Department was in a subsequent fiscal year. This complete finding and recommendation can be found within the original report and the complete recommendation can be found within Section IV: Prior Audit Recommendations of this report. See Schedule of Findings and Questioned Costs for chart/table Finding 2021-068 The following finding and recommendation relating to an internal control deficiency classified as a Significant Deficiency was communicated to the Department in the previous year and has not been remediated as of June 30, 2021, because the original implementation date provided by the Department is in a subsequent fiscal year. This complete finding and recommendation can be found in the original report and Section III: Prior Federal Recommendations of this report. See Schedule of Findings and Questioned Costs for chart/table. Finding 2020-075 FORMULA GRANTS FOR RURAL AREAS?INTERNAL CONTROLS AND COMPLIANCE WITH SUBRECIPIENT MONITORING The Department received funding from the Federal Transit Authority (FTA) for the Program during Fiscal Year 2020 and expended approximately $26.8 million under the Program; the expenditures included approximately $16.9 million from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act). The objective of this Program is to initiate, improve, or continue public transportation services in rural areas. FTA provides financial and technical assistance to local public transit systems, including buses, subways, light rail, commuter rail, trolleys, and ferries. FTA also oversees safety measures and helps develop next-generation technology research. Approximately $26.0 million (97 percent) of the Program funds expended by the Department were passed through to subrecipients in order to carry out a portion of the Program. WHAT WAS THE PURPOSE OF OUR AUDIT WORK AND WHAT WORK WAS PERFORMED? The purpose of the audit work was to determine whether the Department had effective internal controls in place during Fiscal Year 2020 over the Program, and complied with the Program?s subrecipient monitoring activities. As part of our audit work, we reviewed the Department?s internal controls over compliance for the Program?s subrecipient monitoring. In addition, we tested a random sample of five of 45 Program subrecipients for Fiscal Year 2020 to determine whether the subrecipient monitoring procedures the Department performed during the year were compliant with federal requirements. HOW WERE THE RESULTS OF THE AUDIT WORK MEASURED? Our audit work was designed to measure the results of compliance with the following criteria: ? Federal regulations [2 CFR 200.332(b)] require that the Department evaluate each subrecipient?s risk of noncompliance for purposes of determining the appropriate subrecipient monitoring related to the subaward and may include various factors. Federal regulations [2 CFR 200.332(d)-(f)] also require the Department to monitor the activities of the subrecipient as necessary to ensure that the subaward is used for authorized purposes, complies with the terms and conditions of the subaward, and achieves performance goals. Monitoring must include: ? Reviewing financial and programmatic reports. ? Following up and ensuring the subrecipient takes timely and appropriate action on all deficiencies pertaining to the federal award. ? Issuing a management decision for audit findings pertaining to the federal award provided to the subrecipient from the pass-through entity, as required by 2 CFR 200.521. ? Federal regulation [2 CFR 200.303] states that the Department, as a federal grant recipient, must ?establish and maintain effective internal controls over the Federal awards that provides reasonable assurance that the non-Federal entity is managing the Federal award in compliance with Federal statutes, regulation, and the terms and conditions of the Federal award.? The Department?s internal control policies and procedures require the Internal Audit Division to obtain and review single audit certification forms, whereby subrecipients are required to certify whether they are subject to a Single Audit. Internal Audit Division staff are required to review each certification and related Single Audit report, as applicable, and perform follow-up activities related to deficiencies and audit findings. ? Additionally, the Department is required to report the total amount of federal awards expended to the Office of the State Controller (OSC) via the Exhibit K1, Schedule of Federal Assistance. The Exhibit K1 is the document through which state departments report federal expenditure information to the OSC, including separate columns to indicate types of expenditures, for statewide compilation and reporting. WHAT PROBLEMS DID THE AUDIT WORK IDENTIFY? We identified issues related to two of the five (40 percent) Program subrecipients identified by the Department for Fiscal Year 2020 as follows: ? The Department did not take sufficient steps to address one subrecipient?s failure to obtain a 2019 Single Audit. Specifically, the subrecipient received approximately $78,500 in pass-through Program funding from the Department and communicated to the Department in its single audit certification for the year ending December 31, 2019, that it was subject to a Single Audit; however, that audit had not been conducted as of the completion of our Fiscal Year 2020 audit testwork in April 2021. While it appeared that the Department communicated various times with the subrecipient about the missing audit, the Department did not assess possible impacts from the missing audit or take any action to institute alternate monitoring procedures of the subrecipient. ? For the second subrecipient tested, the Department inappropriately considered the entity to be a subrecipient rather than a vendor and incorrectly reported $20,936 in funds paid to the entity as subrecipient expenditures on its Exhibit K1 submitted to the OSC. WHY DID THESE PROBLEMS OCCUR? The Department?s subrecipient policies and procedures are voluminous and performed throughout multiple divisions within the Department. Therefore, the results of monitoring procedures performed are documented in various areas and not contained in one central location. The Department also does not have policies and procedures in place to identify appropriate actions to be taken when issues are identified. In addition, the Department lacks a process for analyzing the types of entities it is contracting with for the Program in order to separately identify the entities as vendors or subrecipients; rather, staff indicated that, during the contracting process, all contract expenditures related to this Program are recorded as subrecipient expenditures, including service-related or vendor contracts. WHY DO THESE PROBLEMS MATTER? Performing timely and appropriate identification and monitoring of subrecipients, including ensuring that they undergo required Single Audits, provides the Department with a method to identify federal grant-related issues and to ensure its compliance with federal subrecipient monitoring requirements. By taking appropriate actions to address the results of its monitoring, the Department can mitigate the risk of providing continuing funding to entities that may not be using funds in accordance with Program requirements. This is particularly important because the Department passes 97 percent of these Program funds to subrecipients. The Department?s failure to comply with federal requirements could result in a loss of funding from the federal government. See Schedule of Findings and Questioned Costs for chart/table RECOMMENDATION 2020-075 The Department of Transportation (Department) should ensure that it improves its internal controls over, and complies with, federal Formula Grants for Rural Areas and Tribal Transit Program requirements for subrecipient monitoring by: A Ensuring that subrecipient monitoring policies and procedures are centralized, condensed, and available to all personnel who are responsible for performing subrecipient monitoring activities. The policies and procedures should clearly list responsibilities for each division within the Department and be inclusive of all monitoring activities performed and contain clear directives for acting on subrecipients? failure to comply with requirements, including providing its single audit report, by assessing possible impacts from the noncompliance and instituting appropriate alternative procedures. B Implementing a process for analyzing its contracted entities during the contracting and awarding process by reviewing the nature and terms of contracts, separately identifying the contracted entities as vendors or subrecipients, and recording the contract expenditures appropriately based on this assessment. RESPONSE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION A AGREE. IMPLEMENTATION DATE: JULY 2022. CDOT will work with various divisions to devise a plan that will comply with this finding and the recommendations noted within. This plan shall include identifying a centralized location for all policies and procedures related to subrecipient monitoring. We will look at all policies and procedures to ensure they clearly identify responsibilities and requirements for non-compliance. B AGREE. IMPLEMENTATION DATE: JULY 2022. CDOT will work with various divisions to devise a plan that will comply with this finding and the recommendations noted within. This plan shall include establishing a process by which an analysis of contracted entities will be performed to identify and properly record entities as a vendor or subrecipient.
2022-003 Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Education Federal Programs: Education Stabilization Fund Assistance Listing Number: 84.425D, 84.425U Pass-Through Agency: Rhode Island Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Pass-Through Number: 4672-10502-101, 4872-505020-201 Award Period: July 1, 2021 – June 30, 2022 Compliance Requirement: Reporting Type of Finding: Significant Deficiency in Internal Control Over Compliance, Other Matters Criteria or specific requirement: Compliance: Per the Rhode Island Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Grant Award Notification, specifically related to ESSER Fund I, Special Grant Award Conditions, "Interim financial status reports are due quarterly for the periods ending 9/30/2020 through 9/30/2022. Final financial status reports are due 15 days after the liquidation of all obligations, but no later than 11/15/2022. Per the Rhode Island Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Grant Award Notification, specifically related to ESSER Fund III, Special Grant Award Conditions, "Interim financial status reports are due quarterly for the periods ending 3/31/2022 through 9/30/2024. Final financial status reports are due 15 days after the liquidation of all obligations, but no later than 11/15/2024. Control: Per 2 CFR section 200.303(a), a non-Federal entity must: Establish and maintain effective internal control over the Federal award that provides reasonable assurance that the non-Federal entity is managing the Federal award in compliance with Federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the Federal award. These internal controls should comply with guidance in “Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government” issued by the Comptroller General of the United States or the “Internal Control Integrated Framework”, issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO). Condition: Expenditures reported in the quarterly financial status reports did not agree to supporting documentation. Questioned Costs: None. Context: For the ESSER I quarterly financial status report for the quarter ending 9/30/2021, expenditures reported did not agree to supporting schedules. For the ESSER III quarterly financial status report for the quarter ending 6/30/2022, expenditures reported did not agree to supporting schedules. Cause: The City's procedures were not sufficient to ensure that reports were submitted accurately and proper documentation maintained. Effect: Reported expenditures were not properly supported. Recommendation: We recommend the City review and enhance internal controls and procedures to ensure that all reports are prepared and reviewed for accuracy and supporting documentation maintained. Views of Responsible Officials: There is no disagreement with the audit finding.
2022-003 Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Education Federal Programs: Education Stabilization Fund Assistance Listing Number: 84.425D, 84.425U Pass-Through Agency: Rhode Island Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Pass-Through Number: 4672-10502-101, 4872-505020-201 Award Period: July 1, 2021 – June 30, 2022 Compliance Requirement: Reporting Type of Finding: Significant Deficiency in Internal Control Over Compliance, Other Matters Criteria or specific requirement: Compliance: Per the Rhode Island Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Grant Award Notification, specifically related to ESSER Fund I, Special Grant Award Conditions, "Interim financial status reports are due quarterly for the periods ending 9/30/2020 through 9/30/2022. Final financial status reports are due 15 days after the liquidation of all obligations, but no later than 11/15/2022. Per the Rhode Island Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Grant Award Notification, specifically related to ESSER Fund III, Special Grant Award Conditions, "Interim financial status reports are due quarterly for the periods ending 3/31/2022 through 9/30/2024. Final financial status reports are due 15 days after the liquidation of all obligations, but no later than 11/15/2024. Control: Per 2 CFR section 200.303(a), a non-Federal entity must: Establish and maintain effective internal control over the Federal award that provides reasonable assurance that the non-Federal entity is managing the Federal award in compliance with Federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the Federal award. These internal controls should comply with guidance in “Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government” issued by the Comptroller General of the United States or the “Internal Control Integrated Framework”, issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO). Condition: Expenditures reported in the quarterly financial status reports did not agree to supporting documentation. Questioned Costs: None. Context: For the ESSER I quarterly financial status report for the quarter ending 9/30/2021, expenditures reported did not agree to supporting schedules. For the ESSER III quarterly financial status report for the quarter ending 6/30/2022, expenditures reported did not agree to supporting schedules. Cause: The City's procedures were not sufficient to ensure that reports were submitted accurately and proper documentation maintained. Effect: Reported expenditures were not properly supported. Recommendation: We recommend the City review and enhance internal controls and procedures to ensure that all reports are prepared and reviewed for accuracy and supporting documentation maintained. Views of Responsible Officials: There is no disagreement with the audit finding.
2022-003 Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Education Federal Programs: Education Stabilization Fund Assistance Listing Number: 84.425D, 84.425U Pass-Through Agency: Rhode Island Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Pass-Through Number: 4672-10502-101, 4872-505020-201 Award Period: July 1, 2021 – June 30, 2022 Compliance Requirement: Reporting Type of Finding: Significant Deficiency in Internal Control Over Compliance, Other Matters Criteria or specific requirement: Compliance: Per the Rhode Island Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Grant Award Notification, specifically related to ESSER Fund I, Special Grant Award Conditions, "Interim financial status reports are due quarterly for the periods ending 9/30/2020 through 9/30/2022. Final financial status reports are due 15 days after the liquidation of all obligations, but no later than 11/15/2022. Per the Rhode Island Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Grant Award Notification, specifically related to ESSER Fund III, Special Grant Award Conditions, "Interim financial status reports are due quarterly for the periods ending 3/31/2022 through 9/30/2024. Final financial status reports are due 15 days after the liquidation of all obligations, but no later than 11/15/2024. Control: Per 2 CFR section 200.303(a), a non-Federal entity must: Establish and maintain effective internal control over the Federal award that provides reasonable assurance that the non-Federal entity is managing the Federal award in compliance with Federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the Federal award. These internal controls should comply with guidance in “Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government” issued by the Comptroller General of the United States or the “Internal Control Integrated Framework”, issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO). Condition: Expenditures reported in the quarterly financial status reports did not agree to supporting documentation. Questioned Costs: None. Context: For the ESSER I quarterly financial status report for the quarter ending 9/30/2021, expenditures reported did not agree to supporting schedules. For the ESSER III quarterly financial status report for the quarter ending 6/30/2022, expenditures reported did not agree to supporting schedules. Cause: The City's procedures were not sufficient to ensure that reports were submitted accurately and proper documentation maintained. Effect: Reported expenditures were not properly supported. Recommendation: We recommend the City review and enhance internal controls and procedures to ensure that all reports are prepared and reviewed for accuracy and supporting documentation maintained. Views of Responsible Officials: There is no disagreement with the audit finding.
2022-003 Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Education Federal Programs: Education Stabilization Fund Assistance Listing Number: 84.425D, 84.425U Pass-Through Agency: Rhode Island Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Pass-Through Number: 4672-10502-101, 4872-505020-201 Award Period: July 1, 2021 – June 30, 2022 Compliance Requirement: Reporting Type of Finding: Significant Deficiency in Internal Control Over Compliance, Other Matters Criteria or specific requirement: Compliance: Per the Rhode Island Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Grant Award Notification, specifically related to ESSER Fund I, Special Grant Award Conditions, "Interim financial status reports are due quarterly for the periods ending 9/30/2020 through 9/30/2022. Final financial status reports are due 15 days after the liquidation of all obligations, but no later than 11/15/2022. Per the Rhode Island Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Grant Award Notification, specifically related to ESSER Fund III, Special Grant Award Conditions, "Interim financial status reports are due quarterly for the periods ending 3/31/2022 through 9/30/2024. Final financial status reports are due 15 days after the liquidation of all obligations, but no later than 11/15/2024. Control: Per 2 CFR section 200.303(a), a non-Federal entity must: Establish and maintain effective internal control over the Federal award that provides reasonable assurance that the non-Federal entity is managing the Federal award in compliance with Federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the Federal award. These internal controls should comply with guidance in “Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government” issued by the Comptroller General of the United States or the “Internal Control Integrated Framework”, issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO). Condition: Expenditures reported in the quarterly financial status reports did not agree to supporting documentation. Questioned Costs: None. Context: For the ESSER I quarterly financial status report for the quarter ending 9/30/2021, expenditures reported did not agree to supporting schedules. For the ESSER III quarterly financial status report for the quarter ending 6/30/2022, expenditures reported did not agree to supporting schedules. Cause: The City's procedures were not sufficient to ensure that reports were submitted accurately and proper documentation maintained. Effect: Reported expenditures were not properly supported. Recommendation: We recommend the City review and enhance internal controls and procedures to ensure that all reports are prepared and reviewed for accuracy and supporting documentation maintained. Views of Responsible Officials: There is no disagreement with the audit finding.
2022-004 Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Education Federal Programs: Education Stabilization Fund Assistance Listing Number: 84.425U Pass-Through Agency: Rhode Island Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Pass-Through Number: 4872-505020-201 Award Period: July 1, 2021 – June 30, 2022 Compliance Requirement: Allowable Costs/Cost Principles Type of Finding: Significant Deficiency in Internal Control Over Compliance, Other Matters Criteria or specific requirement: Compliance: Per 2 CFR § 200.430 (a), costs of compensation are allowable to the extent that they satisfy the specific requirements of this part, and that the total compensation for individual employees: (1) Is reasonable for the services rendered and conforms to the established written policy of the non-Federal entity consistently applied to both Federal and non- Federal activities; (2) Follows an appointment made in accordance with a non-Federal entity's laws or rules or written policies and meets the requirements of Federal statute, where applicable; and (3) Is determined and supported as provided in paragraph (i) of this section, Standards for Documentation of Personnel Expenses, when applicable. Per 2 CFR § 200.430 (i), charges to federal awards for salaries and wages must be based on records that accurately reflect the work performed. These records must: Be supported by a system of internal control which provides reasonable assurance that the charges are accurate, allowable, and properly allocated, Be incorporated into the official records of the non-Federal entity, Reasonably reflect the total activity for which the employee is compensated by the non-Federal entity, not exceeding 100% of compensated activities, Encompass both federally assisted, and all other activities compensated by the non-Federal entity on an integrated basis, but may include the use of subsidiary records as defined in the non-Federal entity's written policy, Comply with the established accounting policies and practices of the non-Federal entity, Support the distribution of the employee's salary or wages among specific activities or cost objectives if the employee works on more than one Federal award; a Federal award and non- Federal award; an indirect cost activity and a direct cost activity; two or more indirect activities which are allocated using different allocation bases; or an unallowable activity and a direct or indirect cost activity. Control: Per 2 CFR section 200.303(a), a non-Federal entity must: Establish and maintain effective internal control over the Federal award that provides reasonable assurance that the non-Federal entity is managing the Federal award in compliance with Federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the Federal award. These internal controls should comply with guidance in “Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government” issued by the Comptroller General of the United States or the “Internal Control Integrated Framework”, issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO)." Condition: Payroll costs charged to the grant showed no evidence of approval. Questioned Costs: Below the reportable limit. Context: For 16 out of 60 payroll costs charged to the grant, time sheets or other documentation was not available to support evidence of approval for time worked. Cause: The City's procedures were not sufficient to ensure that payroll charges were appropriately approved and documented. Effect: Payroll costs charged to the grant may not be allowable. Recommendation: We recommend the City review and enhance internal controls and procedures to ensure that approval for payroll charges is documented and maintained. Views of Responsible Officials: There is no disagreement with the audit finding.
2022-004 Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Education Federal Programs: Education Stabilization Fund Assistance Listing Number: 84.425U Pass-Through Agency: Rhode Island Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Pass-Through Number: 4872-505020-201 Award Period: July 1, 2021 – June 30, 2022 Compliance Requirement: Allowable Costs/Cost Principles Type of Finding: Significant Deficiency in Internal Control Over Compliance, Other Matters Criteria or specific requirement: Compliance: Per 2 CFR § 200.430 (a), costs of compensation are allowable to the extent that they satisfy the specific requirements of this part, and that the total compensation for individual employees: (1) Is reasonable for the services rendered and conforms to the established written policy of the non-Federal entity consistently applied to both Federal and non- Federal activities; (2) Follows an appointment made in accordance with a non-Federal entity's laws or rules or written policies and meets the requirements of Federal statute, where applicable; and (3) Is determined and supported as provided in paragraph (i) of this section, Standards for Documentation of Personnel Expenses, when applicable. Per 2 CFR § 200.430 (i), charges to federal awards for salaries and wages must be based on records that accurately reflect the work performed. These records must: Be supported by a system of internal control which provides reasonable assurance that the charges are accurate, allowable, and properly allocated, Be incorporated into the official records of the non-Federal entity, Reasonably reflect the total activity for which the employee is compensated by the non-Federal entity, not exceeding 100% of compensated activities, Encompass both federally assisted, and all other activities compensated by the non-Federal entity on an integrated basis, but may include the use of subsidiary records as defined in the non-Federal entity's written policy, Comply with the established accounting policies and practices of the non-Federal entity, Support the distribution of the employee's salary or wages among specific activities or cost objectives if the employee works on more than one Federal award; a Federal award and non- Federal award; an indirect cost activity and a direct cost activity; two or more indirect activities which are allocated using different allocation bases; or an unallowable activity and a direct or indirect cost activity. Control: Per 2 CFR section 200.303(a), a non-Federal entity must: Establish and maintain effective internal control over the Federal award that provides reasonable assurance that the non-Federal entity is managing the Federal award in compliance with Federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the Federal award. These internal controls should comply with guidance in “Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government” issued by the Comptroller General of the United States or the “Internal Control Integrated Framework”, issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO)." Condition: Payroll costs charged to the grant showed no evidence of approval. Questioned Costs: Below the reportable limit. Context: For 16 out of 60 payroll costs charged to the grant, time sheets or other documentation was not available to support evidence of approval for time worked. Cause: The City's procedures were not sufficient to ensure that payroll charges were appropriately approved and documented. Effect: Payroll costs charged to the grant may not be allowable. Recommendation: We recommend the City review and enhance internal controls and procedures to ensure that approval for payroll charges is documented and maintained. Views of Responsible Officials: There is no disagreement with the audit finding.
2022-004 Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Education Federal Programs: Education Stabilization Fund Assistance Listing Number: 84.425U Pass-Through Agency: Rhode Island Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Pass-Through Number: 4872-505020-201 Award Period: July 1, 2021 – June 30, 2022 Compliance Requirement: Allowable Costs/Cost Principles Type of Finding: Significant Deficiency in Internal Control Over Compliance, Other Matters Criteria or specific requirement: Compliance: Per 2 CFR § 200.430 (a), costs of compensation are allowable to the extent that they satisfy the specific requirements of this part, and that the total compensation for individual employees: (1) Is reasonable for the services rendered and conforms to the established written policy of the non-Federal entity consistently applied to both Federal and non- Federal activities; (2) Follows an appointment made in accordance with a non-Federal entity's laws or rules or written policies and meets the requirements of Federal statute, where applicable; and (3) Is determined and supported as provided in paragraph (i) of this section, Standards for Documentation of Personnel Expenses, when applicable. Per 2 CFR § 200.430 (i), charges to federal awards for salaries and wages must be based on records that accurately reflect the work performed. These records must: Be supported by a system of internal control which provides reasonable assurance that the charges are accurate, allowable, and properly allocated, Be incorporated into the official records of the non-Federal entity, Reasonably reflect the total activity for which the employee is compensated by the non-Federal entity, not exceeding 100% of compensated activities, Encompass both federally assisted, and all other activities compensated by the non-Federal entity on an integrated basis, but may include the use of subsidiary records as defined in the non-Federal entity's written policy, Comply with the established accounting policies and practices of the non-Federal entity, Support the distribution of the employee's salary or wages among specific activities or cost objectives if the employee works on more than one Federal award; a Federal award and non- Federal award; an indirect cost activity and a direct cost activity; two or more indirect activities which are allocated using different allocation bases; or an unallowable activity and a direct or indirect cost activity. Control: Per 2 CFR section 200.303(a), a non-Federal entity must: Establish and maintain effective internal control over the Federal award that provides reasonable assurance that the non-Federal entity is managing the Federal award in compliance with Federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the Federal award. These internal controls should comply with guidance in “Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government” issued by the Comptroller General of the United States or the “Internal Control Integrated Framework”, issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO)." Condition: Payroll costs charged to the grant showed no evidence of approval. Questioned Costs: Below the reportable limit. Context: For 16 out of 60 payroll costs charged to the grant, time sheets or other documentation was not available to support evidence of approval for time worked. Cause: The City's procedures were not sufficient to ensure that payroll charges were appropriately approved and documented. Effect: Payroll costs charged to the grant may not be allowable. Recommendation: We recommend the City review and enhance internal controls and procedures to ensure that approval for payroll charges is documented and maintained. Views of Responsible Officials: There is no disagreement with the audit finding.
2022-004 Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Education Federal Programs: Education Stabilization Fund Assistance Listing Number: 84.425U Pass-Through Agency: Rhode Island Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Pass-Through Number: 4872-505020-201 Award Period: July 1, 2021 – June 30, 2022 Compliance Requirement: Allowable Costs/Cost Principles Type of Finding: Significant Deficiency in Internal Control Over Compliance, Other Matters Criteria or specific requirement: Compliance: Per 2 CFR § 200.430 (a), costs of compensation are allowable to the extent that they satisfy the specific requirements of this part, and that the total compensation for individual employees: (1) Is reasonable for the services rendered and conforms to the established written policy of the non-Federal entity consistently applied to both Federal and non- Federal activities; (2) Follows an appointment made in accordance with a non-Federal entity's laws or rules or written policies and meets the requirements of Federal statute, where applicable; and (3) Is determined and supported as provided in paragraph (i) of this section, Standards for Documentation of Personnel Expenses, when applicable. Per 2 CFR § 200.430 (i), charges to federal awards for salaries and wages must be based on records that accurately reflect the work performed. These records must: Be supported by a system of internal control which provides reasonable assurance that the charges are accurate, allowable, and properly allocated, Be incorporated into the official records of the non-Federal entity, Reasonably reflect the total activity for which the employee is compensated by the non-Federal entity, not exceeding 100% of compensated activities, Encompass both federally assisted, and all other activities compensated by the non-Federal entity on an integrated basis, but may include the use of subsidiary records as defined in the non-Federal entity's written policy, Comply with the established accounting policies and practices of the non-Federal entity, Support the distribution of the employee's salary or wages among specific activities or cost objectives if the employee works on more than one Federal award; a Federal award and non- Federal award; an indirect cost activity and a direct cost activity; two or more indirect activities which are allocated using different allocation bases; or an unallowable activity and a direct or indirect cost activity. Control: Per 2 CFR section 200.303(a), a non-Federal entity must: Establish and maintain effective internal control over the Federal award that provides reasonable assurance that the non-Federal entity is managing the Federal award in compliance with Federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the Federal award. These internal controls should comply with guidance in “Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government” issued by the Comptroller General of the United States or the “Internal Control Integrated Framework”, issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO)." Condition: Payroll costs charged to the grant showed no evidence of approval. Questioned Costs: Below the reportable limit. Context: For 16 out of 60 payroll costs charged to the grant, time sheets or other documentation was not available to support evidence of approval for time worked. Cause: The City's procedures were not sufficient to ensure that payroll charges were appropriately approved and documented. Effect: Payroll costs charged to the grant may not be allowable. Recommendation: We recommend the City review and enhance internal controls and procedures to ensure that approval for payroll charges is documented and maintained. Views of Responsible Officials: There is no disagreement with the audit finding.
FINDING 2022-002 Subject: Title I Grants to Local Educational Agencies - Internal Controls Federal Agency: Department of Education Federal Program: Title I Grants to Local Educational Agencies Assistance Listings Number: 84.010 Federal Award Numbers and Years (or Other Identifying Numbers): S010A190014 FY2021, S010A200014 FY2021 Pass-Through Entity: Indiana Department of Education Compliance Requirements: Eligibility; Matching, Level of Effort, Earmarking Audit Finding: Material Weakness Condition and Context The School Corporation had not properly designed or implemented a system of internal controls, which would include appropriate segregation of duties, that would likely be effective in preventing, or detecting and correcting, material noncompliance related to the grant agreement and the Eligibility and Matching, Level of Effort, Earmarking compliance requirements. Eligibility Data from the School Corporation's student software system is uploaded to the Indiana Department of Education's (IDOE) Data Exchange System. Enrollment and poverty information for the School Corporation is then abstracted by the IDOE from the Data Exchange System. The School Corporation's Research and Evaluation team compared the lunch status eligibility used to determine student poverty in the student software system to the information in Data Exchange System at regular intervals. However, this process was not documented and, therefore, could not be verified. INDIANA STATE BOARD OF ACCOUNTS 22 Level of Effort Form 9 data is submitted to the IDOE semi-annually. The data reported includes the School Corporation's expenditures recorded during that period. The IDOE calculates Maintenance of Effort based on the expenditure information submitted on the Form 9 for that fiscal year. To verify amounts used by the IDOE in their computation were derived from the books and records of the School Corporation, costs were reviewed to ensure they are recorded properly as to account and object code and reported correctly on the Form 9. SOUTH BEND COMMUNITY SCHOOL CORPORATION SCHEDULE OF FINDINGS AND QUESTIONED COSTS (Continued) For payroll amounts, summary level payroll reports were provided to a knowledgeable employee for review; however, the reports lacked sufficient detail to effectively review and verify the proper employees were paid from the correct fund, account, and object codes. Earmarking A portion of the School Corporation's Title I allocation is required to be set aside for parental involvement and homeless reservation. The required amount to be set aside is indicated in the Title I grant application. The School Corporation is responsible for monitoring each required set aside throughout the life of the grant to ensure the obligation is met. Monitoring of each set aside was completed on the reimbursement requests; however, reimbursement requests, although reviewed by a knowledgeable employee, were supported by summary level payroll data. The summary level payroll did not provide sufficient detail to effectively review and verify the proper employees were paid from or should have been paid from earmarked Title I funds. The lack of internal controls was a systemic issue throughout the audit period. Criteria 2 CFR 200.303 states in part: "The non-Federal entity must: (a) Establish and maintain effective internal control over the Federal award that provides reasonable assurance that the non-Federal entity is managing the Federal award in compliance with Federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the Federal award. These internal controls should be in compliance with guidance in 'Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government' issued by the Comptroller General of the United States or the 'Internal Control Integrated Framework', issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO). . . ." Cause A proper system of internal controls was not designed by management of the School Corporation, which would include segregation of key functions. Embedded within a properly designed and implemented internal control system should be internal controls consisting of policies and procedures. Policies reflect the School Corporation's management statements of what should be done to effect internal controls, and procedures should consist of actions that would implement these policies. Effect Without the proper design or implementation of the components of a system of internal controls, including policies and procedures that provide segregation of duties and additional oversight as needed, the internal control system cannot be capable of effectively preventing, or detecting and correcting, material noncompliance. Questioned Costs There were no questioned costs identified. INDIANA STATE BOARD OF ACCOUNTS 23 SOUTH BEND COMMUNITY SCHOOL CORPORATION SCHEDULE OF FINDINGS AND QUESTIONED COSTS (Continued) Recommendation We recommended that management of the School Corporation design and implement a proper system of internal controls, including policies and procedures that would provide segregation of duties to ensure appropriate reviews, approvals, and oversight are taking place.
FINDING 2022-003 Subject: Title I Grants to Local Educational Agencies - Allowable Costs/Cost Principles Federal Agency: Department of Education Federal Program: Title I Grants to Local Educational Agencies Assistance Listings Number: 84.010 Federal Award Numbers and Years (or Other Identifying Numbers): S010A190014 FY2021, S010A200014 FY2021 Pass-Through Entity: Indiana Department of Education Compliance Requirement: Allowable Costs/Cost Principles Audit Findings: Material Weakness, Modified Opinion Condition and Context Costs charged to grant funds must be adequately documented. To adequately document payroll expenses charged to the grant fund, contracts or other documentation supporting the employees' approved rates of pay are necessary. The School Corporation utilized a financial software system that has two different sides, an employee portal side and an administrator side. Employee contracts are approved by the employee, the Superintendent of Schools, and the President of the School Board within the system on the employee portal side. Once approved, the data in the employee portal side is fed into a process in the administrator side. The School Corporation could not provide contracts for 10 of 15 employees tested, as the contracts were not properly archived in the financial software used to electronically approve and archive employment contracts. As such, we could not verify the employees were paid their contracted rate for hours spent working on grant-related activities. This resulted in known questioned costs of $203,488. The lack of internal controls and noncompliance were systemic issues throughout the audit period. Criteria 2 CFR 200.303 states in part: "The non-Federal entity must: (a) Establish and maintain effective internal control over the Federal award that provides reasonable assurance that the non-Federal entity is managing the Federal award in compliance with Federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the Federal award. These internal controls should be in compliance with guidance in 'Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government' issued by the Comptroller General of the United States or the 'Internal Control Integrated Framework', issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO). . . ." INDIANA STATE BOARD OF ACCOUNTS 24 SOUTH BEND COMMUNITY SCHOOL CORPORATION SCHEDULE OF FINDINGS AND QUESTIONED COSTS (Continued) 2 CFR 200.334 states in part: "Financial records, supporting documents, statistical records, and all other non-Federal entity records pertinent to a Federal award must be retained for a period of three years from the date of submission of the final expenditure report or, for Federal awards that are renewed quarterly or annually, from the date of the submission of the quarterly or annual financial report, respectively, as reported to the Federal awarding agency or pass-through entity in the case of a subrecipient. . . ." 2 CFR 200.403 states in part: "Except where otherwise authorized by statute, costs must meet the following general criteria in order to be allowable under Federal awards: (a) Be necessary and reasonable for the performance of the Federal award and be allocable thereto under these principles. (b) Conform to any limitations or exclusions set forth in these principles or in the Federal award as to types or amount of cost items. . . . (g) Be adequately documented. . . ." 2 CFR 200.430(i) states in part: "Standards for documentation of Personnel Expenses (1) Charges to Federal awards for salaries and wages must be based on records that accurately reflect the work performed. These records must: (i) Be supported by a system of internal control which provides reasonable assurance that the charges are accurate, allowable, and properly allocated; (ii) Be incorporated into the official records of the non-Federal entity; (iii) Reasonably reflect the total activity for which the employee is compensated by the non-Federal entity, not exceeding 100% of compensated activities (for IHE, this per the IHE's definition of IBS); . . . (vii) Support the distribution of the employee's salary or wages among specific activities or cost objectives if the employee works on more than one Federal award; a Federal award and non-Federal award; an indirect cost activity and a direct cost activity; two or more indirect activities which are allocated using different allocation bases; or an unallowable activity and a direct or indirect cost activity. . . ." Cause A proper system of internal controls was not designed by management of the School Corporation. Embedded within a properly designed and implemented internal control system should be internal controls consisting of policies and procedures. Policies reflect the School Corporation's management statements of what should be done to effect internal controls, and procedures should consist of actions that would implement these policies. INDIANA STATE BOARD OF ACCOUNTS 25 SOUTH BEND COMMUNITY SCHOOL CORPORATION SCHEDULE OF FINDINGS AND QUESTIONED COSTS (Continued) Effect Without the proper implementation of an effectively designed system of internal controls, the internal control system cannot be capable of effectively preventing, or detecting and correcting, material noncompliance. As a result, not all employment contracts could be presented for audit nor could documentation be provided to support time charged to the grant. Noncompliance with the provisions of federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the federal award could result in the loss of future federal funding to the School Corporation. Questioned Costs There were known questioned costs of $203,488 as identified in Condition and Context. Recommendation We recommended that management of the School Corporation establish a proper system of internal controls and develop policies and procedures to ensure contracts and certifications, as appropriate, are retained to support the amounts paid from Title I program funds. Views of Responsible Officials For the views of responsible officials, refer to the Corrective Action Plan that is part of this report. Auditor's Response The alternative documentation provided was a snapshot from the administrator side of the financial software system; however, the original source document, which was the contract that was approved by the employee, the Superintendent of Schools, and the President of the School Board, was not provided to substantiate the amounts in the administrator side of the financial software system. We reaffirm our finding and will review the status of the finding during our next audit.
FINDING 2022-004 Subject: Title I Grants to Local Educational Agencies - Reporting Federal Agency: Department of Education Federal Program: Title I Grants to Local Educational Agencies Assistance Listings Number: 84.010 Federal Award Numbers and Years (or Other Identifying Numbers): S010A190014 FY2021; S010A200014 FY2021 Pass-Through Entity: Indiana Department of Education Compliance Requirement: Reporting Audit Findings: Material Weakness, Other Matters Condition and Context Form 9 Data The State uses the Form 9 data for their required submission of the average state per pupil expenditure data which is submitted to the National Center for Education Statistics. INDIANA STATE BOARD OF ACCOUNTS 26 SOUTH BEND COMMUNITY SCHOOL CORPORATION SCHEDULE OF FINDINGS AND QUESTIONED COSTS (Continued) The Form 9 reports are comprised of the School Corporation's transactions recorded during the audit period. Payroll reports, which included summary level payroll data, were provided to a knowledgeable employee for review; however, the reports did not include sufficient detail to effectively review and verify the proper employees were paid from the correct fund, account, and object codes. Reimbursement Requests Requests for reimbursement are utilized by the School Corporation to request reimbursement for allowable expenses paid from Title I funds. Requests for reimbursement should be based on and supported by transactions recorded in the Title I funds of the School Corporation. Summary level reports were run from the School Corporation's financial system by the Director of Federal Grants for the period in which reimbursement was requested. The reports were then attached to the reimbursement request. The Title I Director then approved the reimbursement request prior to submission. Of the three reimbursement requests selected for testing, two could not be verified to the summary level detail attached to the reimbursement request nor to a detailed list of transactions. As the amount requested for reimbursement could not be traced to detailed records nor reports which accumulated or summarized the data, the accuracy and completeness of the reimbursement requests could not be verified. The lack of internal controls and noncompliance were systemic issues throughout the audit period. Criteria 2 CFR 200.303 states in part: "The non-Federal entity must: (a) Establish and maintain effective internal control over the Federal award that provides reasonable assurance that the non-Federal entity is managing the Federal award in compliance with Federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the Federal award. These internal controls should be in compliance with guidance in 'Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government' issued by the Comptroller General of the United States or the 'Internal Control Integrated Framework', issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO). . . ." 2 CFR 200.334 states in part: "Financial records, supporting documents, statistical records, and all other non-Federal entity records pertinent to a Federal award must be retained for a period of three years from the date of submission of the final expenditure report or, for Federal awards that are renewed quarterly or annually, from the date of the submission of the quarterly or annual financial report, respectively, as reported to the Federal awarding agency or pass-through entity in the case of a subrecipient. . . ." 27 INDIANA STATE BOARD OF ACCOUNTS SOUTH BEND COMMUNITY SCHOOL CORPORATION SCHEDULE OF FINDINGS AND QUESTIONED COSTS (Continued) 2 CFR 200.302(b) states in part: "The financial management system of each non-Federal entity must provide for the following: . . . (2) Accurate, current, and complete disclosure of the financial results of each Federal award or program in accordance with the reporting requirements set forth in §§ 200.328 and 200.329. . . . (3) Records that identify adequately the source and application of funds for federally funded activities. These records must contain information pertaining to Federal awards, authorizations, obligations, unobligated balances, assets, expenditures, income and interest and be supported by source documentation. . . ." 34 CFR 76.722 states: "A State may require a subgrantee to submit reports in a manner and format that assists the State in complying with the requirements under 34 CFR 76.720 and in carrying out other responsibilities under the program." Cause A proper system of internal controls was not designed by management of the School Corporation. Embedded within a properly designed and implemented internal control system should be internal controls consisting of policies and procedures. Policies reflect the School Corporation's management statements of what should be done to effect internal controls, and procedures should consist of actions that would implement these policies. Effect Without the proper implementation of an effectively designed system of internal controls, the internal control system cannot be capable of effectively preventing, or detecting and correcting, material noncompliance. As a result, the amounts requested for reimbursement could not be reconciled to the School Corporation's underlying accounting records. Noncompliance with the provisions of federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the federal award could result in the loss of future federal funding to the School Corporation. Questioned Costs There were no questioned costs identified. Recommendation We recommended that management of the School Corporation establish a proper system of internal controls and develop policies and procedures to ensure detailed supporting documentation is used and retained when reviewing Form 9 data and for all requests for reimbursements submitted on behalf of the Title I program funds. Views of Responsible Officials For the views of responsible officials, refer to the Corrective Action Plan that is part of this report.
FINDING 2022-005 Subject: Title I Grants to Local Educational Agencies - Special Tests and Provisions - Annual Report Card/High School Graduation Rate Federal Agency: Department of Education Federal Program: Title I Grants to Local Educational Agencies Assistance Listings Number: 84.010 Federal Award Numbers and Years (or Other Identifying Numbers) S010A190014 FY2021, S010A200014 FY2021 Pass-Through Entity: Indiana Department of Education Compliance Requirement: Special Tests and Provisions - Annual Report Card/High School Graduation Rate Audit Findings: Material Weakness, Other Matters Condition and Context The School Corporation reports graduation rate data for all public high schools within the School Corporation using the four-year adjusted cohort rate. To remove a student from the cohort, the School Corporation must confirm the reason for removal in writing. Additionally, required documentation for each removal type must be retained by the School Corporation. The Indiana Department of Education has outlined the acceptable documentation required when a student exists in a cohort. The School Corporation has a total of five high schools plus the juvenile detention center for which graduation rate data is submitted. A withdrawal form is utilized by each high school and the juvenile detention center to document the reason for a withdrawal. The withdrawal form and supporting documentation is then approved by an official at that student's high school prior to the student being removed from the cohort. Of the 15 students selected for testing, the following errors were noted: One student's mobility was not properly coded. One student's documentation did not clearly state the city and country the student was moving to. One student's documentation was lacking a court order or other documentation from the juvenile detention center to evidence that the student was detained more than 20 days. One student's documentation did not include the required transcript request or enrollment verification. Two students did not have any documentation to support the student's withdrawal. The lack of internal controls and noncompliance were systemic issues throughout the audit period. Criteria 2 CFR 200.303 states in part: "The non-Federal entity must: (a) Establish and maintain effective internal control over the Federal award that provides reasonable assurance that the non-Federal entity is managing the Federal award in compliance with Federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the Federal award. These internal controls should be in compliance with guidance in 'Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government' issued by the Comptroller General of the United States or the 'Internal Control Integrated Framework', issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO). . . ." 29 INDIANA STATE BOARD OF ACCOUNTS SOUTH BEND COMMUNITY SCHOOL CORPORATION SCHEDULE OF FINDINGS AND QUESTIONED COSTS (Continued) 20 USC 7801(23)(B) states: "To remove a student from a cohort, a school or local educational agency shall require documentation, or obtain documentation from the State educational agency, to confirm that the student has transferred out, emigrated to another country, or transferred to a prison or juvenile facility, or is deceased." Cause A proper system of internal controls was not designed by management of the School Corporation. Embedded within a properly designed and implemented internal control system should be internal controls consisting of policies and procedures. Policies reflect the School Corporation's management statements of what should be done to effect internal controls, and procedures should consist of actions that would implement these policies. Effect Without the proper implementation of an effectively designed system of internal controls, the internal control system cannot be capable of effectively preventing, or detecting and correcting, material noncompliance. As a result, adequate documentation to support the reason for a student's removal from the high school graduation cohort for mobility reasons was not retained. Noncompliance with the provisions of federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the federal award could result in the loss of future federal funding to the School Corporation. Questioned Costs There were no questioned costs identified. Recommendation We recommended that management of the School Corporation establish a proper system of internal controls and develop policies and procedures to ensure appropriate documentation is retained to support the removal of students from the graduation cohort. Views of Responsible Officials For the views of responsible officials, refer to the Corrective Action Plan that is part of this report.
FINDING 2022-006 Subject: COVID-19 - Education Stabilization Fund - Allowable Costs/Cost Principles Federal Agency: Department of Education Federal Program: COVID-19 - Education Stabilization Fund Assistance Listings Number: 84.425D Federal Award Numbers and Years (or Other Identifying Numbers): S425D200013, S425D210013 Pass-Through Entity: Indiana Department of Education Compliance Requirement: Allowable Costs/Cost Principles Audit Findings: Material Weakness, Other Matters 30 INDIANA STATE BOARD OF ACCOUNTS SOUTH BEND COMMUNITY SCHOOL CORPORATION SCHEDULE OF FINDINGS AND QUESTIONED COSTS (Continued) Condition and Context The Education Stabilization Fund established by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, and further funded by the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (CRSSA) and the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act, was for the purpose of preventing, preparing for, or responding to the novel coronavirus. Costs charged to grant funds must be adequately documented. To adequately document payroll expenses charged to the grant fund, contracts or other documentation supporting the employees' approved rates of pay are necessary. The School Corporation utilized a financial software system that has two different sides, an employee portal side and an administrator side. Employee contracts are approved by the employee, the Superintendent of Schools, and the President of the School Board within the system on the employee portal side. Once approved, the data in the employee portal side is fed into a process in the administrator side. The School Corporation could not provide contracts for 3 of 13 employees tested, as the contracts were not properly archived in the financial software used to electronically approve and archive employment contracts. As such, we could not verify the employees were paid their contracted rate for hours spent working on grant-related activities. This resulted in known questioned costs of $26,207. The lack of internal controls and noncompliance were systemic issues throughout the audit period. Criteria 2 CFR 200.303 states in part: "The non-Federal entity must: (a) Establish and maintain effective internal control over the Federal award that provides reasonable assurance that the non-Federal entity is managing the Federal award in compliance with Federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the Federal award. These internal controls should be in compliance with guidance in 'Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government' issued by the Comptroller General of the United States or the 'Internal Control Integrated Framework', issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO). . . ." 2 CFR 200.334 states in part: "Financial records, supporting documents, statistical records, and all other non-Federal entity records pertinent to a Federal award must be retained for a period of three years from the date of submission of the final expenditure report or, for Federal awards that are renewed quarterly or annually, from the date of the submission of the quarterly or annual financial report, respectively, as reported to the Federal awarding agency or pass-through entity in the case of a subrecipient. . . ." 2 CFR 200.403 states in part: "Except where otherwise authorized by statute, costs must meet the following general criteria in order to be allowable under Federal awards: (a) Be necessary and reasonable for the performance of the Federal award and be allocable thereto under these principles. INDIANA STATE BOARD OF ACCOUNTS 31 SOUTH BEND COMMUNITY SCHOOL CORPORATION SCHEDULE OF FINDINGS AND QUESTIONED COSTS (Continued) (b) Conform to any limitations or exclusions set forth in these principles or in the Federal award as to types or amount of cost items. . . . (g) Be adequately documented. . . ." 2 CFR 200.430(i) states in part: "Standards for documentation of Personnel Expenses (1) Charges to Federal awards for salaries and wages must be based on records that accurately reflect the work performed. These records must: (i) Be supported by a system of internal control which provides reasonable assurance that the charges are accurate, allowable, and properly allocated; (ii) Be incorporated into the official records of the non-Federal entity; (iii) Reasonably reflect the total activity for which the employee is compensated by the non-Federal entity, not exceeding 100% of compensated activities (for IHE, this per the IHE's definition of IBS); . . . (vii) Support the distribution of the employee's salary or wages among specific activities or cost objectives if the employee works on more than one Federal award; a Federal award and non-Federal award; an indirect cost activity and a direct cost activity; two or more indirect activities which are allocated using different allocation bases; or an unallowable activity and a direct or indirect cost activity. . . ." Cause A proper system of internal controls was not designed by management of the School Corporation. Embedded within a properly designed and implemented internal control system should be internal controls consisting of policies and procedures. Policies reflect the School Corporation's management statements of what should be done to effect internal control, and procedures should consist of actions that would implement these policies. Effect Without the proper implementation of an effectively designed system of internal controls, the internal control system cannot be capable of effectively preventing, or detecting and correcting, material noncompliance. As a result, not all employment contracts could be presented for audit nor could documentation be provided to support time charged to the grant. Noncompliance with the provisions of federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the federal award could result in the loss of future federal funding to the School Corporation. Questioned Costs There were known questioned costs of $26,207 as identified in the Condition and Context. Recommendation We recommended that management of the School Corporation establish a proper system of internal controls and develop policies and procedures to ensure contracts and certifications, as appropriate, are retained to support the amounts paid from Education Stabilization Fund program funds. INDIANA STATE BOARD OF ACCOUNTS 32 SOUTH BEND COMMUNITY SCHOOL CORPORATION SCHEDULE OF FINDINGS AND QUESTIONED COSTS (Continued) Views of Responsible Officials For the views of responsible officials, refer to the Corrective Action Plan that is part of this report. Auditor's Response The alternative documentation provided was a snapshot from the administrator side of the financial software system; however, the original source document, which was the contract that was approved by the employee, the Superintendent of Schools, and the President of the School Board, was not provided to substantiate the amounts in the administrator side of the financial software system. We reaffirm our finding and will review the status of the finding during our next audit.
FINDING 2022-007 Subject: COVID-19 - Education Stabilization Fund - Reporting Federal Agency: Department of Education Federal Program: COVID-19 - Education Stabilization Fund Assistance Listings Number: 84.425D Federal Award Numbers and Years (or Other Identifying Numbers): S425D200013, S425D210013 Pass-Through Entity: Indiana Department of Education Compliance Requirement: Reporting Audit Findings: Material Weakness, Modified Opinion Condition and Context The School Corporation had not properly designed or implemented a system of internal controls, which would include appropriate segregation of duties, that would likely be effective in preventing, or detecting and correcting, noncompliance. The School Corporation was required to submit an annual data report to the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) via JotForm, a form/report builder. Data to be submitted included, but was not limited to, current period expenditures, prior period expenditures, and expenditures per activity. The School Corporation submitted three reports during the audit period; however, a single employee prepared and submitted the reports without a review or oversight process in place to prevent or detect and correct errors. Additionally, two of the three reports tested, ESSER I Year 2 and ESSER II Year 1, were not supported by the School Corporation's records. The financial information provided was based on estimates and actual expenditures, and did not agree with the data submitted in the reports, nor to the School Corporation's records; therefore, the reports were determined to be inaccurate and incomplete. The key line item "Overall Expenditures" was tested on both reports. The ESSER I Year 2 report overall expenditures key line item was determined to be understated by $140,160. The ESSER II Year 1 overall expenditures key line item was determined to be overstated by $2,745,818. The lack of internal controls and noncompliance were systemic issues throughout the audit period. 33 INDIANA STATE BOARD OF ACCOUNTS SOUTH BEND COMMUNITY SCHOOL CORPORATION SCHEDULE OF FINDINGS AND QUESTIONED COSTS (Continued) Criteria 2 CFR 200.303 states in part: "The non-Federal entity must: (a) Establish and maintain effective internal control over the Federal award that provides reasonable assurance that the non-Federal entity is managing the Federal award in compliance with Federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the Federal award. These internal controls should be in compliance with guidance in 'Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government' issued by the Comptroller General of the United States or the 'Internal Control Integrated Framework', issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO). . . ." 2 CFR 200.334 states in part: "Financial records, supporting documents, statistical records, and all other non-Federal entity records pertinent to a Federal award must be retained for a period of three years from the date of submission of the final expenditure report or, for Federal awards that are renewed quarterly or annually, from the date of the submission of the quarterly or annual financial report, respectively, as reported to the Federal awarding agency or pass-through entity in the case of a subrecipient. . . ." 2 CFR 200.302(b) states in part: "The financial management system of each non-Federal entity must provide for the following. . . ." (2) Accurate, current, and complete disclosure of the financial results of each Federal award or program in accordance with the reporting requirements set forth in §§ 200.328 and 200.329. (3) Records that identify adequately the source and application of funds for federallyfunded activities. These records must contain information pertaining to Federal awards, authorizations, financial obligations, unobligated balances, assets, expenditures, income and interest and be supported by source documentation. . . ." 34 CFR 76.722 states: "A State may require a subgrantee to submit reports in a manner and format that assists the State in complying with the requirements under 34 CFR 76.720 and in carrying out other responsibilities under the program." Cause A proper system of internal controls was not designed by management of the School Corporation. Embedded within a properly designed and implemented internal control system should be internal controls consisting of policies and procedures. Policies reflect the School Corporation's management statements of what should be done to effect internal controls, and procedures should consist of actions that would implement these policies. INDIANA STATE BOARD OF ACCOUNTS 34 SOUTH BEND COMMUNITY SCHOOL CORPORATION SCHEDULE OF FINDINGS AND QUESTIONED COSTS (Continued) Effect Without the proper implementation of an effectively designed system of internal controls, the internal control system cannot be capable of effectively preventing, or detecting and correcting, material noncompliance. As a result, the amounts requested for reimbursement could not be reconciled to the School Corporation's underlying accounting records. Noncompliance with the provisions of federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the federal award could result in the loss of future federal funding to the School Corporation. Questioned Costs There were no questioned costs identified. Recommendation We recommended that management of the School Corporation establish a proper system of internal controls and develop policies and procedures to ensure supporting documentation is used and retained for all required reports submitted on behalf of the Education Stabilization Fund program funds. Views of Responsible Officials For the views of responsible officials, refer to the Corrective Action Plan that is part of this report.
FINDING 2022-006 Subject: COVID-19 - Education Stabilization Fund - Allowable Costs/Cost Principles Federal Agency: Department of Education Federal Program: COVID-19 - Education Stabilization Fund Assistance Listings Number: 84.425D Federal Award Numbers and Years (or Other Identifying Numbers): S425D200013, S425D210013 Pass-Through Entity: Indiana Department of Education Compliance Requirement: Allowable Costs/Cost Principles Audit Findings: Material Weakness, Other Matters 30 INDIANA STATE BOARD OF ACCOUNTS SOUTH BEND COMMUNITY SCHOOL CORPORATION SCHEDULE OF FINDINGS AND QUESTIONED COSTS (Continued) Condition and Context The Education Stabilization Fund established by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, and further funded by the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (CRSSA) and the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act, was for the purpose of preventing, preparing for, or responding to the novel coronavirus. Costs charged to grant funds must be adequately documented. To adequately document payroll expenses charged to the grant fund, contracts or other documentation supporting the employees' approved rates of pay are necessary. The School Corporation utilized a financial software system that has two different sides, an employee portal side and an administrator side. Employee contracts are approved by the employee, the Superintendent of Schools, and the President of the School Board within the system on the employee portal side. Once approved, the data in the employee portal side is fed into a process in the administrator side. The School Corporation could not provide contracts for 3 of 13 employees tested, as the contracts were not properly archived in the financial software used to electronically approve and archive employment contracts. As such, we could not verify the employees were paid their contracted rate for hours spent working on grant-related activities. This resulted in known questioned costs of $26,207. The lack of internal controls and noncompliance were systemic issues throughout the audit period. Criteria 2 CFR 200.303 states in part: "The non-Federal entity must: (a) Establish and maintain effective internal control over the Federal award that provides reasonable assurance that the non-Federal entity is managing the Federal award in compliance with Federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the Federal award. These internal controls should be in compliance with guidance in 'Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government' issued by the Comptroller General of the United States or the 'Internal Control Integrated Framework', issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO). . . ." 2 CFR 200.334 states in part: "Financial records, supporting documents, statistical records, and all other non-Federal entity records pertinent to a Federal award must be retained for a period of three years from the date of submission of the final expenditure report or, for Federal awards that are renewed quarterly or annually, from the date of the submission of the quarterly or annual financial report, respectively, as reported to the Federal awarding agency or pass-through entity in the case of a subrecipient. . . ." 2 CFR 200.403 states in part: "Except where otherwise authorized by statute, costs must meet the following general criteria in order to be allowable under Federal awards: (a) Be necessary and reasonable for the performance of the Federal award and be allocable thereto under these principles. INDIANA STATE BOARD OF ACCOUNTS 31 SOUTH BEND COMMUNITY SCHOOL CORPORATION SCHEDULE OF FINDINGS AND QUESTIONED COSTS (Continued) (b) Conform to any limitations or exclusions set forth in these principles or in the Federal award as to types or amount of cost items. . . . (g) Be adequately documented. . . ." 2 CFR 200.430(i) states in part: "Standards for documentation of Personnel Expenses (1) Charges to Federal awards for salaries and wages must be based on records that accurately reflect the work performed. These records must: (i) Be supported by a system of internal control which provides reasonable assurance that the charges are accurate, allowable, and properly allocated; (ii) Be incorporated into the official records of the non-Federal entity; (iii) Reasonably reflect the total activity for which the employee is compensated by the non-Federal entity, not exceeding 100% of compensated activities (for IHE, this per the IHE's definition of IBS); . . . (vii) Support the distribution of the employee's salary or wages among specific activities or cost objectives if the employee works on more than one Federal award; a Federal award and non-Federal award; an indirect cost activity and a direct cost activity; two or more indirect activities which are allocated using different allocation bases; or an unallowable activity and a direct or indirect cost activity. . . ." Cause A proper system of internal controls was not designed by management of the School Corporation. Embedded within a properly designed and implemented internal control system should be internal controls consisting of policies and procedures. Policies reflect the School Corporation's management statements of what should be done to effect internal control, and procedures should consist of actions that would implement these policies. Effect Without the proper implementation of an effectively designed system of internal controls, the internal control system cannot be capable of effectively preventing, or detecting and correcting, material noncompliance. As a result, not all employment contracts could be presented for audit nor could documentation be provided to support time charged to the grant. Noncompliance with the provisions of federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the federal award could result in the loss of future federal funding to the School Corporation. Questioned Costs There were known questioned costs of $26,207 as identified in the Condition and Context. Recommendation We recommended that management of the School Corporation establish a proper system of internal controls and develop policies and procedures to ensure contracts and certifications, as appropriate, are retained to support the amounts paid from Education Stabilization Fund program funds. INDIANA STATE BOARD OF ACCOUNTS 32 SOUTH BEND COMMUNITY SCHOOL CORPORATION SCHEDULE OF FINDINGS AND QUESTIONED COSTS (Continued) Views of Responsible Officials For the views of responsible officials, refer to the Corrective Action Plan that is part of this report. Auditor's Response The alternative documentation provided was a snapshot from the administrator side of the financial software system; however, the original source document, which was the contract that was approved by the employee, the Superintendent of Schools, and the President of the School Board, was not provided to substantiate the amounts in the administrator side of the financial software system. We reaffirm our finding and will review the status of the finding during our next audit.
FINDING 2022-007 Subject: COVID-19 - Education Stabilization Fund - Reporting Federal Agency: Department of Education Federal Program: COVID-19 - Education Stabilization Fund Assistance Listings Number: 84.425D Federal Award Numbers and Years (or Other Identifying Numbers): S425D200013, S425D210013 Pass-Through Entity: Indiana Department of Education Compliance Requirement: Reporting Audit Findings: Material Weakness, Modified Opinion Condition and Context The School Corporation had not properly designed or implemented a system of internal controls, which would include appropriate segregation of duties, that would likely be effective in preventing, or detecting and correcting, noncompliance. The School Corporation was required to submit an annual data report to the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) via JotForm, a form/report builder. Data to be submitted included, but was not limited to, current period expenditures, prior period expenditures, and expenditures per activity. The School Corporation submitted three reports during the audit period; however, a single employee prepared and submitted the reports without a review or oversight process in place to prevent or detect and correct errors. Additionally, two of the three reports tested, ESSER I Year 2 and ESSER II Year 1, were not supported by the School Corporation's records. The financial information provided was based on estimates and actual expenditures, and did not agree with the data submitted in the reports, nor to the School Corporation's records; therefore, the reports were determined to be inaccurate and incomplete. The key line item "Overall Expenditures" was tested on both reports. The ESSER I Year 2 report overall expenditures key line item was determined to be understated by $140,160. The ESSER II Year 1 overall expenditures key line item was determined to be overstated by $2,745,818. The lack of internal controls and noncompliance were systemic issues throughout the audit period. 33 INDIANA STATE BOARD OF ACCOUNTS SOUTH BEND COMMUNITY SCHOOL CORPORATION SCHEDULE OF FINDINGS AND QUESTIONED COSTS (Continued) Criteria 2 CFR 200.303 states in part: "The non-Federal entity must: (a) Establish and maintain effective internal control over the Federal award that provides reasonable assurance that the non-Federal entity is managing the Federal award in compliance with Federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the Federal award. These internal controls should be in compliance with guidance in 'Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government' issued by the Comptroller General of the United States or the 'Internal Control Integrated Framework', issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO). . . ." 2 CFR 200.334 states in part: "Financial records, supporting documents, statistical records, and all other non-Federal entity records pertinent to a Federal award must be retained for a period of three years from the date of submission of the final expenditure report or, for Federal awards that are renewed quarterly or annually, from the date of the submission of the quarterly or annual financial report, respectively, as reported to the Federal awarding agency or pass-through entity in the case of a subrecipient. . . ." 2 CFR 200.302(b) states in part: "The financial management system of each non-Federal entity must provide for the following. . . ." (2) Accurate, current, and complete disclosure of the financial results of each Federal award or program in accordance with the reporting requirements set forth in §§ 200.328 and 200.329. (3) Records that identify adequately the source and application of funds for federallyfunded activities. These records must contain information pertaining to Federal awards, authorizations, financial obligations, unobligated balances, assets, expenditures, income and interest and be supported by source documentation. . . ." 34 CFR 76.722 states: "A State may require a subgrantee to submit reports in a manner and format that assists the State in complying with the requirements under 34 CFR 76.720 and in carrying out other responsibilities under the program." Cause A proper system of internal controls was not designed by management of the School Corporation. Embedded within a properly designed and implemented internal control system should be internal controls consisting of policies and procedures. Policies reflect the School Corporation's management statements of what should be done to effect internal controls, and procedures should consist of actions that would implement these policies. INDIANA STATE BOARD OF ACCOUNTS 34 SOUTH BEND COMMUNITY SCHOOL CORPORATION SCHEDULE OF FINDINGS AND QUESTIONED COSTS (Continued) Effect Without the proper implementation of an effectively designed system of internal controls, the internal control system cannot be capable of effectively preventing, or detecting and correcting, material noncompliance. As a result, the amounts requested for reimbursement could not be reconciled to the School Corporation's underlying accounting records. Noncompliance with the provisions of federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the federal award could result in the loss of future federal funding to the School Corporation. Questioned Costs There were no questioned costs identified. Recommendation We recommended that management of the School Corporation establish a proper system of internal controls and develop policies and procedures to ensure supporting documentation is used and retained for all required reports submitted on behalf of the Education Stabilization Fund program funds. Views of Responsible Officials For the views of responsible officials, refer to the Corrective Action Plan that is part of this report.
2022-021: U.S. Department of Labor Unemployment Insurance, 17.225 Special Tests and Provisions – UI Benefit Payments Material Weakness in Internal Control over Compliance Grant Award Number: Affects all grant awards included under assistance listing 17.225 on the Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards. Criteria: State Workforce Agencies are required by 20 CFR section 602.11(d) to operate and maintain a quality control system. The Benefits Accuracy Measurement (BAM) program is the quality control system designed to assess the accuracy of UI benefit payments and denied claims. The State’s BAM unit is required to draw a weekly sample of payments and denied claims, complete prompt and in-depth investigations to determine the degree of accuracy in the administration of the program. The requirements are promulgated in the ET Handbook No. 395 (Handbook). Title 2 U.S. Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 200 Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards (Uniform Guidance) section 200.303 provides that non-federal entities must establish and maintain effective internal control that provides reasonable assurance that the non-federal entity is managing the federal award in compliance with federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the federal award. State of Nevada, Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation, Manual of Operations, Chapter 7800, Part V, Section 7862 Supervisor Case Review states that the supervisor review is intended as a final check of information gathered and processed during the audit to ensure horizontal consistency, consistent and correct coding, and ensure all required elements are complete and included. Items/Areas of concern will be addressed to the investigator of the case and resolved prior to closing the case. Department of Labor ET Handbook 395, Part VI, Section 11 Completion of Cases and Timely Data Entry states that a minimum of 70% of cases must be completed within 60 days of the week ending date of the batch, and 95% of cases must be completed within 90 days of the week ending batch; and a minimum of 98% of cases for the year must be completed within 120 days of the ending date of the calendar year. Condition: Investigations performed by the BAM supervisor or senior investigator are not reviewed by someone other than the investigator. In addition, completion of cases and timely data entry requirements were not met. Cause: The Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation (DETR) did not have internal controls to ensure appropriate segregation of duties on all BAM investigations and to ensure the timely data entry requirements were met. Effect: Errors may occur in a BAM investigation that are not detected or may not be detected timely. Questioned Costs: None Context/Sampling: A nonstatistical sample of 60 completed BAM cases out of a population of 734 was selected for testing. The investigator and reviewer were the same person for 17 of the cases tested. In addition, a time lapse report of case completion was examined for paid claims accuracy. Of these investigations, 85.19% of the cases were completed within 90 days, rather than the 95% required. In addition, the total completion percentage was 92.12% complete, rather than the 98% completion required. Repeat Finding from Prior Year: Yes – prior year finding 2021-028. Recommendation: We recommend DETR implement internal controls to ensure appropriate segregation of duties on all BAM investigations and to ensure timeliness requirements are met. Views of Responsible Officials: The Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation agrees with this finding.
2022-021: U.S. Department of Labor Unemployment Insurance, 17.225 Special Tests and Provisions – UI Benefit Payments Material Weakness in Internal Control over Compliance Grant Award Number: Affects all grant awards included under assistance listing 17.225 on the Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards. Criteria: State Workforce Agencies are required by 20 CFR section 602.11(d) to operate and maintain a quality control system. The Benefits Accuracy Measurement (BAM) program is the quality control system designed to assess the accuracy of UI benefit payments and denied claims. The State’s BAM unit is required to draw a weekly sample of payments and denied claims, complete prompt and in-depth investigations to determine the degree of accuracy in the administration of the program. The requirements are promulgated in the ET Handbook No. 395 (Handbook). Title 2 U.S. Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 200 Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards (Uniform Guidance) section 200.303 provides that non-federal entities must establish and maintain effective internal control that provides reasonable assurance that the non-federal entity is managing the federal award in compliance with federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the federal award. State of Nevada, Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation, Manual of Operations, Chapter 7800, Part V, Section 7862 Supervisor Case Review states that the supervisor review is intended as a final check of information gathered and processed during the audit to ensure horizontal consistency, consistent and correct coding, and ensure all required elements are complete and included. Items/Areas of concern will be addressed to the investigator of the case and resolved prior to closing the case. Department of Labor ET Handbook 395, Part VI, Section 11 Completion of Cases and Timely Data Entry states that a minimum of 70% of cases must be completed within 60 days of the week ending date of the batch, and 95% of cases must be completed within 90 days of the week ending batch; and a minimum of 98% of cases for the year must be completed within 120 days of the ending date of the calendar year. Condition: Investigations performed by the BAM supervisor or senior investigator are not reviewed by someone other than the investigator. In addition, completion of cases and timely data entry requirements were not met. Cause: The Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation (DETR) did not have internal controls to ensure appropriate segregation of duties on all BAM investigations and to ensure the timely data entry requirements were met. Effect: Errors may occur in a BAM investigation that are not detected or may not be detected timely. Questioned Costs: None Context/Sampling: A nonstatistical sample of 60 completed BAM cases out of a population of 734 was selected for testing. The investigator and reviewer were the same person for 17 of the cases tested. In addition, a time lapse report of case completion was examined for paid claims accuracy. Of these investigations, 85.19% of the cases were completed within 90 days, rather than the 95% required. In addition, the total completion percentage was 92.12% complete, rather than the 98% completion required. Repeat Finding from Prior Year: Yes – prior year finding 2021-028. Recommendation: We recommend DETR implement internal controls to ensure appropriate segregation of duties on all BAM investigations and to ensure timeliness requirements are met. Views of Responsible Officials: The Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation agrees with this finding.
2022-026: U.S. Department of Treasury Emergency Rental Assistance Program, 21.023 Reporting Significant Deficiency in Internal Control over Compliance Grant Award Number: Affects all grant awards included under assistance listing 21.023 on the Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards. Criteria: Title 2 U.S. Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 200 Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards (Uniform Guidance) section 200.303 provides that non-federal entities must establish and maintain effective internal control that provides reasonable assurance that the non-federal entity is managing the federal award in compliance with federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the federal award. The OMB Compliance Supplement provides that states are required to submit Federal Financial Reports (SF-425). In addition, states are required to submit Quarterly Reports for Emergency Rental Assistance as amended by the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 (ERA1) and Emergency Rental Assistance from the American Rescue Plan Act (ERA2). Condition: There was no review of the SF-425 reports or Quarterly Reports by an individual independent of the preparation of the reports. Cause: The Nevada Housing Division (NHD) did not have internal controls to ensure reports are reviewed prior to submission. Effect: Inaccurate information may be submitted to the federal awarding agency. Questioned Costs: None Context/Sampling: A nonstatistical sample of two SF-425 reports out of a population of four and four Quarterly Reports out of a population of eight was selected for testing. There was no evidence of segregation of duties on any of the reports selected for testing. Repeat Finding from Prior Year: No Recommendation: We recommend NHD implement internal controls to ensure reports are reviewed prior to submission. Views of Responsible Officials: The Nevada Housing Division agrees with this finding.
2022-030: U.S. Department of Treasury Homeowners Assistance Fund, 21.026 Reporting Significant Deficiency in Internal Control over Compliance Grant Award Number: Affects all grant awards included under assistance listing 21.026 on the Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards. Criteria: Title 2 U.S. Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 200 Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards (Uniform Guidance) section 200.303 provides that non-federal entities must establish and maintain effective internal control that provides reasonable assurance that the non-federal entity is managing the federal award in compliance with federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the federal award. The OMB Compliance Supplement requires that state homeowner assistance fund (HAF) participants submit a one-time interim report. Condition: There was no evidence that the one-time interim report was reviewed by an individual separate from the preparer. Cause: The Nevada Housing Division (NHD) did not have internal controls to ensure there was documented review of the one-time interim report. Effect: Incorrect information may be submitted to the federal awarding agency. Questioned Costs: None Context/Sampling: We tested the entire population of one report submitted during the year. Repeat Finding from Prior Year: No Recommendation: We recommend NHD implement internal controls to ensure there is documented review of reports submitted to federal awarding agencies. Views of Responsible Officials: The Nevada Housing Division agrees with this finding.
2022-037: U.S. Department of Education Title I Grants to Local Educational Agencies, 84.010 Matching, Level of Effort, and Earmarking Significant Deficiency in Internal Control over Compliance Grant Award Number: Affects all grant awards included under assistance listing 84.010 on the Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards. Criteria: Title 2 U.S. Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 200 Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards (Uniform Guidance) section 200.303 provides that non-federal entities must establish and maintain effective internal control that provides reasonable assurance that the non-federal entity is managing the federal award in compliance with federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the federal award. Condition: Information the Nevada Department of Education (NDE) compiled to monitor local educational agency compliance with maintenance of effort requirements did not agree to underlying supporting documentation. Cause: NDE did not have sufficient internal controls to ensure information included in the maintenance of effort monitoring document agreed to underlying documentation. Effect: Noncompliance with maintenance of effort requirements may not be detected. Questioned Costs: None Context/Sampling: A nonstatistical sample of five school districts and four charter schools out of a population of 17 school districts and 37 charter schools was selected for testing. Amounts included in the calculation for one school district and one charter school did not agree to underlying supporting documentation. Repeat Finding from Prior Year: No Recommendation: We recommend NDE enhance internal controls to ensure information included in the maintenance of effort monitoring document agrees to underlying documentation. Views of Responsible Officials: The Nevada Department of Education agrees with this finding.
2022-043: U.S. Department of Education Education Stabilization Fund, 84.425 Reporting Material Weakness in Internal Control over Compliance and Material Noncompliance Grant Award Number: Affects all grant awards included under assistance listing 84.425 on the Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards. Criteria: The OMB Compliance Supplement provides that State Educational Agencies submit annual reports over Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER), Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Grants and Emergency Assistance to Non-Public Schools (EANS). Each report contains data on expenditures, planned expenditures, subrecipients, and use of funds, including for mandatory reservations. Title 2 U.S. Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 200 Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards (Uniform Guidance) section 200.303 provides that non-federal entities must establish and maintain effective internal control that provides reasonable assurance that the non-federal entity is managing the federal award in compliance with federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the federal award. Condition: Certain amounts included in the annual reports submitted for EANS and GEER did not agree to underlying support or underlying support for amounts reported were not maintained. In addition, there was no evidence of review and approval (segregation of duties) between the preparer and reviewer of these reports. Cause: The Nevada Department of Education (NDE) did not have internal controls to identify required information to be reported, ensure accuracy, or maintain adequate document retention to support compliance. Effect: Inaccurate or incomplete information was reported to the federal awarding agency or was not reported timely. Questioned Costs: None Context/Sampling: Two annual reports were required to be filed in the State Fiscal Year, GEER and EANS. The errors for the submitted reports were noted as follows: GEER 7/1/2020 through 6/31/2021 Report •The amount allocated was reported as $38,490,388, there was nounderlying support for the amount reported. •The amount expended was reported as $13,771,505, there was nounderlying support for the amount reported. •Administrative uses were reported as $0, there was no underlyingsupport for the amount reported. •Non-administrative uses were reported as $3,227,999, there was nounderlying support for the amount reported. •13 of the 18 local educational agencies reported did not agree tounderlying support for reportable categories. •No underlying support was available for information reported onInstitutions of Higher Education. •No underlying support was available for information reported on OtherEntities. EANS 7/1/2020 through 6/30/2021 Report •The amount expended was reported as $1,701,593, there was nounderlying support for the amount reported •The amount obligated (not yet expended) was reported as $12,357,444,there was no underlying support for the amount reported. •1 out of 22 non-public schools reported did not agree to underlyingsupport for reportable categories. Repeat Finding from Prior Year: Yes – prior year finding 2021-038. Recommendation: We recommend NDE implement internal controls to identify required information to be reported, ensure accuracy, and maintain adequate document retention to support compliance. Views of Responsible Officials: The Nevada Department of Education agrees with this finding.
2022-043: U.S. Department of Education Education Stabilization Fund, 84.425 Reporting Material Weakness in Internal Control over Compliance and Material Noncompliance Grant Award Number: Affects all grant awards included under assistance listing 84.425 on the Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards. Criteria: The OMB Compliance Supplement provides that State Educational Agencies submit annual reports over Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER), Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Grants and Emergency Assistance to Non-Public Schools (EANS). Each report contains data on expenditures, planned expenditures, subrecipients, and use of funds, including for mandatory reservations. Title 2 U.S. Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 200 Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards (Uniform Guidance) section 200.303 provides that non-federal entities must establish and maintain effective internal control that provides reasonable assurance that the non-federal entity is managing the federal award in compliance with federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the federal award. Condition: Certain amounts included in the annual reports submitted for EANS and GEER did not agree to underlying support or underlying support for amounts reported were not maintained. In addition, there was no evidence of review and approval (segregation of duties) between the preparer and reviewer of these reports. Cause: The Nevada Department of Education (NDE) did not have internal controls to identify required information to be reported, ensure accuracy, or maintain adequate document retention to support compliance. Effect: Inaccurate or incomplete information was reported to the federal awarding agency or was not reported timely. Questioned Costs: None Context/Sampling: Two annual reports were required to be filed in the State Fiscal Year, GEER and EANS. The errors for the submitted reports were noted as follows: GEER 7/1/2020 through 6/31/2021 Report •The amount allocated was reported as $38,490,388, there was nounderlying support for the amount reported. •The amount expended was reported as $13,771,505, there was nounderlying support for the amount reported. •Administrative uses were reported as $0, there was no underlyingsupport for the amount reported. •Non-administrative uses were reported as $3,227,999, there was nounderlying support for the amount reported. •13 of the 18 local educational agencies reported did not agree tounderlying support for reportable categories. •No underlying support was available for information reported onInstitutions of Higher Education. •No underlying support was available for information reported on OtherEntities. EANS 7/1/2020 through 6/30/2021 Report •The amount expended was reported as $1,701,593, there was nounderlying support for the amount reported •The amount obligated (not yet expended) was reported as $12,357,444,there was no underlying support for the amount reported. •1 out of 22 non-public schools reported did not agree to underlyingsupport for reportable categories. Repeat Finding from Prior Year: Yes – prior year finding 2021-038. Recommendation: We recommend NDE implement internal controls to identify required information to be reported, ensure accuracy, and maintain adequate document retention to support compliance. Views of Responsible Officials: The Nevada Department of Education agrees with this finding.
2022-043: U.S. Department of Education Education Stabilization Fund, 84.425 Reporting Material Weakness in Internal Control over Compliance and Material Noncompliance Grant Award Number: Affects all grant awards included under assistance listing 84.425 on the Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards. Criteria: The OMB Compliance Supplement provides that State Educational Agencies submit annual reports over Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER), Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Grants and Emergency Assistance to Non-Public Schools (EANS). Each report contains data on expenditures, planned expenditures, subrecipients, and use of funds, including for mandatory reservations. Title 2 U.S. Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 200 Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards (Uniform Guidance) section 200.303 provides that non-federal entities must establish and maintain effective internal control that provides reasonable assurance that the non-federal entity is managing the federal award in compliance with federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the federal award. Condition: Certain amounts included in the annual reports submitted for EANS and GEER did not agree to underlying support or underlying support for amounts reported were not maintained. In addition, there was no evidence of review and approval (segregation of duties) between the preparer and reviewer of these reports. Cause: The Nevada Department of Education (NDE) did not have internal controls to identify required information to be reported, ensure accuracy, or maintain adequate document retention to support compliance. Effect: Inaccurate or incomplete information was reported to the federal awarding agency or was not reported timely. Questioned Costs: None Context/Sampling: Two annual reports were required to be filed in the State Fiscal Year, GEER and EANS. The errors for the submitted reports were noted as follows: GEER 7/1/2020 through 6/31/2021 Report •The amount allocated was reported as $38,490,388, there was nounderlying support for the amount reported. •The amount expended was reported as $13,771,505, there was nounderlying support for the amount reported. •Administrative uses were reported as $0, there was no underlyingsupport for the amount reported. •Non-administrative uses were reported as $3,227,999, there was nounderlying support for the amount reported. •13 of the 18 local educational agencies reported did not agree tounderlying support for reportable categories. •No underlying support was available for information reported onInstitutions of Higher Education. •No underlying support was available for information reported on OtherEntities. EANS 7/1/2020 through 6/30/2021 Report •The amount expended was reported as $1,701,593, there was nounderlying support for the amount reported •The amount obligated (not yet expended) was reported as $12,357,444,there was no underlying support for the amount reported. •1 out of 22 non-public schools reported did not agree to underlyingsupport for reportable categories. Repeat Finding from Prior Year: Yes – prior year finding 2021-038. Recommendation: We recommend NDE implement internal controls to identify required information to be reported, ensure accuracy, and maintain adequate document retention to support compliance. Views of Responsible Officials: The Nevada Department of Education agrees with this finding.
2022-043: U.S. Department of Education Education Stabilization Fund, 84.425 Reporting Material Weakness in Internal Control over Compliance and Material Noncompliance Grant Award Number: Affects all grant awards included under assistance listing 84.425 on the Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards. Criteria: The OMB Compliance Supplement provides that State Educational Agencies submit annual reports over Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER), Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Grants and Emergency Assistance to Non-Public Schools (EANS). Each report contains data on expenditures, planned expenditures, subrecipients, and use of funds, including for mandatory reservations. Title 2 U.S. Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 200 Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards (Uniform Guidance) section 200.303 provides that non-federal entities must establish and maintain effective internal control that provides reasonable assurance that the non-federal entity is managing the federal award in compliance with federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the federal award. Condition: Certain amounts included in the annual reports submitted for EANS and GEER did not agree to underlying support or underlying support for amounts reported were not maintained. In addition, there was no evidence of review and approval (segregation of duties) between the preparer and reviewer of these reports. Cause: The Nevada Department of Education (NDE) did not have internal controls to identify required information to be reported, ensure accuracy, or maintain adequate document retention to support compliance. Effect: Inaccurate or incomplete information was reported to the federal awarding agency or was not reported timely. Questioned Costs: None Context/Sampling: Two annual reports were required to be filed in the State Fiscal Year, GEER and EANS. The errors for the submitted reports were noted as follows: GEER 7/1/2020 through 6/31/2021 Report •The amount allocated was reported as $38,490,388, there was nounderlying support for the amount reported. •The amount expended was reported as $13,771,505, there was nounderlying support for the amount reported. •Administrative uses were reported as $0, there was no underlyingsupport for the amount reported. •Non-administrative uses were reported as $3,227,999, there was nounderlying support for the amount reported. •13 of the 18 local educational agencies reported did not agree tounderlying support for reportable categories. •No underlying support was available for information reported onInstitutions of Higher Education. •No underlying support was available for information reported on OtherEntities. EANS 7/1/2020 through 6/30/2021 Report •The amount expended was reported as $1,701,593, there was nounderlying support for the amount reported •The amount obligated (not yet expended) was reported as $12,357,444,there was no underlying support for the amount reported. •1 out of 22 non-public schools reported did not agree to underlyingsupport for reportable categories. Repeat Finding from Prior Year: Yes – prior year finding 2021-038. Recommendation: We recommend NDE implement internal controls to identify required information to be reported, ensure accuracy, and maintain adequate document retention to support compliance. Views of Responsible Officials: The Nevada Department of Education agrees with this finding.
2022-043: U.S. Department of Education Education Stabilization Fund, 84.425 Reporting Material Weakness in Internal Control over Compliance and Material Noncompliance Grant Award Number: Affects all grant awards included under assistance listing 84.425 on the Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards. Criteria: The OMB Compliance Supplement provides that State Educational Agencies submit annual reports over Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER), Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Grants and Emergency Assistance to Non-Public Schools (EANS). Each report contains data on expenditures, planned expenditures, subrecipients, and use of funds, including for mandatory reservations. Title 2 U.S. Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 200 Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards (Uniform Guidance) section 200.303 provides that non-federal entities must establish and maintain effective internal control that provides reasonable assurance that the non-federal entity is managing the federal award in compliance with federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the federal award. Condition: Certain amounts included in the annual reports submitted for EANS and GEER did not agree to underlying support or underlying support for amounts reported were not maintained. In addition, there was no evidence of review and approval (segregation of duties) between the preparer and reviewer of these reports. Cause: The Nevada Department of Education (NDE) did not have internal controls to identify required information to be reported, ensure accuracy, or maintain adequate document retention to support compliance. Effect: Inaccurate or incomplete information was reported to the federal awarding agency or was not reported timely. Questioned Costs: None Context/Sampling: Two annual reports were required to be filed in the State Fiscal Year, GEER and EANS. The errors for the submitted reports were noted as follows: GEER 7/1/2020 through 6/31/2021 Report •The amount allocated was reported as $38,490,388, there was nounderlying support for the amount reported. •The amount expended was reported as $13,771,505, there was nounderlying support for the amount reported. •Administrative uses were reported as $0, there was no underlyingsupport for the amount reported. •Non-administrative uses were reported as $3,227,999, there was nounderlying support for the amount reported. •13 of the 18 local educational agencies reported did not agree tounderlying support for reportable categories. •No underlying support was available for information reported onInstitutions of Higher Education. •No underlying support was available for information reported on OtherEntities. EANS 7/1/2020 through 6/30/2021 Report •The amount expended was reported as $1,701,593, there was nounderlying support for the amount reported •The amount obligated (not yet expended) was reported as $12,357,444,there was no underlying support for the amount reported. •1 out of 22 non-public schools reported did not agree to underlyingsupport for reportable categories. Repeat Finding from Prior Year: Yes – prior year finding 2021-038. Recommendation: We recommend NDE implement internal controls to identify required information to be reported, ensure accuracy, and maintain adequate document retention to support compliance. Views of Responsible Officials: The Nevada Department of Education agrees with this finding.
2022-043: U.S. Department of Education Education Stabilization Fund, 84.425 Reporting Material Weakness in Internal Control over Compliance and Material Noncompliance Grant Award Number: Affects all grant awards included under assistance listing 84.425 on the Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards. Criteria: The OMB Compliance Supplement provides that State Educational Agencies submit annual reports over Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER), Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Grants and Emergency Assistance to Non-Public Schools (EANS). Each report contains data on expenditures, planned expenditures, subrecipients, and use of funds, including for mandatory reservations. Title 2 U.S. Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 200 Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards (Uniform Guidance) section 200.303 provides that non-federal entities must establish and maintain effective internal control that provides reasonable assurance that the non-federal entity is managing the federal award in compliance with federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the federal award. Condition: Certain amounts included in the annual reports submitted for EANS and GEER did not agree to underlying support or underlying support for amounts reported were not maintained. In addition, there was no evidence of review and approval (segregation of duties) between the preparer and reviewer of these reports. Cause: The Nevada Department of Education (NDE) did not have internal controls to identify required information to be reported, ensure accuracy, or maintain adequate document retention to support compliance. Effect: Inaccurate or incomplete information was reported to the federal awarding agency or was not reported timely. Questioned Costs: None Context/Sampling: Two annual reports were required to be filed in the State Fiscal Year, GEER and EANS. The errors for the submitted reports were noted as follows: GEER 7/1/2020 through 6/31/2021 Report •The amount allocated was reported as $38,490,388, there was nounderlying support for the amount reported. •The amount expended was reported as $13,771,505, there was nounderlying support for the amount reported. •Administrative uses were reported as $0, there was no underlyingsupport for the amount reported. •Non-administrative uses were reported as $3,227,999, there was nounderlying support for the amount reported. •13 of the 18 local educational agencies reported did not agree tounderlying support for reportable categories. •No underlying support was available for information reported onInstitutions of Higher Education. •No underlying support was available for information reported on OtherEntities. EANS 7/1/2020 through 6/30/2021 Report •The amount expended was reported as $1,701,593, there was nounderlying support for the amount reported •The amount obligated (not yet expended) was reported as $12,357,444,there was no underlying support for the amount reported. •1 out of 22 non-public schools reported did not agree to underlyingsupport for reportable categories. Repeat Finding from Prior Year: Yes – prior year finding 2021-038. Recommendation: We recommend NDE implement internal controls to identify required information to be reported, ensure accuracy, and maintain adequate document retention to support compliance. Views of Responsible Officials: The Nevada Department of Education agrees with this finding.
2022-047: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Low-Income Home Energy Assistance, 93.568 Cash Management Significant Deficiency in Internal Control over Compliance Grant Award Number: Affects all grant awards included under assistance listing 93.568 on the Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards. Criteria: Title 2 U.S. Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 200 Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards (Uniform Guidance) section 200.303 provides that non-federal entities must establish and maintain effective internal control that provides reasonable assurance that the non-federal entity is managing the federal award in compliance with federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the federal award. Condition: A reimbursement request was not reviewed and approved by an individual independent of the preparation of the request. Cause: The Nevada Division of Welfare and Supportive Services (DWSS) did not have adequate internal controls to ensure all reimbursement requests were reviewed and approved in accordance with the Division’s internal control policy. Effect: Inaccurate reimbursement requests may occur and not detected by DWSS timely. Questioned Costs: None Context/Sampling: A nonstatistical sample of 14 reimbursement requests out of a population of 68 was selected for testing. One reimbursement request did not have the evidence of review and approval in accordance with DWSS’s internal control policy. Repeat Finding from Prior Year: No Recommendation: We recommend DWSS enhance internal controls to ensure all reimbursement requests are reviewed and approved in accordance with the Division’s internal control policy. Views of Responsible Officials: The Nevada Division of Welfare and Supportive agrees with this finding.