Finding Text
Federal Agency: Department of Justice
Federal Assistance Listing Numbers: 16.756, 16.726
Programs: Court Appointed Special Advocates, Juvenile Mentoring Program
Award/Pass-Through Entity Identifying Numbers: 2018-CH-BX-K001, 15PJDP-21-GK-02762-CASA, 2019-MU-FX-0004, 2020-JU-FX-0028
Criteria: The Uniform Guidance in 2 CFR §200.332 details requirements for pass-through entities in regard to subrecipient monitoring and management.
Per 2 CFR §200.332, Requirements for Pass-Through Entities:
“All pass-through entities must:
(a) Ensure that every subaward is clearly identified to the subrecipient as a subaward and includes the following information at the time of the subaward and if any of these data elements change, include the changes in subsequent subaward modification. When some of this information is not available, the pass-through entity must provide the best information available to describe the federal award and subaward. Required information includes:
(1) Federal award identification.
i. Subrecipient name (which must match the name associated with its unique entity identifier);
ii. Subrecipient’s unique entity identifier;
iii. Federal Award Identification Number (FAIN);
iv. Federal Award Date (see the definition of federal award date in §200.1 of this part) of award to the recipient by the federal agency;
v. Subaward Period of Performance Start and End Date;
vi. Subaward Budget Period Start and End Date;
vii. Amount of Federal Funds Obligated by this action by the pass-through entity to the subrecipient;
viii. Total Amount of Federal Funds Obligated to the subrecipient by the pass through entity, including the current financial obligation;
ix. Total Amount of the Federal Award committed to the subrecipient by the pass-through entity;
x. Federal award project description, as required to be responsive to the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (FFATA);
xi. Name of federal awarding agency, pass-through entity, and contact information for awarding official of the Pass-through entity;
xii. Assistance Listings Number and Title; the pass-through entity must identify the dollar amount made available under each federal award and the Assistance Listings Number at time of disbursement;
xiii. Identification of whether the award is R&D; and
xiv. Indirect cost rate for the federal award (including if the de minimis rate is charged) per § 200.414.
(2) All requirements imposed by the pass-through entity on the subrecipient so that the federal award is used in accordance with federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the federal award;
(3) Any additional requirements that the pass-through entity imposes on the subrecipient in order for the pass-through entity to meet its own responsibility to the federal awarding agency, including identification of any required financial and performance reports;
(4)
i. An approved federally recognized indirect cost rate negotiated between the subrecipient and the Federal Government. If no approved rate exists, the pass-through entity must determine the appropriate rate in collaboration with the subrecipient, which is either:
(A) The negotiated indirect cost rate between the pass-through entity and the subrecipient, which can be based on a prior negotiated rate between a different PTE and the same subrecipient. If basing the rate on a previously negotiated rate, the pass-through entity is not required to collect information justifying this rate, but may elect to do so;
(B) The de minimis indirect cost rate.
ii. The pass-through entity must not require use of a de minimis indirect cost rate if the subrecipient has a federally approved rate. Subrecipients can elect to use the cost allocation method to account for indirect costs in accordance with §200.405(d).
(5) A requirement that the subrecipient permits the pass-through entity and auditors to have access to the subrecipient’s records and financial statements as necessary for the pass-through entity to meet the requirements of this part; and
(6) Appropriate terms and conditions concerning closeout of the subaward.”
Condition: National CASA/GAL’s subrecipient agreements do not contain a level of specificity to fully comply with federal subrecipient regulations. During our testing of subrecipient monitoring, we selected 20 subrecipient awards within Court Appointed Special Advocates and 17 subrecipient awards within the Juvenile Mentoring Program. For all awards tested, National CASA/GAL’s subaward agreements did not comply with 2 CFR §200.332, Requirements for Pass-Through Entities, as they do not contain a specific scope of work or project description.
Cause: National CASA/GAL did not have the proper policies and procedures in place to ensure subaward agreements complied to relevant federal regulation, and that all required elements are located in subaward agreements, and not in the application or by reference to other documents.
Effect or Potential Effect: Without adequate controls in place to ensure conformity with subaward requirements, grantees may not ensure compliance with any award special conditions or revised budgets agreed upon at contract implementation.
Questioned Costs: None.
Context: This is a condition identified per review of National CASA/GAL’s compliance with specified requirements using a non-statistically valid sample. For the Court Appointed Special Advocates Program, the population consisted of 100 subawards made totaling to $1,471,827 provided to subrecipients in 2022. The sample consisted of 20 subawards totaling $410,352 provided to subrecipients in 2022. For the Juvenile Mentoring Program, the population consisted of 83 subawards totaling to $2,339,039 provided to subrecipients in 2022. The sample consisted of 17 subawards totaling $441,399 provided to subrecipients in 2022.
Identification as a Repeat Finding: Not a repeat finding.
Recommendation: We recommend establishing and maintaining written policies and procedures to ensure subaward agreements conform to the requirements outlined in 2 CFR §200.332.
Views of Responsible Officials: Management agrees that subrecipient agreements in place in 2022 did not fully comply with 2 CFR §200.332. Updates were made to the policies and procedures as well to ensure subaward files contain the requisite components. Management has additionally implemented a Grant Master File Checklist to ensure compliance with terms and conditions required in subaward agreements.