Finding 1075630 (2023-003)

FINDING # 2023-003 PROCUREMENT AND SUSPENSION AND DEBARMENT – DEFICIENCY - COMPLIANCE PUBLIC AND INDIAN HOUSING (ALN # 14.850) CONTRACT #: NOT AVAILABLE FEDERAL AGENCY: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT 1. CRITERIA – Procurement And Suspension And Debarment - Non-federal entities are prohibited from contracting with or making subawards under covered transactions to parties that are suspended or debarred. “Covered transactions” include contracts for goods and services awarded under a non-procurement transaction (e.g., grant or cooperative agreement) that are expected to equal or exceed $25,000 or meet certain other criteria as specified in 2 CFR section 180.220. All non-procurement transactions entered into by a pass-through entity (i.e., subawards to subrecipients), irrespective of award amount, are considered covered transactions, unless they are exempt as provided in 2 CFR section 180.215. When a non-federal entity enters into a covered transaction with an entity at a lower tier, the non-federal entity must verify that the entity, as defined in 2 CFR section 180.995 and agency adopting regulations, is not suspended or debarred or otherwise excluded from participating in the transaction. This verification may be accomplished by (1) checking the System for Award Management (SAM) Exclusions maintained by the General Services Administration (GSA) and available at SAM.gov | Home (click on Search Record, then click on Advanced Search-Exclusions) (Note: The OMB guidance at 2 CFR Part 180 and agency implementing regulations still refer to the SAM Exclusions as the Excluded Parties List System (EPLS)), (2) collecting a certification from the entity, or (3) adding a clause or condition to the covered transaction with that entity (2 CFR section 180.300). Non-federal entities receiving contracts from the federal government are required to comply with the contract clause at FAR 52.209-6 before entering into a subcontract that will exceed $30,000, other than a subcontract for a commercially available off-the-shelf item. 2. CONDITION/PERSPECTIVE The Authority received funding from the HUD. The Authority has procurement and suspension and Debarment policies. Of the sixty (60) vendor files selected for testing, we noted 3 vendor’s suspension and Debarment documentation were not provided by the Authority. The Authority did review suspension and Debarment status in SAM.GOV for the samples in question, which had no documentation of suspension and Debarment and all vendors were active and no suspensions noted. 3. CAUSE At the time the Authority made an award to the vendor, the Authority did not ensure the vendor was not suspended or debarred. . 4. EFFECT The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development may consider the Authority non-compliant with the Procurement and Suspension and Debarment compliance requirements. 5. REPEAT FINDING No 6. RECOMMENDATION We recommend the Authority strengthen its controls over the Public and Indian Housing program’s Procurement and Suspension and Debarment policies to ensure that all vendors are not suspended or debarred prior to the award of a contract. 7. QUESTIONED COST Cannot be determined. 8. VIEWS OF RESPONSIBLE OFFICIAL In June 2022, NYCHA implemented the Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) Supplier Risk Management tool for development/program units to check federal debarment status of micro vendors. In addition, in February 2023, NYCHA also implemented the self-certification debarment form for micro vendors. Currently, all micro vendors who wish to be placed on the Micro Prequalification List (Micro PQL) for Responsibility to be eligible for a micro award undergo an integrity/responsibility review by a centralized vendor responsibility department prior to being placed on the Micro PQL. This review includes debarment checks among many other integrity assessments. The Micro PQL will go in effect on September 30, 2024. Given that NYCHA’s micro spend comprises less than 4% of total spend in 2021 through 2023 (and approximately 1.1% as of Q3 of 2024), concomitant with the fact that NYCHA has already implemented corrective actions to ensure all vendors are checked for debarments, NYCHA believes the risk of this deficiency to be insignificant