Finding Text
Finding: Allowable Costs/Cost Principles
Major program: U.S. Department of Homeland Security Federal Assistance Listing Number: 97.036 - COVID-19 Disaster Grants - Public Assistance (Presidentially Declared Disasters) Passed through New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services, Pass-through entity identifying number 542653
Criteria or specific requirement: According to § 200.403(f) of the Title 2 U.S. Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 200, Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards, allowable costs must “not be included as a cost or used to meet cost sharing or matching requirements of any other federally-financed program in either the current or a prior period”
Condition: During the year ended December 31, 2023, Village Center for Care was granted project funding under the FEMA Public Assistance grant program in response to the COVID-19 public health emergency. A total of $1,934,664 of FEMA assistance payments were received from the pass-through entity, New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services. The eligible expenses that were obligated and disbursed for FEMA funding were incurred between March 2020 and January 2021, during which some of the expenses were also eligible for and reimbursed by other federal sources of funding and other previous FEMA projects. It was discovered that a total of $199,590 of COVID-19 eligible expenses (i.e. contract labor and supplies) that were reimbursed by other federal sources of funding and other previous FEMA projects were duplicative of those reported as project obligations to the FEMA project funding granted to Village Center for Care in 2023.
Questioned costs: $199,590
Context: The entire population of $1,934,664 of FEMA expenditures reported on the current year schedule of expenditures of federal awards was compared against previously reimbursed COVID-19 funding that Village Center for Care has received. From this review of the entire population, 48 expenditures in the population were found to have been previously reimbursed by other federal sources totaling $199,590.
Effect: Village Center for Care reported certain expenses in this FEMA project application that were previously reimbursed by other federal sources of funding and other previous FEMA projects.
Cause: Prior to submitting this project application to FEMA, the Village Center for Care accounting department aggregated the total amount of eligible expenses available to be used for their FEMA projects as well as for other federal funding sources and determined that there were more expenses than the total award amounts that they received. However, they did not identify that expenses which were already reimbursed by other federal sources of funding and other previous FEMA projects were also included in this FEMA project funding. As a result there was duplicative submission of certain expenses.
Identification as a repeat finding: This is not a repeat finding.
Recommendation: We recommend that Village Center for Care not only look at total expenses that are allowable for use under multiple federal sources of funding but should also review the expenses at a detailed level to ensure that individual expenses are not double counted.
Views of responsible officials and planned corrective actions: Village Center for Care agrees with the recommendation that expenses should be reviewed at a detailed level to ensure that individual expenses are not double counted. See separate auditee document for planned corrective action.