Finding Text
Program: Targeted Airshed Grant Program
Federal Financial Assistance Listing Number: 66.956
Federal Grantor: Environmental Protection Agency
Award Year: 4/15/2021-4/30/2026; 5/1/2022-4/30/2027
Grant Award Number: TA98T10501; TA98T36001
Compliance Requirements: Procurement and Suspension and Debarment
Type of Finding: Material Weakness in Internal Control over Compliance
Criteria:
2 CFR section 200.303(a), Internal Controls, states that the 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.
Title 2 CFR Section 200.214 of the Uniform Guidance states that the District must comply with 2 CFR part 180, which implements Executive Orders 12549 and 12689. The regulations in 2 CFR part 180 restrict awards, subawards, and contracts with certain parties that are debarred, suspended, or otherwise excluded from or ineligible for participation in Federal assistance programs or activities.
The 2024 Compliance Supplement states:
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 https://www.sam.gov/SAM/, (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).
Condition:
As a result of our testwork, we noted three (3) out of three (3) instances where there was no evidence that the District verified the entity was not suspended or debarred or otherwise excluded from participating in the transaction, prior to entering the contract. However, none of the payments in our sample were made to a suspended or debarred party.
Cause:
The District did not have policies and procedures in place to verify the entity was not suspended or debarred or otherwise excluded from participating in the transaction, prior to entering the contract.
Effect:
The District lacked documentation to support compliance with suspension and debarment requirements.
Questioned Costs:
No questioned costs were identified as a result of our procedures.
Context/Sampling:
Suspension and debarment was applicable to 3 subrecipients. We tested all 3 subrecipients during the year.
Repeat Finding from Prior Years:
No.
Recommendation:
We recommend that the District implement procedures to retain documentation supporting compliance with major federal program compliance requirements regarding suspension and debarment.
Views of Responsible Officials:
Management agrees. See separately issued Corrective Action Plan.