Finding 1100065 (2024-002)

FINDING 2024-002 Subject: Special Education Cluster (IDEA) - Suspension and Debarment Federal Agency: Department of Education Federal Program: Special Education Grants to States Assistance Listings Number: 84.027 Federal Award Numbers and Years (or Other Identifying Numbers): 22611-046-PN01, 23611-046-PN01 Pass-Through Entity: Indiana Department of Education Compliance Requirement: Procurement and Suspension and Debarment Audit Findings: Material Weakness, Other Matters Condition and Context The School Corporation is a member of the Porter County Education Interlocal (Cooperative). During fiscal year 2022-2023, the Cooperative operated the special education programs and spent the federal money on behalf of all its members. As the grant agreements were between the Indiana Department of Education and each member school, the School Corporation was responsible for ensuring and providing oversight of the Cooperative. However, there was inadequate oversight performed by the School Corporation in order to ensure compliance with the Procurement and Suspension and Debarment compliance requirement. INDIANA STATE BOARD OF ACCOUNTS 16 UNION TOWNSHIP SCHOOL CORPORATION SCHEDULE OF FINDINGS AND QUESTIONED COSTS (Continued) The School Corporation did not have internal controls in place to ensure that the Cooperative complied with the suspension and debarment requirements. The Cooperative did not have effective internal controls to ensure compliance with the suspension and debarment requirements. Prior to entering into covered transactions with grant award funds, entities are required to verify that vendors under covered transactions are not suspended, debarred, or otherwise excluded. "Covered transactions" include, but are not limited to, contracts for goods or services awarded under procurement and nonprocurement transactions (i.e., grant agreement) that are expected to equal or exceed $25,000. The verification is to be done by checking the System for Award Management (SAM) exclusions, collecting a certification from that person, or adding a clause or condition to the covered transaction with that person. Upon inquiry of the Cooperative in order to review procedures in place for verifying that an entity with which it plans to enter into a covered transaction is not suspended, debarred or otherwise excluded, the Cooperative explained that if the covered transaction had a contract, the contract was verified to make sure the clause for suspension and debarment was included. However, if the covered transaction did not involve a contract, the Cooperative did not have procedures in place to verify the suspension and debarment requirements. A population of five covered transactions for goods or services that equaled or exceeded $25,000 paid from grant award funds during the audit period was identified. Three of the five covered transactions did not have documentation to show that they were verified for the suspension and debarment requirements. The lack of internal controls and noncompliance 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). . . ." 2 CFR 180.300 states: "When you enter into a covered transaction with another person at the next lower tier, you must verify that the person with whom you intend to do business is not excluded or disqualified. You do this by: (a) Checking the SAM.gov Exclusions, or (b) Collecting a certification from that person, or (c) Adding a clause or condition to the covered transaction with that person." INDIANA STATE BOARD OF ACCOUNTS 17 UNION TOWNSHIP SCHOOL CORPORATION SCHEDULE OF FINDINGS AND QUESTIONED COSTS (Continued) Cause A proper system of internal controls was not designed by management of the School Corporation. Although the Cooperative was aware of this requirement and verified that a suspension and debarment clause was included in the contract, they were not aware that it applied to covered transactions without a contract. Effect Without adequate internal controls, the School Corporation cannot ensure that the vendors paid with federal funds were eligible to participate in federal programs. Any program funds the School Corporation used to pay vendors that were suspended and debarred would be unallowable, and the awarding agency could potentially recover them. 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 vendors are not suspended, debarred, or otherwise excluded prior to entering into any covered transactions. Views of Responsible Officials For the views of responsible officials, refer to the Corrective Action Plan that is part of this report.