Information on the federal program:
Subject: Special Education Cluster – Internal Controls
Federal Agency: Department of Education
Federal Program: Special Education Preschool Grants
Assistance Listing Number: 84.173, 84.173X
Federal Award Numbers and Years (or Other Identifying Numbers): 23619-008-PN01; 22619-008-ARP
Pass-Through Entity: Indiana Department of Education
Compliance Requirement: Procurement and Suspension and Debarment
Audit Finding: Material Weakness
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 200.318(i) states:
"The non-Federal entity must maintain records sufficient to detail the history of procurement. These records will include, but are not necessarily limited to the following: rationale for the method of procurement, selection of contract type, contractor selection or rejection, and the basis for the contract price."
2 CFR 200.320(b) states:
"Procurement by small purchase procedures. Small purchase procedures are those relatively simple and informal procurement methods for securing services, supplies, or other property that do not cost more than the Simplified Acquisition Threshold. If small purchase procedures are used, price or rate quotations must be obtained from an adequate number of qualified sources."
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 SAM Exclusions; or
(b) Collecting a certification from that person; or
(c) Adding a clause or condition to the covered transaction with that person."
Condition: An effective internal control system was not in place at the School Corporation to ensure compliance with requirements related to the Special Education Cluster and Procurement and Suspension and Debarment compliance requirements.
Cause: A proper system of internal controls was not implemented by management of the School Corporation, which would include segregation of key functions. Embedded within a properly designed and implemented internal control system should be internal controls consisting of policies and procedures. Policies reflect the School Corporation’s management statements of what should be done to effect internal controls, and procedures should consist of actions that would implement these policies.
Effect: Without the proper implementation of an effectively designed system of internal controls, including policies and procedures that provide segregation of duties and additional oversight as needed, the internal control system cannot be capable of effectively preventing, or detecting and correcting, material noncompliance. As a result, adequate documentation was not retained for procurements that fell within the small purchase threshold and vendors to whom payments equal to or in excess of $25,000 were made, were not verified to be not suspended, debarred, or otherwise excluded.
Noncompliance with the provisions of federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the federal award could result in the loss of future federal funding to the School Corporation.
Questioned Costs: There were no questioned costs identified.
Context: The School Corporation is a member of the Delaware-Blackford Special Education Cooperative (Cooperative). During fiscal year 2022-2023, the Cooperative operated the special education preschool program and spent the federal money on behalf of six of its seven 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.
The School Corporation did not have internal controls in place to ensure that the Cooperative complied with the procurement and the suspension and debarment requirements. The Cooperative did not have adequate procedures in place to ensure that the requirements for small purchases were met for each applicable procured good or service or to ensure that vendors were not suspended or debarred prior to entering into a covered transaction.
Procurement
Federal regulations allow for informal procurement methods when the value of the procurement for goods or services does not exceed the simplified acquisition threshold, which is customarily set at $250,000. However, Indiana Code 5-22-8 has a more restrictive threshold of $150,000 or less for when small purchase procedures may be used. This informal process allows for methods other than the formal bid process. The informal process is divided between two methods based on thresholds. Micro-purchases, typically for those purchases $10,000 or under, and small purchase procedures for those purchases above the micro-purchase threshold, but below the simplified acquisition threshold. Micro-purchases may be awarded without soliciting competitive price rate quotations. If small purchase procedures are used, then price or rate quotations must be obtained from an adequate number of qualified sources. If it is determined a single
source provider can be used for a small purchase, documentation must be retained supporting the determination.
Two vendors exceeded the small purchase threshold during the audit period. The Cooperative provided evidence of a quote being obtained for the first vendor, however, evidence of obtaining multiple quotes was not retained for audit. The chosen quote was attached to the accounts payable vouchers and provided for audit; however, the other quotes obtained for the purchase were not maintained. For the second vendor, the Cooperative determined psychological services were to be provided by a single source provider, however, they did not have a documented rationale or support for the decision. Documentation detailing the history of procurement, which must include the reason for the procurement method used, selection of the vendor, and the basis for the price, was not available for audit for either purchase.
Suspension and Debarment
The School Corporation did not have internal controls in place to ensure compliance with the suspension and debarment requirement. The Cooperative did not have adequate internal controls in place to ensure all applicable vendors were not suspended or debarred prior to entering into a covered transaction. As such, the Cooperative entered into a contract totaling $32,388, which exceeded $25,000, for psychological services. The Cooperative did not perform procedures to ensure that the vendor was not suspended or debarred from participation in federal programs.
The lack of internal controls and noncompliance were systemic issues throughout the audit period.
Identification as a repeat finding: No.
Recommendation: We recommended that management of the School Corporation establish a proper system of internal control and develop policies and procedures to ensure all required documentation is retained and provided for small purchases and to ensure contractors and subrecipients, as appropriate are not suspended, debarred, or otherwise excluded prior to entering into any contracts or subawards.
Views of Responsible Officials and Planned Corrective Actions: Management agrees with the finding and has prepared a corrective action plan.