Finding 1114563 (2024-001)

Significant Deficiency
Requirement
M
Questioned Costs
-
Year
2024
Accepted
2025-03-27
Audit: 349141
Organization: Stevens Institute of Technology (NJ)
Auditor: Kpmg LLP

AI Summary

  • Core Issue: The University failed to properly review single audit reports for 7 out of 13 selected subrecipients, and 6 additional subrecipients, leading to potential compliance risks.
  • Impacted Requirements: Noncompliance with subrecipient monitoring regulations under 2 CFR sections 200.332 and 200.521, risking federal funds being allocated to non-compliant subrecipients.
  • Recommended Follow-Up: Strengthen policies and provide training to ensure timely subrecipient monitoring and compliance with federal requirements.

Finding Text

Compliance Requirement – Subrecipient Monitoring – Significant Deficiency and Noncompliance Criteria Evaluate Risk – Evaluate each subrecipient’s risk of noncompliance for purposes of determining the appropriate subrecipient monitoring related to the subaward (2 CFR section 200.332(b)). This evaluation of risk may include consideration of such factors as the following: 1. The subrecipient’s prior experience with the same or similar subawards; 2. The results of previous audits including whether or not the subrecipient receives single audit in accordance with 2 CFR Part 200, Subpart F, and the extent to which the same or similar subaward has been audited as a major program; 3. Whether the subrecipient has new personnel or new or substantially changed systems; and 4. The extent and results of federal awarding agency monitoring (e.g., if the subrecipient also receives federal awards directly from a federal awarding agency). Monitor – Monitor the activities of the subrecipient as necessary to ensure that the subaward is used for authorized purposes, complies with the terms and conditions of the subaward, and achieves performance goals (2 CFR sections 200.332(d) through (f)). In addition to procedures identified as necessary based upon the evaluation of subrecipient risk or specifically required by the terms and conditions of the award, subaward monitoring must include the following: 1. Reviewing financial and programmatic (performance and special reports) required by the PTE. 2. Following-up and ensuring that the subrecipient takes timely and appropriate action on all deficiencies pertaining to the federal award provided to the subrecipient from the PTE detected through audits, on-site reviews, and other means. 3. Issuing a management decision for audit findings pertaining to the federal award provided to the subrecipient from the PTE as required by 2 CFR section 200.521. Additionally, in accordance with federal requirements, the University shall maintain internal controls over federal programs designed to provide reasonable assurance that transactions are executed in compliance with federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the federal award that could have a direct and material effect on a federal program. Condition and Context We selected thirteen subrecipients for testwork out of 82 in total and we noted that the University did not properly receive and review the single audit reports for seven of those subrecipients to ensure they had no material findings that would impact the University. The University then identified an additional six subrecipients outside of our sample where the same deficiency occurred. Cause The University had turnover in staff in the Office of Sponsored Projects during the fiscal year 2024 and this led to miscommunication which resulted in this monitoring step not being performed timely. Effect Subrecipient monitoring that is not performed timely could result in federal dollars being passed down to subrecipients with significant control or compliance issues that could impact the University. Questioned Costs There were no questioned costs related to this finding. Recommendation We recommend that the University strengthen its policies and procedures to ensure that subrecipient monitoring is being performed timely. The University should provide training to the departments responsible for these reviews.

Categories

Subrecipient Monitoring

Other Findings in this Audit

  • 538109 2024-001
    Significant Deficiency
  • 538110 2024-001
    Significant Deficiency
  • 538111 2024-001
    Significant Deficiency
  • 538112 2024-001
    Significant Deficiency
  • 538113 2024-001
    Significant Deficiency
  • 538114 2024-001
    Significant Deficiency
  • 538115 2024-001
    Significant Deficiency
  • 538116 2024-001
    Significant Deficiency
  • 538117 2024-001
    Significant Deficiency
  • 538118 2024-001
    Significant Deficiency
  • 538119 2024-001
    Significant Deficiency
  • 538120 2024-001
    Significant Deficiency
  • 538121 2024-001
    Significant Deficiency
  • 538122 2024-001
    Significant Deficiency
  • 538123 2024-001
    Significant Deficiency
  • 1114551 2024-001
    Significant Deficiency
  • 1114552 2024-001
    Significant Deficiency
  • 1114553 2024-001
    Significant Deficiency
  • 1114554 2024-001
    Significant Deficiency
  • 1114555 2024-001
    Significant Deficiency
  • 1114556 2024-001
    Significant Deficiency
  • 1114557 2024-001
    Significant Deficiency
  • 1114558 2024-001
    Significant Deficiency
  • 1114559 2024-001
    Significant Deficiency
  • 1114560 2024-001
    Significant Deficiency
  • 1114561 2024-001
    Significant Deficiency
  • 1114562 2024-001
    Significant Deficiency
  • 1114564 2024-001
    Significant Deficiency
  • 1114565 2024-001
    Significant Deficiency

Programs in Audit

ALN Program Name Expenditures
84.268 Federal Direct Student Loans $37.14M
12.RD Wrt-1080: Research in Support of the Defense Civilian Training Corps (dctc) Program Development, Piloting, and Instrumentation $9.77M
84.063 Federal Pell Grant Program $4.75M
12.RD Acquisition Innovation Research Center (airc) Core Research $3.53M
12.RD Test and Evaluation Methods for Middle Tier Acquisition (mta) $2.29M
12.910 Research and Technology Development $1.89M
12.RD Wrt-1057: Acquisition Innovation Research Center (airc) Core Research $1.85M
84.038 Federal Perkins Loan Program_federal Capital Contributions $1.80M
12.RD Wrt-1071: Digital Transformation in Test and Evaluation for Ai/ml, Autonomous, and Continuously Evolving Systems $1.79M
12.RD Wrt-1079: Planning, Programming, Budgeting, Execution (ppbe) Reform Insights and Concepts $1.56M
12.RD Art 022: Transforming Systems Engineering Through Model-Based Systems Engineering $1.44M
12.RD Space Systems Command (ssc) Military Communications & Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Directorate - Mission Engineering $1.14M
12.RD Art-020: Quantum Technologies for Armament Systems $1.03M
84.007 Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants $785,529
12.RD Wrt-1082: the Future of Managing Mega-Projects $629,836
84.033 Federal Work-Study Program $485,919
12.RD Wrt-1043: Dau Digital Engineering Simulation $457,149
12.RD Wrt-1020 Systems Engineering Research Center (serc) Program Management $378,038
12.RD Wrt-1086: Executive Forum for Collaboration - Industry and the United States Air Force (usaf) Acquisition Enterprise - on Digital Material $335,306
47.083 Integrative Activities $332,695
12.000 Issue of Department of Defense Excess Equipment $311,233
84.116 Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education $300,380
12.RD Wrt-1083: Development of An Artificial Intelligence (ai) Test Harness for the Department of Defense (dod) $295,584
93.867 Vision Research $285,923
15.RD Nirvana: Neural Implicit Rendering From Images at Varying Altitude with Nimble Algorithms $284,696
81.049 Office of Science Financial Assistance Program $274,136
12.300 Basic and Applied Scientific Research $248,387
12.RD Wrt-1072: Measurable Requirements for Operational Resilience $243,105
12.RD Education and Workforce Development Programs, Activities, and Outreach $236,091
12.RD Wrt-1084: Roadmapping A Framework of Computationally Enabled Ontologies for Digital Engineering $226,942
93.397 Cancer Centers Support Grants $226,065
12.RD Wrt 1087: Center for Offshore Wind Energy Cyber Vulnerabilities and Threat Identification $226,044
12.902 Information Security Grants $220,161
84.425 Education Stabilization Fund $216,965
93.838 Lung Diseases Research $186,829
97.RD Counter Unmanned Aircraft Systems Analysis and Systems Engineering $185,288
12.RD Art 017: Learning-Enhanced Autonomous Navigation for Gps-Denied Vehicles $175,250
12.RD Wrt-1073: Dau Credential Development and Workforce Development in Ai and Data Analytics $172,610
12.RD Unmanned Aircraft System Acoustic Detection, Tracking and Classification System $167,551
12.RD Digital Human Model for Use in Simulation Environments for Tactile Human/robot Interaction Phase II $163,477
12.RD Characterization of Potting Materials in Military Environments $158,435
12.RD Wrt-1067: Data Visualization in Megaprojects for Dau $148,291
11.432 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (noaa) Cooperative Institutes $147,972
15.808 U.s. Geological Survey Research and Data Collection $147,040
10.310 Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (afri) $145,968
12.RD Operational Test and Evaluation Methods for Cyber, Security, and Artificial Intelligence (ai) and MacHine Learning (ml) $131,851
81.121 Nuclear Energy Research, Development and Demonstration $128,581
12.RD Art 019: Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (fletc) Training Systems Curriculum Study $127,103
66.RD Lower Darby Creek Area Lab Testing $123,102
12.RD Systems Engineering Research Center (serc Research Task Management $118,828
12.420 Military Medical Research and Development $118,215
12.RD Aimed-Artificial Intelligence Managed Exploration of Designs $117,704
12.RD Trusted Artificial Intelligence (ai) Systems Engineering (se) Challenge $113,480
93.859 Biomedical Research and Research Training $111,892
14.906 Healthy Homes Technical Studies Grants $101,540
93.879 Medical Library Assistance $101,387
11.431 Climate and Atmospheric Research $98,957
11.419 Coastal Zone Management Administration Awards $94,455
11.417 Sea Grant Support $93,696
12.RD Improving and Assessing Architectures and Architecture Decision Making $85,520
12.RD Art 015: New Observing Strategies Testbed (nos-T) Design and Development $84,573
47.075 Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences $79,347
43.008 Office of Stem Engagement (ostem) $76,927
81.RD Espn-Combined Environments $66,323
12.RD Wrt-1068: Policy Innovations to Enhance the Stem Talent Pipeline $65,743
81.RD Integrating Distributed Energy Resources (der) Using Advanced Unit Commitment Models and Der Aggregation Methodologies $63,901
93.286 Discovery and Applied Research for Technological Innovations to Improve Human Health $60,954
47.076 Stem Education (formerly Education and Human Resources) $56,085
43.009 Mission Support $55,195
12.RD Wrt-1088: Acquisition Innovation Research Center (airc) Core Research $51,762
12.RD Wrt-1046: Graphene Rings for Atomically Thin Matter-Wave Interferometer $45,322
81.RD Upgrading Photon Detector of the T2 Lidar for High-Quality Cloud Observations $44,699
81.RD Investigation of Mechanochemical Interactions of Hydrogen with Earth Materials in A Subsurface Gas Storage $44,102
12.RD Idiq Transition Task Order -- Systems Engineering Research Center (serc) Program Management $43,167
12.RD Wrt-1089: Executive Forum for Collaboration- Industry and the United States Air Force (usaf) Acquisition Enterprise - Standards to $41,235
11.012 Integrated Ocean Observing System (ioos) $41,103
47.041 Engineering $40,714
93.121 Oral Diseases and Disorders Research $38,075
12.RD Wrt-1064: Oy2 Capstone Marketplace $36,587
12.800 Air Force Defense Research Sciences Program $34,409
93.279 Drug Use and Addiction Research Programs $33,877
12.431 Basic Scientific Research $32,740
93.865 Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research $31,859
47.084 Nsf Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships $31,332
93.396 Cancer Biology Research $31,222
66.605 Performance Partnership Grants $30,796
47.050 Geosciences $26,471
15.255 Science and Technology Projects Related to Coal Mining and Reclamation $24,230
12.RD Wrt-1064: Systems Engineering (se) Capstone Marketplace $21,816
47.070 Computer and Information Science and Engineering $20,832
21.027 Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds $15,375
10.212 Small Business Innovation Research (sbir) Program / Small Business Technology Transfer (sttr) Program $14,053
97.061 Centers for Homeland Security $13,829
66.460 Nonpoint Source Implementation Grants $13,738
93.853 Extramural Research Programs in the Neurosciences and Neurological Disorders $12,685
81.RD Coupled Surrogate Model Stability and Error Estimation $12,229
12.RD Subcontract: Fpga-Assisted 360-Degree Streaming Image Construction $9,615
81.087 Renewable Energy Research and Development $9,027
43.001 Science $8,793
81.RD Scalable and Resilient Modeling for Federated-Learning-Based Complex Workflows $8,761
97.045 Cooperating Technical Partners $8,703
93.273 Alcohol Research Programs $8,242
12.RD Wrt-1054: Digital Engineering Migration of Ess System Engineering and Technical Management Processes $4,634
47.049 Mathematical and Physical Sciences $4,071
12.630 Basic, Applied, and Advanced Research in Science and Engineering $3,569
93.361 Nursing Research $3,061
12.RD Warfare Center (nuwc), Division Newport $2,463
20.724 Pipeline Safety Research Competitive Academic Agreement Program (caap) $1,723
43.012 Space Technology $1,056
12.905 Cybersecurity Core Curriculum $1,014
12.RD Wrt-1065: Training in Innovation and Emerging Technology Adoption $902
12.903 Gencyber Grants Program $399
12.RD Wrt-1041: Smc Production Corps- Mission Engineering and Integration of Emerging Technologies $-2,047
12.RD Wrt-1049: Acquisition Innovation Research Center: Innovation for Digital Transformation and Policy Analytics $-6,062