Finding Text
Finding No.: 2024-002 Internal Control Over Grant Expenditures
Federal Program Name: FEMA Feeding Mission
CFDA Numbers: 97.036
Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Human Services
Information on Federal Program: The objective of the FEMA Feeding Mission is to allow for reimbursement of expenditures prior to or during a state of emergency such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The Mission is a special services program in addition to the normal TEFAP operations utilizing the existing staff and relationships to coordinate a more efficient response to the emergency requirements.
Criteria or Specific Requirement: The Organization is responsible for establishing and maintaining internal controls over grant expenditures to prevent error and fraud.
Condition: The Organization lacked sufficient internal control over grant expenditures. During testing of grant expenditures, it was noted that 2 out of 2 reimbursements tested were modified by the State Agency overseeing the grant. Feeding Illinois did not properly calculate the number of expenditures for reimbursement.
Questioned Costs: N/A
Context: The control in place over grant expenditures did not operate effectively
Effect: The Organization submitted grant expenditures in excess of amounts reimbursed.
Cause: The Organization supplied a spreadsheet to the recipient food banks to gather data used for reimbursement for the grant. The spreadsheet was modified by the recipient food banks which caused errors in the spreadsheet upon return to the Organization. The errors were not found prior to submission to the State.
SECTION III – MAJOR FEDERAL AWARD FINDINGS AND QUESTIONED COSTS (CONCLUDED)
Finding No.: 2024-002 Internal Control Over Grant Expenditures (Concluded)
Identification as a repeat finding, if applicable: N/A
Recommendation: We recommend that the Organization perform a more detailed review of the information submitted to verify the accuracy prior to submission for reimbursement.
Views of Responsible Officials: This specific emergency Program – FEMA Feeding Mission – was a one-time, pandemic-related, disaster-relief project that necessitated thousands of lines of information being entered and reviewed before submission. We acknowledge that during this process, due to the volume and urgency, some embedded formulas miscalculated totals that were inadvertently undetected by Feeding Illinois.