Finding Text
FINDING REFERENCE NUMBER 2023-040 (See Finding Reference Number 2023-012)
FEDERAL PROGRAMS (ALN – 93.568) LOW-INCOME HOME ENERGY ASSISTANCE
(ALN – 93.568) COVID-19 – LOW-INCOME HOME ENERGY ASSISTANCE
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
AWARD NUMBERS 2101PRLIEA; 2201PRLIEA; 2301PRLIEA; 2001PRLIEA; 2001PRE5C3 (Federal Award Years: 2020 through 2023)
ADMINISTRATION ADMINISTRATION FOR SOCIOECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE FAMILY (ADSEF, BY ITS SPANISH ACRONYM)
COMPLIANCE REQUIREMENT ELIGIBILITY // REPORTING
TYPE OF FINDING MATERIAL NONCOMPLIANCE AND MATERIAL WEAKNESS
CRITERIA Uniform Guidance at 2 CFR 200.334, Record retention requirements, establishes that: the recipient and subrecipient must retain all Federal award records for three years from the date of submission of their final financial report. For awards that are renewed quarterly or annually, the recipient and subrecipient must retain records for three years from the date of submission of their quarterly or annual financial report, respectively. Records to be retained include but are not limited to financial records, supporting documentation, and statistical records. Further, in §200.337, Access to records, requires in (a) Records of recipients and subrecipients. The Federal agency or pass-through entity, Inspectors General, the Comptroller General of the United States, or any of their authorized representatives must have the right of access to any records of the recipient or subrecipient pertinent to the Federal award to perform audits, execute site visits, or for any other official use. This right also includes timely and reasonable access to the recipient's or subrecipient's personnel for the purpose of interviewing and discussion related to such documents or the Federal award in general.
STATEMENT OF CONDITION As part of our audit procedures for eligibility requirements, we selected forty (40) participants from a population of 27,038 who were eligible for the crisis subsidy program. Of the sample of participants, only eight (8) files were submitted to us for evaluation. This represents a scope limitation.
In relation to the requirement of Performance Reporting and Special reporting, we requested the applicable reports submitted during the fiscal year 2022-2023, the reports submitted for our review were applicable for the fiscal year 2023-2024. This represents a scope limitation.
QUESTIONED COSTS No questioned costs identified.
PERSPECTIVE INFORMATION This is a systemic deficiency. ADSEF was unable to demonstrate compliance with these compliance requirements.
STATEMENT OF CAUSE ADSEF does not have an adequate process to identify participants' files within a reasonable timeframe for auditing. In addition, ADSEF does not have adequate controls and safeguards over the reports submitted to the Federal government.
POSSIBLE ASSERTED EFFECT We were unable to obtain evidence of compliance with the eligibility and reporting requirements because the information in the files and applicable reports was not available for review.
IDENTIFICATION OF
REPEAT FINDING No reported as prior audit finding.
RECOMMENDATIONS We recommend that management establish an appropriate mechanism to identify participants' files within a reasonable time. In addition, improve its system for filing reports submitted to the Federal government.