Finding Text
Assistance Listing, Federal Agency, and Program Name 20.500, 20.507, 20.525, 20.526, U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Transit Cluster Federal Award Identification Number and Year All Pass through Entity Not applicable Finding Type Material weakness and material noncompliance with laws and regulations Repeat Finding Yes 2023-006 Criteria The Authority should ensure there is a process in place prior to entering into contracts with vendors in excess of $25,000 to verify such contractors are not suspended, debarred, or otherwise excluded pursuant to 2 CFR Section 180.300. Condition There was no evidence to support that the Authority performed procedures to verify that the vendors were not suspended, debarred, or otherwise excluded prior to entering into contracts for 18 contracts within our testing population. Questioned Costs Not applicable Identification of How Questioned Costs Were Computed Not applicable Context Of the 33 procurements selected for testing, 18 procurements did not contain evidence of either (1) a search performed on Sam.gov to determine if the vendor was suspended, debarred, or otherwise excluded; (2) a certification from the contractor attesting that they are not suspended, debarred, or otherwise excluded; or (3) adding a clause or condition to the covered transaction with that vendor. Cause and Effect The Authority has experienced turnover that resulted in it being unable to locate documentation to support compliance. Recommendation We recommend that internal controls be put in place to ensure that the required verification is performed, documented, and reviewed by a supervisor prior to entering into contracts with vendors. Views of Responsible Officials and Planned Corrective Actions Effective 6/1/2025, TARTA implemented a new ERP system that will allow us to indicate and upload verification that a vendor was checked for suspension, debarment, or exclusions prior to entering into a contract in accordance with 2 CFR 180.300, going forward.