Finding Text
Finding 2024-001 – Cash Management – Pass-Through Entities Identification of the federal program: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services U.S. Department of Defense Research and Development Cluster All Assistance Listing Numbers with amounts provided to subrecipients: 12.420 – Military Medical Research and Development 93.242 – Mental Health Research Grants 93.279 – Drug Abuse and Addiction Research Programs 93.351 – Research Infrastructure Programs 93.838 – Lung Diseases Research 93.855 – Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research 93.866 – Aging Research Federal Award Numbers Award Period W81XWH1910496-02 5/1/2020-10/31/2025 R01MH116844-05 2/1/2022-1/31/2024 R01MH130193-02 3/1/2023-2/29/2024 R01MH130193-03 3/1/2024-2/28/2025 R01DA052845-04 7/1/2023-6/30/2024 U42OD010442-22 2/1/2023-1/31/2024 P51OD011133-25 5/1/2023-4/30/2024 P51OD011133-26 5/1/2024-4/30/2025 R01HL145411-05 1/1/2023-12/31/2025 R01AI048071-21 12/1/2022-11/30/2023 R01AI048071-22 12/1/2023-1/31/2025 R01AI138587-05 5/1/2022-4/30/2025 R01AI172539-02 8/1/2023-7/31/2024 1503702001-03 8/1/2024-7/31/2025 R21AI170148-02 8/1/2023-7/31/2025 R01AI134245-07 5/1/2023-4/30/2025 P30AI168439-02 3/1/2023-2/29/2024 P30AI168439-03 3/1/2024-2/28/2025 R61AI169026-02 5/1/2023-4/30/2024 R61AI169026-03 5/1/2024-4/30/2026 R56AI174877-01 4/1/2023-3/31/2025 Federal Award Numbers Award Period R01AI176309-01 4/1/2023-3/31/2024 R01AI176309-02 4/1/2024-3/31/2025 R01AI158963-03 4/1/2024-3/31/2025 R01AI179465 6/21/2024-4/30/2025 U34AG068482-03 6/1/2022-5/31/2025 R01AG065546-04 6/1/2023-5/31/2024 R01AG065546-05 6/1/2024-5/31/2025 Criteria or specific requirement (including statutory, regulatory, or other citation) 2 CFR 200.303(a) requires that a 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 and the “Internal Control Integrated Framework”, issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO).” 2 CFR 200.305(b)(1) requires “The non-Federal entity must be paid in advance, provided it maintains or demonstrates the willingness to maintain both written procedures that minimize the time elapsing between the transfer of funds and disbursement by the non-Federal entity, and financial management systems that meet the standards for fund control and accountability as established in this part. Advance payments to a non-Federal entity must be limited to the minimum amounts needed and be timed to be in accordance with the actual, immediate cash requirements of the non-Federal entity in carrying out the purpose of the approved program or project. The timing and amount of advance payments must be as close as is administratively feasible to the actual disbursements by the non-Federal entity for direct program or project costs and the proportionate share of any allowable indirect costs. The non-Federal entity must make timely payment to contractors in accordance with the contract provisions.” 2 CFR 200.305(b)(3) requires “when the reimbursement method is used, the Federal agency or pass-through entity must make payment within 30 calendar days after receipt of the billing, unless the Federal awarding agency or pass-through entity reasonably believes the request to be improper.” Condition Texas Biomedical Research Institute (Texas Biomed) did not provide evidence of effectively designed internal controls to ensure subrecipients are paid by Texas Biomed within 30 days of requests for reimbursement received by Texas Biomed. In 18 instances, Texas Biomed paid subrecipients after 30 days of receipt of the request for reimbursement from the subrecipient, resulting in noncompliance with 2 CFR 200.305(b)(3). Cause Texas Biomed’s internal controls around payments to subrecipients were not precisely designed to ensure the issuance of payments to subrecipients occurs within 30 days of requests for reimbursement by the subrecipient. Effect or potential effect Texas Biomed did not comply with the cash management requirements of the Uniform Guidance to pay subrecipients within 30 days of their requests for reimbursement. Questioned costs None. Context EY issued a significant deficiency for Texas Biomed related to internal controls over cash management for subrecipients in the prior year. Based upon the implementation date for the corrective action provided by management, the finding related to this internal control had not been remediated for the full period under audit. As such, we did not test the operating effectiveness of this control and are issuing a significant deficiency consistent with the prior year finding. For 18 of 40 subrecipient payments to 13 unique subrecipients, Texas Biomed made payments to subrecipients at dates ranging from 31 to 109 days (average of 64 days) after receipt of the requests for reimbursement. These payments were not made in accordance with the 30-day requirement for the following award numbers: • R01MH116844-05 • R01AG065546-04 (3 late payments) • P30AI168439-02 • R56AI174877-01 (2 late payments) • R01AI176309-02 (2 late payments) • R01AI048071-22 • R01HL145411-05 • R01DA052845-04 • R01AI134245-07 • P51OD011133-26 • R01MH130193-03 • R01AI172539-02 (2 late payments) • P51OD011133-25 The total for the 18 subrecipient payments paid after 30 days was $127,273 and the total subrecipient payments in our sample of 40 was $323,770. Texas Biomed’s subrecipient expenditures totaled $2.6 million during the period, which represented 5.7% of Texas Biomed’s total research and development expenditures of $45.3 million. Identification as a repeat finding, if applicable This is a repeat finding – Finding 2022-001 and 2023-001. Recommendation We recommend Texas Biomed design and implement internal controls with the required precision to ensure subrecipients are paid within 30 days of the receipt of requests for reimbursement from the subrecipient. Views of responsible officials Management agrees with the finding and implemented corrective action in September 2024 to implement controls to ensure payments to subrecipients are made timely.