Finding Text
2024-004: Subrecipient Determination and Monitoring Assistance Listing Number (ALN) and Title: 20.205 Highway Planning and Construction Federal Grantor: U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Passed-through: Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) Award Identification Numbers and Years: Finding is applicable to all 20.205 awards on the SEFA for 2024 Compliance Requirement: Subrecipient Monitoring Type of Finding: Noncompliance and Material Weakness in Internal Control over Compliance. Prior Year Audit Finding: No Criteria: 2 CFR 200.331 requires pass-through entities (PTEs) like LCOG to make case-by-case determinations whether an agreement casts the party receiving funds as a subrecipient or a contractor (vendor). This determination affects reporting on the SEFA (§200.510(b)(4)). Furthermore, 2 CFR 200.332 requires PTEs to evaluate each subrecipient's risk of noncompliance, monitor their activities to ensure compliance with federal requirements (including reviewing financial and performance reports), and verify that subrecipients subject to the Single Audit requirements have obtained the required audit and take appropriate action on any findings effecting the pass-through program (§200.332(b), (d), and (f)). Effective internal controls should ensure proper classification and that required monitoring activities are performed and documented. Condition: LCOG exhibited weaknesses in its process for determining and monitoring subrecipients under ALN 20.205. Specifically: LCOG did not correctly classify entities receiving funds. Multiple vendors were incorrectly identified as subrecipients on the draft SEFA provided for audit. Two entities meeting the definition of subrecipients were identified during audit procedures; however, LCOG had classified them as vendors and omitted them from the draft SEFA. As a result of misclassifying the actual subrecipients as vendors, LCOG did not perform required subrecipient monitoring activities for these entities, such as conducting and documenting a risk assessment or obtaining and reviewing their Single Audit reporting packages. Questioned Costs: None. Context: The misclassifications were identified during audit testing and review of the draft SEFA. While the entities omitted from the SEFA were later confirmed to be subrecipients, LCOG had not performed the required monitoring steps during the fiscal year. Subsequent review of the Single Audit reports for these two subrecipients during the audit process confirmed they had correctly reported the funds received from LCOG and disclosed no audit findings related to this program. No errors were noted in the initial contracting process with these entities. However, the lack of contemporaneous monitoring represents noncompliance and a control weakness. Cause: LCOG lacks adequate procedures for performing and documenting the subrecipient vs. contractor determination based on the criteria in 2 CFR 200.331. This initial failure led to inaccurate SEFA reporting and the subsequent failure to implement required monitoring protocols for entities that were, in fact, subrecipients. Effect: The failure to correctly identify and monitor subrecipients constitutes noncompliance with 2 CFR 200.332 and resulted in inaccurate SEFA reporting. Although no subrecipient noncompliance impacting the program was ultimately identified in this instance, the absence of required monitoring activities (including risk assessment and review of audit reports) creates a risk that subrecipient noncompliance could occur and not be detected by LCOG in a timely manner. This condition represents a material weakness in internal control over compliance. Recommendation: We recommend LCOG implement procedures to: 99 Formally document the determination of whether entities receiving federal funds are subrecipients or contractors prior to entering into agreements and preparing the SEFA, using the criteria in 2 CFR 200.331. Develop and implement a risk-based monitoring plan for all identified subrecipients, ensuring that required monitoring activities (including review of reports and Single Audits, where applicable) are performed and documented throughout the period of performance. Ensure the SEFA accurately reflects subrecipient relationships and amounts passed through. Auditee Views: While we agree that we did not have a formal monitoring plan in place, now that we are aware of the need for such a plan, we will put a plan in place immediately. Once we became aware, we immediately reviewed the single audit reports all subrecipients. As to whether all subrecipients were properly reported on the SEFA, LCOG and ODOT had been in discussions for several months over whether certain entities contracted by LCOG under the Secure Routes to Schools program were, in fact, subrecipients and was unclear due to conflicting guidance received from various individuals. We will begin consulting with ODOT prior to the audit to make sure they agree with the classification of fund recipients as either contractor or subrecipient.