Finding Text
National Endowment for the Arts Federal Financial Assistance Listing 45.025, Affects all grant awards included under Federal Financial Assistance Listing 45.025 on the Schedule Promotion of the Arts Partnership Agreements Procurement, Suspension, and Debarment Significant Deficiency in Internal Control Over Compliance Criteria: 2 CFR 200.303(a) establishes that the auditee must establish and maintain effective internal control over the federal award that provides assurance that the entity is managing the federal award in compliance with federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the federal award. 2 CFR 200.318 maintains that recipients must have and use documented procurement policies and must conform to procurement standards in sections 200.317 through 200.327. Condition: The Organization has documented procurement procedures that conform to applicable federal standards regarding testing vendors for suspension and debarment; however, the procedures were not followed for two vendors selected for testing. Cause: The Organization's internal control process did not identify the two vendors for whom the suspension and debarment verification was not performed. Effect: Payments could be made to recipients who were suspended or debarred. Questioned Costs: None reported. Context/Sampling: A nonstatistical sample of 4 transactions out of 14 total transactions were selected for testing. Two vendors did not have support showing the search for suspension and debarment was performed which accounted for $155,100 of $716,818 of federal awards. Repeat Finding from Prior Year(s): No Recommendation: We recommend the Organization enhance internal control procedures to ensure all suspension and debarment verification procedures are performed prior to entering into the transactions. Views of Responsible Officials: Management agrees with the finding. The Organization takes compliance with federal procurement requirements seriously and has already implemented additional internal controls to address this.