Management concurs with the finding and has initiated immediate steps to strengthen record retention and succession planning for federal award management. A key element of our response is the engagement our outsourced accounting provider, to ensure compliance with federal regulations and establish robust processes. To address this finding, the following actions are underway: - By December 31, 2025, management, with the expertise of the outsourced CPA firm, will implement a comprehensive record retention policy tailored to federal award management. This policy will outline retention periods, storage protocols, and access requirements, ensuring all documentation is systematically organized and readily available. - For fiscal year 2025, the outsourced CPA firm is assisting in the creation and retention of adequate reconciling schedules to support all grant draw requests, aligning our processes with federal compliance standards. - The outsourced CPA firm is also supporting the development of detailed procedure manuals for federal award processes and the implementation of a document management system to centralize and secure critical records. These efforts will mitigate the risks associated with staff turnover and ensure continuity of operations. - By December 31, 2025, management will formalize a succession planning process for key positions involved in federal award management, incorporating cross-training of staff under the guidance of our CPA firm to facilitate knowledge transfer and operational resilience. The transition to our outsourced accounting provider addresses the root causes of this finding by bringing specialized expertise and structured processes to our federal award management. We are confident that these actions will result in sustainable improvements and full compliance with federal requirements. Anticipated completion date for these initiatives is December 31, 2025. Anticipated completion date is December 31, 2025.