Finding Text
Finding No.: 2024-009 Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Education AL Program: 84.403 Consolidated Grant to the Outlying Area Area: Procurement and Suspension and Debarment Questioned Costs: $6,918 Criteria: 2 CFR 200.319 states that: (a) All procurement transactions under the Federal award must be conducted in a manner that provides full and open competition and is consistent with the standards of this section and 2 CFR 200.320. (c) (6) Examples of situations that may restrict competition include specifying only a “brand name” product instead of allowing “an equal” product to be offered and describing the performance or other relevant requirements of the procurement. (d) (2) The recipient or subrecipient must have written procedures for procurement transactions. These procedures must ensure that all solicitations incorporate a clear and accurate description of the technical requirements for the property, equipment, or service being procured. The description may include a statement of the qualitative nature of the property, equipment, or service to be procured. When necessary, the description must provide minimum essential characteristics and standards to which the property, equipment, or service must conform. Detailed product specifications should be avoided if at all possible. When it is impractical or uneconomical to clearly and accurately describe the technical requirements, a “brand name or equivalent” description of features may be used to provide procurement requirements. The specific features of the named brand must be clearly stated. 2 CFR 200.324(a) states that recipient or subrecipient must perform a cost or price analysis for every procurement transaction, including contract modifications, in excess of the simplified acquisition threshold. Finding No.: 2024-009, continued Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Education AL Program: 84.403 Consolidated Grant to the Outlying Area Area: Procurement and Suspension and Debarment Questioned Costs: $6,918 Conditions: 1. Of thirty-nine items, aggregating $426,960 of $9,005,697 of expenditures subjected to procurement test, deficiencies were noted, as follows: a. For 1 item (or 3%), procurement did not provide full and open competition in the solicitation process. The request for quotation specified particular model, including a requirement for a specific “brand name” product instead of allowing “an equal” product to be offered. Item # Federal Award No. Purchase Order Expenditures Questioned Costs 1 S403A220002 20240435 $12,447 $6,918 2. GDOE does not have procurement policies that meet the requirements of 2 CFR 200.318(a) and 2 CFR 200.324(a). Specifically, GDOE lacks documented procedures to ensure compliance with procurement transactions under a Federal award or subaward, requiring the performance and retention of cost price analysis for procurement transactions above the simplified acquisition threshold. Cause: GDOE did not enforce monitoring controls over compliance with applicable procurement requirements. Also, GDOE lacks adequate internal controls over periodic review of procurement policies, specifically, ensuring all required key provisions from the Compliance Supplement are included in the procurement policies. Effect: GDOE is in noncompliance with applicable procurement and suspension and debarment requirements. The reportable questioned cost is $6,918. Also, we did not identify procurement of goods or services that would have required a cost price analysis. Finding No.: 2024-009, continued Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Education AL Program: 84.403 Consolidated Grant to the Outlying Area Area: Procurement and Suspension and Debarment Questioned Costs: $6,918 Recommendation: Responsible personnel should enforce monitoring controls over compliance with applicable procurement requirements. Also, GDOE should revisit its procurement policies and ensure all required provisions stated in the Compliance Supplement are covered.