Finding Text
Identification of the Federal Program - Assistance Listing Number 21.027 - Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds, United States Department of Treasure, Pass-Through Entity: Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality. Criteria - Uniform Guidance compliance requirement for allowable cost/cost principles states for costs to be allowable under federal awards they must not be included as a cost or used to meet cost-sharing or matching requirements of any other federally financed program in either the current or prior period. Condition - Invoices were submitted for reimbursement under two federally financed programs. Cause - Management was aware amounts could not be submitted for reimbursement under two separate programs but followed the inaccurate advice of an external party. Effect - Potential material noncompliance with federal award compliance requirements. Questioned Costs - There are no questioned costs associated with the finding. There were sufficient additional project expenditures that were eligible for submission for reimbursement under the federal program. Context - Management was provided incorrect guidance by contracted engineer assigned to oversee state federal award program. Repeat Finding - This is not a repeat finding. Recommendation - We recommend the City implement regular training for grant managers and financial staff on federal award requirements. Training should include principles of allowability of costs under federal awards, the importance of ensuring each expense is only reimbursed once, and processes fo reviewing and reconciling expenses across multiple federal awards to prevent overlap or duplicate reimbursement requests. View of Responsible Officials and Planned Corrective Actions - The City understands the need for this finding, however, the City was instructed by Horne (The State's Grant Administrator for the MCWI Grant) to upload all reciepts into their online portal. They did not provide a way on the website to differentiate invoices. The City knows it cannot submit reciepts for reimbursement from two Federal grants, but this is what the Grant Administrator for the State of Mississippi instructed city staff to do in order to receive the reimbursement from the MCWI Grant