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Section III - Federal Award Findings and Questioned Costs Finding 2025-001 - Procurement, Suspension and Debarment - Significant Deficiency Name of Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Federal Program Name: Health Center Program Cluster: Health Center Program and Grants for New and Expanded Services Under the Health Center Program Assistance Listing Number: 93.224 and 93.527 Federal Award Identification Number and Year: Health Center Program Cluster: H80CS00430 - 2023 and H80CS00430 - 2024 Criteria In accordance with §200.213 and §180.300, nonfederal entities cannot enter into awards, subawards, or contracts with certain parties that are debarred, suspended, or otherwise excluded from or ineligible for participation in federal assistance programs or activities. Condition During our testing, we noted that the Center did not perform a timely check at the System for Award Management Exclusions (SAM.gov) to verify whether a vendor had been suspended or debarred being hired. Cause The Center did not have adequate policies, procedures, and controls in place to ensure compliance with the suspension and debarment requirements. Effect or Potential Effect Failure to timely verify that a vendor is not suspended or debarred could result in hiring a vendor on federal grant programs that is barred from performing work for the U.S. government. Questioned Costs None. Context For two suspension and debarment samples out of a total of two tested, management did not provide evidence that a check at sam.gov was performed during year under audit. Recommendation We recommend that the Center perform a check at sam.gov prior to the hire of vendor to ensure the vendor was not suspended or debarred and retain evidence of that verification, including the date it was performed. We also recommend a check at sam.gov be done annually thereafter and evidence of that verification be maintained. Views of Responsible Officials The Center now uses Sreamline Verify, an online software, which searches each vendor before they are hired. There is also a monthly search performed for all vendors.