Finding Text
Criteria: The Uniform Guidance procurement standards are located in 2 CFR, Subpart D, Sections 200.317 through 200.327. All organizations are required to follow specific procurement standards when making major purchases with federal funds, including purchases of supplies, property, equipment, real property, and services. Procurement and Suspension and Debarment compliance requires that (1) recipients establish and follow written procurement procedures that conform to applicable federal statutes and procurement requirements identified in 2 CFR part 200 and (2) contracts and subawards under covered transactions not be made with parties listed on the General Services Administration's System for Award Management (SAM) Exclusions (debarred, suspended, otherwise excluded, or declared ineligible) Condition: Management has an established procurement policy. However, during our testing of a non-statistical sample of three procurements for the year ended December 31, 2025, we identified the following exceptions: • For one procurement tested, management did not document a formal cost/price analysis, and a competitive bid was not obtained. • For another procurement tested, the contract was a covered contract over $25,000; however, management did not document review of whether the contractor was suspended or debarred. Sikich performed a search of SAM (or the applicable exclusion listing) and noted the contractor was not listed as suspended or debarred; however, management did not retain documentation evidencing its verification procedures. Cause: The condition appears to have resulted from insufficient controls to ensure procurement files include required documentation supporting (1) the basis for vendor selection (including competitive procurement support and cost/price analysis, where applicable) and (2) verification that contractors on covered transactions are not suspended or debarred prior to contract execution. Effect: The lack of required procurement documentation increases the risk that procurements are not made in accordance with procurement requirements and the Organization’s procurement policy. In addition, lack of documented verification of suspension and debarment status increases the risk the Organization could enter into covered transactions with ineligible contractors, which could result in unallowable costs and noncompliance with federal requirements. Questioned Costs: None identified. Although management did not document its suspension and debarment review for the covered contract tested, Sikich’s search noted the contractor was not suspended or debarred. In addition, no specific dollar disallowance was identified from the procurement documentation exceptions based on procedures performed. Perspective: The finding was identified during testing of the Organization’s major program for the year ended December 31, 2025. We tested a non-statistical sample of three procurements and identified two exceptions Recommendation: We recommend that management strengthen internal controls over procurement and suspension/debarment compliance and implement a standardized procurement file checklist to document key requirements for each procurement, including the procurement method, evidence of competition (as applicable), and documented cost/price analysis, where required. We also recommend that management require retention of documentation evidencing verification that contractors are not suspended or debarred for covered transactions (for example, a dated SAM Exclusions search result or equivalent evidence) prior to contract execution.