Finding Text
SIGNIFICANT DEFICIENCY Finding: 2022-003 Agency: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Program: Capitalization Grants for Drinking Water State Revolving Funds Federal Assistance Listing Number: 66.468 SUSPENSION AND DEBARMENT Criteria: When a non-federal entity enters into a covered transaction with an entity at a lower tier, the non-federal entity must verify that the entity, as defined in 2 CFR Section 180.995 and agency adopting regulations, is not suspended, or debarred or otherwise excluded from participating in the transaction. ?Covered transactions? include those procurement contracts for goods and services awarded under non-procurement transaction (e.g., grant or cooperative agreement) that are expected to equal or exceed $25,000 or meet certain other criteria as specified in 2 CFR Section 180.220. Foster-Glocester Regional School District has a policy in place for verifying that an entity with which it plans to enter into a covered transaction is not suspended, debarred, or otherwise excluded. Condition: During our test of controls over compliance with suspension and debarment requirements, we selected a contract subject to suspension and debarment requirements that had no documentation on file that the School District verified the entity was not suspended, debarred, or otherwise excluded. Cause: The School District did not follow established suspension and debarment policies and procedures. Effect: Contracts for goods and service that were ?covered transactions? were entered into prior to verifying that an entity was not suspended, debarred, or otherwise excluded. Questioned Costs: None Recommendation: We recommend that the School District follow established verification procedures to ensure that an entity with which it plans to enter into a covered transaction is not suspended, debarred, or otherwise excluded. Corrective Action/Auditee Views: While the District did get signed certification from the vendor that the organization had not been suspended or debarred, the District did not take the further step to check the government website for verification. The District will ensure that this step will be taken in the future. Also, the vendor in question was checked as of 4/18/23 on the government website and did not appear as debarred or suspended. Anticipated Completion Date: Completed Contact Person: Amanda Raymond, Director of Finance