Finding 1679 (2023-002)

2023-002 - Procurment, Debarment & Suspension Certification Finding Criteria: 2 CFR Part 200.214 and 2 CFR Part 180 provides that entities who are suspended or debarred shall be excluded from financial and non-financial assistance and benefits under Federal Programs and activities. Accordingly, the District should follow their written policy/procedure for ensuring that vendors paid with federal funds are not suspected or debarred from doing business with the federal government. Condition: During our testing we found one instance where the Distrct had not checks SAMS.GOV, prior to making a purchase, to determine if the vendor was suspended or debarred from doing business with the District under a Federal Award. Cause and Effect: The District has a policy and process in place to check for suspension/debarment for all transactions except for purchases made with credit cards. However, the District checked afterwards, and this vendor was neither suspended or debarred. Repeat Finding: No Recommendation: We recommend that the District implements a process to scrutinize purchases with credit cards by verifying if a vendor is either suspended or debarred prior to commencing work under any contracts funded by the Federal Government.