FINDING 2023-005
Subject: Child Nutrition Cluster - Procurement and Suspension and Debarment
Federal Agency: Department of Agriculture
Federal Programs: School Breakfast Program, National School Lunch Program,
Summer Food Service Program for Children
Assistance Listings Numbers: 10.553, 10.555, 10.559
Federal Award Numbers and Years (or Other Identifying Numbers): FY2022, FY2023
Pass-Through Entity: Indiana Department of Education
Compliance Requirement: Procurement and Suspension and Debarment
Audit Findings: Material Weakness, Modified Opinion
Condition and Context
Procurement
The School Corporation had not designed or implemented adequate policies or procedures to
ensure that proper procurement procedures for small purchases. There was no documented
oversight, review, or approval process in place at the School Corporation to ensure proper
procedures were followed and price or rate quotations were obtained, or documentation to
support limited procurement procedures were conducted and maintained for small purchases.
Federal regulations allow for informal procurement methods when the value of the procurement
for property or services does not exceed the simplified acquisition threshold, which is set at
$250,000 unless a lower, more restrictive threshold is set by a non-federal entity. As Indiana
Code has set a more restrictive threshold of $150,000, informal procurement methods are
permitted when the value of the procurement does not exceed $150,000. This informal process
allows for methods other than the formal bid process. The informal process is divided between
two methods based on thresholds. Micro-purchases, typically for those purchases $10,000 or
under, and small purchase procedures for those purchases above the micro-purchase
threshold, but below the simplified acquisition threshold. Micro-purchases may be awarded
without soliciting competitive price rate quotations. If small purchase procedures are used,
then price or rate quotations must be obtained from an adequate number of qualified sources.
The School Corporation did not obtain price or rate quotes for the three vendors tested that
were less than the simplified acquisition threshold of $150,000, but exceeded the $10,000
micro-purchase threshold. For the three vendors tested, totaling $149,061, an adequate number
of quotes were not obtained from qualified sources nor was there any documentation detailing
the history of procurement, which must include the reason for the procurement method
used.
Suspension and Debarment
Prior to entering into subawards and covered transactions with federal award funds, recipients
are required to verify that such contractors and subrecipients are not suspended, debarred, or
otherwise excluded. "Covered transactions" include, but are not limited to, contracts for goods
and services awarded under a non-procurement transaction (i.e., grant agreement) that are
expected to equal or exceed $25,000. The verification is to be done by checking the SAMs
exclusions, collecting a certification from that vendor, or adding a clause or condition to the
covered transaction with that vendor.
Upon inquiry of the School Corporation in order to review the procedures in place for verifying
that a vendor with which it plans to enter into a covered transaction is not suspended, debarred,
or otherwise excluded, the School Corporation disclosed procedures had not been performed
to ensure vendors were not suspended or debarred prior to entering into covered transaction.
Four covered transactions that equaled or exceeded $25,000 were identified. All four transactions,
totaling $320,121, were selected for testing. For the four vendors, the School Corporation
had not performed procedures to ensure the vendors were not suspended or debarred, or
otherwise excluded or disqualified from participating in federal assistance programs or activities
for suspension or debarment.
The lack of internal controls and noncompliance were systemic issues throughout the audit period.
Criteria
2 CFR 200.303 states in part:
"The non-Federal entity must:
(a) Establish and maintain effective internal control over the Federal award that provides
reasonable assurance that the non-Federal entity is managing the Federal award in compliance
with Federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the Federal award.
These internal controls should be in compliance with guidance in 'Standards for Internal
Control in the Federal Government' issued by the Comptroller General of the United States
or the 'Internal Control Integrated Framework', issued by the Committee of Sponsoring
Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO). . . ."
2 CFR 200.318(a) states:
"The non-Federal entity must have and use documented procurement procedures, consistent
with State, local, and tribal laws and regulations and the standards of this section, for the
acquisition of property or services required under a Federal award or subaward. The non-
Federal entity's documented procurement procedures must conform to the procurement
standards identified in §§ 200.317 through 200.327."
2 CFR 200.320 states in part:
"The non-Federal entity must have and use documented procurement procedures, consistent
with the standards of this section and §§ 200.317, 200.318, and 200.319 for any of the following
methods of procurement used for the acquisition of property or services required under a
Federal award or sub-award.
(a) Informal procurement methods. When the value of the procurement for property or
services under a Federal award does not exceed the simplified acquisition threshold (SAT),
as defined in § 200.1, or a lower threshold established by a non-Federal entity, formal
procurement methods are not required. The non-Federal entity may use informal procurement
methods to expedite the completion of its transactions and minimize the associated
administrative burden and cost. The informal methods used for procurement of property
or services at or below the SAT include: . . .
(2) Small purchases -
(i) Small purchase procedures. The acquisition of property or services, the
aggregate dollar amount of which is higher than the micro-purchase threshold
but does not exceed the simplified acquisition threshold. If small purchase
procedures are used, price or rate quotations must be obtained from an
adequate number of qualified sources as determined appropriate by the non-
Federal entity. . . ."
2 CFR 180.300 states:
"When you enter into a covered transaction with another person at the next lower tier, you must
verify that the person with whom you intend to do business is not excluded or disqualified. You
do this by:
(a) Checking the SAM Exclusions; or
(b) Collecting a certification from that person; or
(c) Adding a clause or condition to the covered transaction with that person."
Cause
A proper system of internal controls was not designed or implemented, which includes segregation
of key functions, by management of the School Corporation to ensure that policies and procedures were in
place related to procurement and suspension and debarment. Embedded within a properly designed and
implemented internal control system should be internal controls consisting of policies and procedures.
Policies reflect the School Corporation's management statements of what should be done to effect internal
controls, and procedures should consist of actions that would implement these policies.
Effect
Without the proper implementation of an effectively designed system of internal controls, the
internal control system cannot be capable of effectively preventing, or detecting and correcting, material
noncompliance. As a result, vendors to whom payments equal to or in excess of $25,000 were not verified
to be not suspended, debarred, or otherwise excluded, and for small purchases an adequate number of
quotes were not obtained.
Noncompliance with the provisions of federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions
or the federal award could result in the loss of future federal funding to the School Corporation.
Questioned Costs
There were no questioned costs identified.
Recommendation
We recommended that management of the School Corporation establish a proper system of
internal controls and develop policies and procedures to ensure proper procurement procedures are
followed and that contractors are not suspended, debarred, or otherwise excluded prior to entering into any
covered transactions.
Views of Responsible Officials
For the views of responsible officials, refer to the Corrective Action Plan that is part of this report.