Finding Text
Federal Program Information:
Funding Agency: U.S. Department of Interior
Title: Rangeland Resource Management
FAL Number: 15.237
Passthrough: L20AC00454-1-L21AC10556 (2)
Award Year: 2023
Criteria: §200.213 Suspension and debarment.
Non-federal entities are subject to the non-procurement debarment and suspension regulations implementing Executive Orders
12549 and 12689, 2 CFR part 180. These regulations restrict awards, sub awards, and contracts with certain parties that are debarred,
suspended, or otherwise excluded from or ineligible for participation in Federal assistance programs or activities.
§200.317 Procurements by states.
When procuring property and services under a Federal award, a state must follow the same policies and procedures it uses for
procurements from its non-Federal funds. The state will comply with §200.322 Procurement of recovered materials and ensure that
every purchase order or other contract includes any clauses required by section §200.326 Contract provisions. All other non-Federal
entities, including sub recipients of a state, will follow §§200.318 General procurement standards through 200.326 Contract
provisions.
§200.318 General procurement standards.
(a) The non-Federal entity must use its own documented procurement procedures which reflect applicable State, local, and
tribal laws and regulations, provided that the procurements conform to applicable Federal law and the standards identified in this
part.
(b) Non-Federal entities must maintain oversight to ensure that contractors perform in accordance with the terms, conditions,
and specifications of their contracts or purchase orders.
APPENDIX II TO PART 200—CONTRACT PROVISIONS FOR NON-FEDERAL ENTITY CONTRACTS UNDER FEDERAL AWARDS
In addition to other provisions required by the Federal agency or non-Federal entity, all contracts made by the non-Federal
entity under the Federal award must contain provisions covering the following, as applicable.
(H) Debarment and Suspension (Executive Orders 12549 and 12689)—A contract award (see 2 CFR 180.220) must not be
made to parties listed on the government-wide exclusions in the System for Award Management (SAM), in accordance with the
OMB guidelines at 2 CFR 180 that implement Executive Orders 12549 (3 CFR part 1986 Comp., p. 189) and 12689 (3 CFR part
1989 Comp., p. 235), “Debarment and Suspension.” https://www.sam.gov/portal/public/SAM/ SAM Exclusions contains the
names of parties debarred, suspended, or otherwise excluded by agencies, as well as parties declared ineligible under statutory or
regulatory authority other than Executive Order 12549.
Questioned Costs: None
Condition: During our testing of single audit disbursements, we identified two vendors which would meet the requirement of verifying
that the vendor was not suspended or debarred or otherwise excluded from receiving the contract, which was funded through Federal
dollars. The vendors received more than $25,000 in payments from the District from Federal grant sources. The vendors are not
currently suspended or debarred from receiving Federal contracts; however, the District did not have proper internal controls in place
to verify this prior to the payment.
Cause: District personnel were unaware of the requirement to ensure vendors receiving more than $25,000 were not on the suspension
and debarment listing.
Effect: The District is not in compliance with Federal regulations related to the grant and could put funding in jeopardy or require
the District to reimburse the program for improper grant distributions. Auditor’s Recommendation: We recommend the District establish a policy and implement procedures regarding large purchases related
to Federal grants to insure that no vendors who are suspended, debarred, or otherwise excluded from participating in transactions
funded through Federal grants are used. As identified above, there are several methods in which the District can verify vendors are
not suspended or debarred. The District may have the vendor provide an annual certification that it is not currently suspended,
debarred, or otherwise prevented from receiving Federal dollars. In other occasions in which a single purchase is going to be made,
the purchasing procedures should include looking up the vendor on the GSA website, printing a copy of the verification, and placing
it in the file with the purchase order. The District has options, and it should establish what method is the least intrusive, but also
effective, in complying with the requirements of the Uniform Grant Guidance.
Responsible Official’s Plan:
Specific corrective action plan for finding:
The procurement Officer of SJSWCD has updated the procurement process on 12/7/2023 that all contractors who will
be receiving Federal monies must provide an annual certification that they are not suspended, debarred, inactive, or
otherwise excluded from participating in transactions funded through Federal grants. The policy change will be
approved at the next board meeting.
Timeline for completion of corrective action plan:
December 7, 2023
Employee position(s) responsible for meeting the timeline:
District Manager/Procurement Officer