Finding Text
Under the requirements of 2 CFR 200.516(a)(6), known or likely fraud affecting a Federal award must be reported as an audit finding in the schedule of findings and questioned costs. A child’s eligibility for free or reduced price meals under the Child Nutrition Cluster program may be established by the submission of an annual application or statement which furnishes such information as family income and family size. It was noted an employee of the District filled out an online application for free or reduced price meals with false information, resulting in their children receiving free meals. The District is not required to verify all applications and the information within them, other than an annual verification process that results in a random sample of applicants. This employee was not randomly selected for this verification process. By the employee submitting a false application, the District may be overclaiming Federal reimbursements for the food service program, which could result in questioned costs, penalties, or sanctions from the Federal awarding agency. We recommend the District including an additional procedure for employees filling out applications to perform some level of verification on the information they submit, utilizing the employee’s personnel files already on hand at the District.