Finding 396246 (2021-009)

Finding 2021-009 Program: Office for Coastal Management Federal Financial Assistance Listing: 11.473 Federal Grantor: U.S. Department of Commerce Passed-through: National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Award No. and Year: 0318.19.070225 (2020) Compliance Requirements: Subrecipient Monitoring and Matching Type of Finding: Material Non-Compliance/Material Weakness Criteria: 2 CFR 200.303(a) - establishes that the auditee must establish and maintain effective internal control over the federal award that provides assurance that the entity is managing the federal award in compliance with federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the federal award. 2 CFR Part 200.331(b) - Requirements for Pass-Through Entities, states that all pass-through entities must assess the subrecipient’s risk of non-compliance with federal statutes, regulations, and terms and conditions of the subaward. 2 CFR 200.331(d) - establishes that the auditee must follow up and ensure subrecipient takes timely and appropriate action on all deficiencies pertaining to the Federal award provided from the Pass Through Entity (PTE) detected through audits. 2 CFR 200.332(d) - establishes that the auditee must monitor the activities of the subrecipient as necessary to ensure that the subaward is used for authorized purposes, in compliance with Federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the subaward; and that subaward performance goals are achieved. As part of monitoring the subrecipients, since there is a matching requirement within the grant, the CFSC’s procedures should monitor and ensure the subrecipients are complying the required match arrangements outlined in the subaward agreements. Condition: CFSC did not perform risk assessment for all subrecipients selected for testing. CFSC was unable to provide supporting documentation to show that they inquired with the subrecipients about any audits they had undergone or evidence that CFSC received and reviewed audit reports to ensure timely follow ups were made if any findings pertaining to the Federal Award was noted. Monitoring of matching is not done each time expenditures are incurred by a subrecipient, which increases the risk that a subrecipient may not incur the required match costs before the end of the grant period. Questioned Costs: No questioned costs were identified as a result of our procedures. Context/Sampling: Sampling was not used. We selected all three subrecipients for testing. The condition noted above was identified during our procedures over CFSC’s subrecipient monitoring provisions. Repeat Finding from Prior Year: Yes –2020-001 Effect: CFSC did not perform the following, which increases the risk of noncompliance: • Required risk assessments for the subrecipients, • Review subrecipient audit reports to ensure compliance with Federal Awards or make any necessary follow-ups pertaining to any findings noted, if any. • Ensure match expenditures are incurred throughout the duration of the grant period, which increases risk that CFSC may not meet its matching requirements through its subrecipients. Cause: CFSC’s procedures did not consistently ensure that the required risk assessments, monitoring, matching through subrecipients, or subrecipient follow-up were performed. Recommendation: We recommend that CFSC modify and strengthen its current policies and procedures to ensure that all required risk assessments are performed in accordance with the criteria outlined above. Views of Responsible Officials and Planned Corrective Actions: See Separate Corrective Action Plan.