Recommendation: NCPE should have internal controls in place for the retention of federal program records. NCPE should also have procedures in place to allow for the review of an individual’s eligibility to receive a federal award.
Response: NCPE’s Executive Committee hired a new manager in 2017 to create, track, and retain important records to comply with the terms and conditions of federal agreements. In addition to the application form completed by all interns, an award letter was introduced in 2019. The Award Letter is sent by the National Park Service (NPS) site supervisor to the successful candidate, with NCPE copied, to confirm their appointment and provide essential details about the internship like duration, rate of pay, location, paid time off, etc. This letter with the completed application form documents an intern's eligibility to participate in the program for a specific duration and rate of pay.
For the current audit, applications or resumes were missing for 1 of the interns sampled and an award letter was missing for 1 intern. It was this lack of documentation that resulted in the questioned costs. Requiring a completed application has been a standard practice for several years but this wasn’t always the case when students applied directly to a site supervisor and not through the online application at PreserveNet (NCPE’s website for preservationists and preservation resources). Site supervisors are now regularly reminded about the program’s eligibility requirement, however, and management is confident that these interns, and all future interns, met the criteria for participation in the program. Nevertheless, in the future efforts will be intensified to improve record keeping.
If NPS has any questions concerning these responses, please contact me or NCPE’s Treasurer, Doug Appler.