Finding Text
Federal Agency: U.S. Department of the Treasury and the U.S. Department of Education
Federal Program Name: COVID-19 Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds and Special Education Cluster
Assistance Listing Number: 21.027, 84.027, and 84.173
Pass-Through Agency: Massachusetts Office of Administration and Finance and the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Pass-Through Number(s): 240-344999-2020, 240-443339-2021-0212, 240-583151-2022-0212, 240-719175-2023-0212, 240-000558-2024-0212, 252-585370-2022-0212, 274-000662-2024-0212, 262-719186-2023-0212, 262-000559-2024-0212.
Award Period: March 3, 2021 – December 31, 2024 and July 1, 2023 - June 30, 2024
Type of Finding:
Significant Deficiency in Internal Control over Compliance
Criteria or specific requirement: 2 CFR Part 200 Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Award requires compliance with the provisions of procurement, suspension, and debarment. The Town should have internal controls designed to ensure compliance with those provisions.
Condition: During our testing, we noted the Town did not have adequate internal controls designed to ensure vendors were not suspended or debarred.
Questioned costs: None.
Context: The Town was not reviewing vendors prior to entering into a contract with a vendor to ensure the vendor was not on the suspended or debarred vendor list maintained by the General Services Administration.
Cause: Procedures were not adhered to for the documentation of the verification that all vendors were not suspended or debarred.
Effect: The auditor noted no instances of noncompliance with the provisions of procurement, suspension, and debarment; however, the lack of internal controls over these compliance requirements provides an opportunity for noncompliance.
Recommendation: We recommend procedures be strengthened to document the verification that all vendors are not suspended or debarred prior to entering into a transaction.
Views of responsible officials: There is no disagreement with the audit finding.