Finding Text
2024 001 Activities Allowed or Unallowed and Allowable Costs/Cost Principles
U.S. Department of Homeland Security:
Passed through the State of New Jersey, Department of Law and Public Safety:
Disaster Grants – Public Assistance (Presidentially Declared Disasters) – ALN 97.036
Federal Grant Numbers and Years
State of New Jersey pass through number: UH1WX
Project #2365 – Award Year 2024 (Application 696220)
Statistically Valid Sample: The sample was not intended to be, and was not, a statistically valid sample.
Prior Year Findings: 2023-001
Criteria
Compliance – Program Specific
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), as part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, evaluates the eligibility of all costs claimed by the applicant. Not all costs incurred as a result of the incident are eligible. (PAPPG v4) Chapter 4, page(s) 51 54;
Chapter 6, page(s) 65 & 93 95. Cost must be:
• Directly tied to the performance of eligible work;
• Adequately documented (2 CFR section 200.403(g));
• Reduced by all applicable credits, such as insurance proceeds and salvage values
(Stafford Act section 312, 42 USC section 5155, and 2 CFR section 200.406);
• Authorized and not prohibited under federal, state, territorial, tribal, or local government laws or regulations;
• Consistent with applicant’s internal policies, regulations, and procedures that apply uniformly to both federal awards and other activities of the applicant; and
• Necessary and reasonable to accomplish the work properly and efficiently (2 CFR section 200.403).
1. Applicant (Force Account) Labor
FEMA refers to the applicant’s personnel as “force account.” FEMA reimburses force account labor based on actual hourly rates plus the cost of the employee’s actual fringe benefits. FEMA calculates the fringe benefit cost based on a percentage of the hourly pay rate. Because certain items in a benefit package are not dependent on hours worked (e.g., health insurance), the percentage for overtime is usually different than the percentage for straight time.
Compliance – General
Per 2 CFR Section 200.430, charges to federal awards for salaries and wages must be based on records that accurately reflect the work performed. These records must: (i) Be supported by a system of internal control which provides reasonable assurance that the charges are accurate, allowable, and properly allocated; (ii) Be incorporated into the official records of the non federal entity; (iii) Reasonably reflect the total activity for which the employee is compensated by the non federal entity, not exceeding 100% of compensated activities; (iv) Encompass federally assisted and all other activities compensated by the non federal entity on an integrated basis, but may include the use of subsidiary records as defined in the non federal entity’s written policy; (v) Comply with the established accounting policies and practices of the non federal entity.
Internal Control
Per 2 CFR section 200.303(a), a non federal entity must establish and maintain effective internal control over the federal award that provides reasonable assurance that the non federal entity is managing the federal award in compliance with federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the federal award. These internal controls should be in compliance with guidance in “Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government” issued by the Comptroller General of the United States or the “Internal Control Integrated Framework”, issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO).
Condition and Context
The New Jersey Turnpike Authority (the “Authority”), through the State of New Jersey, Department of Homeland Security (the State), administers the federal Disaster Grants – Public Assistance (Presidentially Declared Disasters) program and is reimbursed for eligible expenditures when a presidentially declared disaster occurs. For the Authority’s force account labor costs, the Authority utilizes manual Daily Worksheets (timesheets) as the official records for time and effort worked during an event by the Authority’s personnel. These timesheets are then entered into the Authority’s information system (PeopleSoft) for review and approval, reconciling back to the information entered on the respective timesheet.
For thirteen of sixty timesheets selected for testwork, the Authority was unable to provide the timesheets as the official record for the time and effort charged to the federal program. However, the Authority successfully demonstrated through PeopleSoft system that the time and effort charged to the federal program was properly reviewed and approved and reconciled to the amounts of reimbursement requested from the State. The finding is recurring from the prior year as the corrective action plan developed by the Authority from the prior year finding was not implemented until December 2024, which is subsequent to when these expenditures were incurred by the Authority between fiscal years 2020 and 2022.
Cause
The Authority did not maintain and make readily available certain timesheets used as the official record for the time and effort charged to the federal program in accordance with the Uniform Guidance.
Effect
The Authority did not comply with 2 CFR Section 200.430 related to incorporating the physical timesheets into the official records of the Authority.
Questioned Costs
None as the time and effort amounts charged were determined to be allowable.
Recommendation
We recommend that the Authority strengthen its processes to ensure that all timesheets for disaster related events that are federally funded are maintained and are made readily available if subject to audit or other inspection in accordance with the Uniform Guidance.
Views of Responsible Officials
Management agrees with the finding. Beginning in December 2024, as a commitment to strengthen our processes and ensure that all physical timesheets related to FEMA-declared disaster events are properly maintained and readily accessible, management put a process in place to enhance procedures and controls for timesheets going forward to ensure full compliance with the Uniform Guidance requirements. This process was successfully implemented as of this date and for prospective periods. However, this process does not remedy the issue noted in the finding which relates to time worked from 2020-2022, which is before the process was in place. Therefore, the finding is repeated from the prior year.