Finding Text
Criteria or Specific Requirement: Non-federal entities are prohibited from contracting with or making subawards under covered transactions to parties that are suspended or debarred. “Covered transactions” include contracts for goods and services awarded under a non-procurement transaction (e.g., grant or cooperative agreement) that are expected to equal or exceed $25,000 or meet certain other criteria as specified in 2 CFR section 180.220. All non-procurement transactions entered into by a passthrough entity (i.e., subawards to subrecipients), irrespective of award amount, are considered covered transactions, unless they are exempt as provided in 2 CFR section 180.215. When a non-federal entity enters into a covered transaction with an entity at a lower tier, the non-Federal entity must verify that the entity, as defined in 2 CFR section 180.995 and agency adopting regulations,
is not suspended or debarred or otherwise excluded from participating in the transaction.
This verification may be accomplished by (1) checking the Excluded Parties List System (EPLS) maintained by the General Services Administration (GSA) and available at https://governmentcontractregistration.com/sam-registration-and-renewal/, (2) collecting a certification from the entity, or (3) adding a clause or condition to the covered transaction with that entity (2 CFR section 180.300).
Condition: We noted that the City does have policies and procedures in place for compliance with suspension and debarment requirements; however, we noted that the vendor selected for testing had not been checked to verify they were not suspended or debarred prior to the services provided.
Questioned Costs: None.
Context: The City does have a policy and procedure to check a vendor’s suspension and debarment status either by checking the active record on SAM.gov, collecting a certification from the proposed entity, and/or adding a clause or condition to the covered transaction with that entity. The City was not able to provide verification, prior to procurement, of the suspension and debarment status through review of SAM.gov, providing a certification from the vendor, or through a clause or condition within the signed contract. We did verify this vendor was not currently suspended or debarred through review of SAM.gov.
Cause: The City did not verify the vendor tested was in compliance with suspension and debarment requirements prior to the services provided.
Effect: The City could make a payment to a vendor or subrecipient who is suspended and/or debarred from participating in federal programs.
Repeat Finding: No
Recommendation: The City should update all contracts to include a suspension and debarment paragraph to verify status with every renewal, request certification from the proposed entity, or verify vendor through SAM.gov prior to utilizing vendor services.
Views of Responsible Officials and Planned Corrective Actions: The finance director and the public works director have already implemented a process to verify the SAM status of all contractors on all projects regardless of funding.