Finding Text
Finding 2022-001 ? Eligibility ? Documentation of Retainer Agreements and Citizenship Attestation Statement Federal Award Program ? Legal Services Corporation (LSC) Basic Grant, CFDA #09.120000 Statement of Condition ? Out of sixty-four case files tested, three files did not contain the required retainer agreement. One file did not have a signed citizenship attestation statement documented. Neither of these cases were considered brief advice and consultation. Criteria ? Legal Services Corporation Office of Inspector General Audit Guide for Recipients and Auditors? Appendix A: Compliance Supplement for Audits of LSC Recipients, April 2016, Part C, Section 1611, Eligibility states: ?The recipient must execute a retainer agreement with each client when extended service representation commences or as soon as is practicable. No written retainer agreement is required when the recipient is merely providing advice and counsel or a brief service.? (45 CFR Section 1611.9). Except when the only service provided is brief advice and consultation by telephone or other non-in-person means, a citizen seeking representation must attest in writing in an LSC-approved form to the fact of his or her United States citizenship (45 CFR ?1626.6(a)). Questioned Costs ? None. There was no effect on the expenditure of LSC funds. Cause ? Upon occasion, the client is given the retainer agreement and citizenship attestation to sign and return and does not return the document. Effect ? The missing retainer agreements and citizenship attestation indicate that the Corporation is not fully in compliance with documentation requirements in its case files. Recommendation ? We recommend that every effort be made to obtain retainer agreements and citizenship attestation early in the representation process and follow-up on those that are not returned. Views of Responsible Officials ? Pine Tree holds biannual mandatory staff trainings on the LSC regulations, which include a review of the requirements for retainers and citizenship attestations. We have processes in place to obtain the required documents on paper or electronically. Pine Tree continues to prioritize compliance with these rules. In addition to continuing our biannual training of all staff about the regulations and how to fulfill them, we will continue to work on policies and procedures, and stay up to date on technological advances, that can help us overcome the factors that led to the occasions in which clients did not return the documents that Pine Tree provided for their review and completion. We will continue to evaluate the barriers, and systematic solutions to reduce them, that make it difficult to obtain the required paperwork from some clients, which can include the time-sensitive nature of our work, clients? inability to meet in person, the large geographic size of our service area, and some clients' significant mental health issues that limit their capacity to complete paperwork.