Finding Text
Federal Grants Management Procurement Policy Assistance Listing Number: 32.009 Compliance Requirements: Procurement and Suspension and Debarment Condition: The District used grant funds to purchase Chromebooks and other devices needed by the District using the same vendor that the District had previously purchased these items from. Per the District's procurement policy the District should have obtained two quotes or documented why the District did not use a competitive procurement method. Additionally, the District did not verify that the vendor was not suspended or debarred. Criteria Uniform Guidance establishes methods of procurement (200.320) which states that if the small purchases method is used, price or rate quotations must be obtained from an adequate number of qualified sources (at least two). Requests for proposals must be publicized and identify all evaluation factors and their relative importance. Proposals must be solicited from an adequate number of qualified offerors. Any response to publicized requests for proposals must be considered to the maximum extent practical. Additionally, 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. Cause The District did not follow their Federal Funds Procurement and Suspension and Debarment policy related to appropriate methods of procurement and suspension and debarment. Effect Obtaining price quotes or proposals from an adequate number of vendors allows the District to use federal funds in the most fiscally responsible way. The lack of quotes and proposals may cause the District to over pay for supplies or services. Additionally, not verifying that an entity is not debarred or suspended could result in entering covered transactions with debarred or suspended vendors. Questioned Costs None Recommendation We recommend the District follow their procurement and suspension and debarment policy related small purchases which includes obtaining price quotes from an adequate number of vendors (at least two) and suspension and debarment policy for verifying vendors and maintaining this documentation. Repeat Finding No Views of Responsible Officials There is no disagreement with the audit finding