Finding Text
Significant Deficiency; 2019-005 Certification Signatures; Information on Federal Program: U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development Assistance Listing No. 14.871.; Criteria: According to 24 CFR § 5.659, any information supplied by the family must be true and complete. The Certification Form is the documentation utilized for the family and program manager to attest that all information that has been provided is true and complete.; Statement of Condition: Three certification forms examined were missing either the family signature or the program manager.; Statement of Cause: Due to the automated signature system not being set up for a particular employee, there were forms that were missing the program manager signature. Signatures of the family missing were an oversight.; Statement of Effect: The HUD program was not in compliance with federal guidelines.; Questioned Cost: None.; Repeat Finding: No.; Perspective Information: As part of testing the compliance requirements of the program, a sample of certification forms is examined to ensure proper signatures are present.; Recommendation: The program administrator should ensure that all signatures are present on all required documentation.; Views of responsible officials and Planned Corrective Actions: The Town contracts with a third-party administrator for our Section 8 housing program. Their document creation system incorporates an automated signature feature that facilitates the placement of scanned signatures on forms during the review and printing process by case-workers. Unfortunately, during the training of a new employee on their system, an oversight occurred in setting up their electronic signature, resulting in missing signatures on a small number of certification forms. To address this issue, they have enhanced their "New User Checklist" to include a specific step for configuring electronic signatures for new employees. Additionally, the employees responsible for these oversights have been replaced, and the incident prompted a thorough review of their procedures. The current department managers have implemented training protocols to ensure that staff verify all signatures on documents. Additionally, third-party audits for various municipalities as well as their SOC audit have been conducted subsequently and did not reveal any additional instances of certification forms missing signatures.