Finding 943502 (2023-001)

Federal Program Education Stabilization Fund ALN 84.425D - COVID-19 - Elementary Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER II), contract #200-210215 ALN 84.425U - COVID-19 - Elementary Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER III), contract #223-210215 Criteria In accordance with Uniform Guidance Title 2 CFR 200.313, a non-Federal entity may not encumber equipment without prior approval of the Federal awarding agency. Condition The District charged costs for server and firewall purchases which met the definitions and thresholds requiring prior written approval, however, the District’s grant applications did not include these purchases as part of the budget submitted and they did not obtain prior approval through other means. Cause The District revised their original plan for spending of the ESSER funds and there was oversight in completing a revised budget to reflect the changes which included purchases that required pre-approval. Information regarding the pre-approval requirement for equipment purchases was not properly communicated between federal program leadership and the business office. Controls in place over equipment and real property management did not detect the pre-approval requirement prior to encumbering the cost using federal funds. Effect Costs encumbered without required prior approval are unallowable. The District subsequently communicated with the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE), the passthrough agency, and submitted budget revisions including these costs which were approved by PDE and deemed allowable. Questioned Costs None. Context We examined all equipment purchases charged to the Education Stabilization Fund during the year. Two of the three invoices examined had purchases totaling $110,986 which required pre-approval. Pre-approval was not obtained for either purchase; however, they were subsequently approved via interim budget revisions. Repeat Finding No. Recommendation We recommend the District revisit procedures for reviewing program guidelines and requirements prior to approving and incurring costs for equipment and real property from federal funding sources. Management Response See corrective action plan included in this report package.