Finding 959189 (2023-002)

Criteria: Uniform Guidance 2 CFR § 200.303 requires the non-Federal entity to “establish and maintain effective internal control over the Federal award that provides reasonable assurance that the non-Federal entity is managing the Federal award in compliance with Federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the Federal award.” Condition: Second party reviews is a key internal control to assess the completeness and accuracy of the FNS case eligibility made by County staff. We selected sixty second party reviews completed by the County for each program and noted that 3 cases for each program had errors that were identified by the reviewer with no subsequent correction made to case. None of these errors were related to eligibility determination. These errors related to documentation or required communications with the applicant. Questioned Costs: No questioned costs. Context: Of the second party reviews selected, corrections were not made to documentation 5% of the time. These were not related to eligibility determination. Cause: The caseworker did not make corrections identified by the 2nd Party Review process that required sending notices to the client or updating documentation in NCFAST. The 2nd Party Review process did not include follow-up to ensure corrections were made timely. Effect: The applicant may not receive important notifications from the County or the documentation may be incomplete. Documentation should be complete and accurate. Identification of repeat finding: This is a repeat finding. Recommendation: We would recommend the County review the 2nd Party Review process with supervisors and case workers and the expectations related to correcting errors. The three errors that were uncorrected for the FNS program had to do with sending DSS-8569 to clients. Views of Responsible Officials and Planned Corrective Actions: The County agrees with this finding and is taking coordinated effort and action. Refer to corrective action plan on subsequent page 15.