Finding 963374 (2023-001)

Assistance Listing, Federal Agency, and Program Name - Research and Development Cluster, 47.076, National Science Foundation, Education and Human Resources Federal Award Identification Number and Year - 1841783 Pass through Entity - N/A Finding Type - Significant deficiency Repeat Finding - No Criteria - As outlined in 2 CFR 200.305(b)(3), when the reimbursement method is used for payment, organizations must make a payment within 30 calendar days after receipt of the billing unless the federal awarding agency or pass through entity reasonably believes the request to be improper. Condition - Out of 20 payments to subrecipients that were tested, 3 were made after the 30 calendar day requirement. Questioned Costs - None Identification of How Questioned Costs Were Computed - The issue identified was related solely to timeliness of payments. Context - In all samples tested, payment was made to the subrecipient; however, the delayed payments on 3 samples ranged from 37 - 71 days between the invoice being received by the University and payment being made to the subrecipient. Cause and Effect - The University does have formal general accounts payable and cash disbursement processes in place; however, there are no specific controls in place to ensure that subrecipients are paid within the 30-day requirement. Although all of the payments were ultimately made, the lack of controls resulted in several late payments. Recommendation - The University should implement a control to ensure that payments are made within the required time frame. Views of Responsible Officials and Corrective Action Plan - Management agrees. The University has established subrecipient monitoring procedures. Included in those procedures is the control to monitor the 30 day payment requirement. 2 of the payments were during the major service disruption of the entire university network. We have now implemented weekly backups to the network folders that contain our subrecipient monitoring files. 1 of the payments was due to the department not sending us the invoice timely. We plan to do follow up trainings to educate departments and PIs on the requirement for providing payment within 30 days of receipt of invoice to assure payment is made within the 30 day requirement.