Finding Text
2023 – 002: Procurement, Suspension and Debarment
Federal Agency: U.S. Department Education
Federal Program Name: Charter School Program
Assistance Listing Number: 84.282
Federal Award Identification Number and Year: U282A210017
Pass-Through Agency: Indiana Department of Education
Pass-Through Number(s): None noted.
Award Period: July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2023 Type of Finding:
Material Weakness in Internal Control over Compliance
Material Noncompliance (Modified Opinion)
Criteria or specific requirement: 2 CFR Part 200 Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost
Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Award requires compliance with the provisions of
procurement, suspension, and debarment. The School should have internal controls designed to
ensure compliance with those provisions.
Condition: During our testing, we noted the School did not have adequate internal controls designed to
ensure vendors were procured following a proper procurement policy, as well as procedures in place to
these vendors were not suspended or debarred.
Questioned costs: None
Context: During our testing, it was noted that the School did not have a proper procurement policy in
place, thus no policy to follow. The School also, was not reviewing vendors prior to entering into a
contract with a vendor to ensure the vendor was not on the suspended or debarred vendor list
maintained by the General Services Administration.
Cause: As this was a first-year single audit for the School, the School was unaware of the federal
Procurement and Suspension & Debarment requirements. Thus, the School was unaware the
contractors were required to be reviewed prior to entering into a contract to ensure they were not
suspended or debarred.
Effect: The auditor noted no instances of noncompliance with the provisions of procurement,
suspension, and debarment; however, the lack of internal controls over these compliance requirements
provides an opportunity for noncompliance.
Repeat Finding: No.
Recommendation: We recommend the School, implement a policy surrounding procurement which
encompasses the federal requirements, and design controls to follow this policy and to ensure an
adequate review process is in place to review potential contractors to determine they are not
suspended or debarred.
Views of responsible officials: There is no disagreement with the audit finding.