Finding Text
Identification of the Federal Program:
Assistance Listing Number: 93.612
Assistance Listing Title: Native Hawaiian Revolving Loan Program
Federal Agency: Department of Health and Human Services
Pass-Through Entity: N/A
Federal Award Number and Award Year: N/A
Criteria or Specific Requirement (Including Statutory, Regulatory, or Other Citation):
Suspension and Debarment, Non-Federal entities are prohibited from contracting with or making subawards under covered transactions to parties that are suspended or debarred. “Covered transactions” include those procurement contracts for goods and services awarded under a nonprocurement transaction (e.g., grant or cooperative agreement) that are expected to equal or exceed $25,000 or meet certain other criteria as specified in 2 CFR section 180.220. All nonprocurement transactions entered into by a recipient (i.e., subawards to subrecipients), irrespective of award amount, are considered covered transactions, unless they are exempt as provided in 2 CFR section 180.215.
When a non-Federal entity enters into a covered transaction with an entity at a lower tier, the non-Federal entity must verify that the entity, as defined in 2 CFR section 180.995 and agency adopting regulations, is not suspended or debarred or otherwise excluded from participating in the transaction. This verification may be accomplished by (1) checking the System for Award Management (“SAM”) Exclusions maintained by the General Services Administration and available at https://www.sam.gov/portal/public/SAM/ (Note: The OMB guidance at 2 CFR part 180 and agency implementing regulations still refer to the SAM Exclusions as the Excluded Parties List System), (2) collecting a certification from the entity, or (3) adding a clause or condition to the covered transaction with that entity (2 CFR section 180.300).
In accordance with OMB Uniform Guidance, entities under the program, including subrecipients of a state, must follow the procurement standards in 2 CFR sections § 200.318 through § 200.327, including ensuring that the procurement method used for the contracts are appropriate based on the dollar amount and conditions specified in 2 CFR section 200.320.
C.F.R. § 200.319 prescribes that all procurement transactions for the acquisition of property or services required under a Federal award must be conducted in a manner providing full and open competition consistent with the standards of this section and § 200.320. Further, the non-Federal entity must ensure that all prequalified lists of persons, firms, or products which are used in acquiring goods and services are current and include enough qualified sources to ensure maximum open and free competition. Also, the non-Federal entity must not preclude potential bidders from qualifying during the solicitation period.
Condition:
During our audit, we noted that there was no supporting document to indicate that OHA verified the vendors in SAM to ensure that the vendors were not suspended or debarred from federally funded programs before the contract was entered into.
Cause:
OHA does not have policies and processes in place to check and ensure the suspension and debarment review process for vendors that provide goods or services to OHA’s programs prior to entering into a contract.
Effect or Potential Effect:
Without verifying whether vendors are suspended or debarred prior to the contract being awarded, OHA could be contracting with vendors that are prohibited from working on federally funded projects.
Questioned Costs:
None.
Context:
See condition above for context of the finding.
Identification as a Repeat Finding, If Applicable:
Not applicable.
Recommendation:
We recommended OHA to include SAM check in its internal control policies and procedures to incorporate the suspension and debarment verification requirements prior to awarding contracts.
Views of Responsible Officials:
Management concurs the finding. Refer to the separate management’s corrective action plan.