Finding Text
Information on the federal program:
Higher Education Institutional Aid - Hispanic-Serving Institutions – Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics and Articulations Programs (Assistance Listing number 84.031C); United States Department of Education; Award Year 2022-23; Compliance Requirement – Procurement and Suspension & Debarment; Type of Finding – Material Noncompliance.
Criteria: 2 CFR Part 180 requires that grantees establish procedures that prohibit the entity from contracting with or making subawards to parties that are suspended or debarred by the federal government.
Condition: SWAU’s internal control policies and procedures do not address the prohibition of doing business with suspended or debarred parties.
Cause: Although SWAU was notified of this requirement in two previous audit years, audit follow-up procedures were not put in place due to management personnel changes.
Effect: Goods or services for the grant could have been provided by a debarred or suspended party, in violation of federal regulations.
Questioned Costs: n/a for this finding.
Context: Current year goods and services totaled $542,779 for this grant. For the nine goods and services disbursements we tested, totaling $492,896, we searched the federal list of debarred/suspended parties and did not find any of them listed.
Recommendations: Management should immediately implement a written procedure that prohibits doing business with debarred or suspended parties and includes steps to ensure compliance with that prohibition.
Responsible Official’s Response and Corrective Action Planned: see corrective action plan.