Finding 977395 (2023-002)

Material Weakness
Requirement
N
Questioned Costs
$1
Year
2023
Accepted
2024-06-17

AI Summary

  • Core Issue: The Board awarded a construction contract over $2,000 without including required prevailing wage rate clauses, violating the Davis-Bacon Act.
  • Impacted Requirements: The Board failed to ensure compliance with wage rate requirements and did not receive certified payrolls from contractors.
  • Recommended Follow-Up: Implement controls to verify inclusion of prevailing wage clauses in future contracts and ensure weekly certified payrolls are submitted.

Finding Text

Title 29, U. S. Code of Federal Regulations, Part 5, Sub-Part A Davis Bacon and Related Acts Provisions and Procedures (the “Davis-Bacon Act”), requires that any construction contract in excess of $2,000 that is funded wholly or in part by federal funds include prevailing wage rate clauses. The laborers and mechanics employed by contractors or subcontractors to work on construction contracts in excess of $2,000 financed by federal assistance funds must be paid wages not less than those established for locality of project (prevailing wage rates) by the Department of Labor (DOL) and the contractor or subcontractor must submit to the nonfederal entity weekly, for each week in which any contract work is performed, a copy of the payroll and a statement of compliance (certified payrolls). During fiscal year 2023, the Board entered into a construction project contract totaling $1,199,653.00 that did not include prevailing wage rate clauses. As of September 30, 2023, the Board had expended $599,826.50 of COVID-19 Education Stabilization Funds (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief) on the project. The Board did not have controls in place to ensure the Davis-Bacon Act wage rate requirements were included in construction contracts, therefore, the construction project contract was awarded during the fiscal year that did not include prevailing wage rate clauses nor did the contractors submit weekly certified payrolls to the Board. As a result, the Board is not in compliance with the Davis-Bacon Act as it pertains to wage rate requirements.

Categories

Questioned Costs Matching / Level of Effort / Earmarking Special Tests & Provisions

Other Findings in this Audit

  • 400951 2023-002
    Material Weakness
  • 400952 2023-002
    Material Weakness
  • 400953 2023-002
    Material Weakness
  • 977393 2023-002
    Material Weakness
  • 977394 2023-002
    Material Weakness

Programs in Audit

ALN Program Name Expenditures
84.010 Title I Grants to Local Educational Agencies $911,279
10.553 School Breakfast Program $523,776
84.287 Twenty-First Century Community Learning Centers $398,595
84.367 Supporting Effective Instruction State Grants $172,283
10.555 National School Lunch Program $129,834
84.027 Special Education_grants to States $122,727
84.048 Career and Technical Education -- Basic Grants to States $60,770
84.424 Student Support and Academic Enrichment Program $55,481
84.196 Education for Homeless Children and Youth $43,083
84.425 Education Stabilization Fund $16,197
84.173 Special Education_preschool Grants $11,974
96.001 Social Security_disability Insurance $620