Audit of Agreement No. A13AP00043 Between the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Crow Tribe

The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) requested that we audit costs claimed on a contract dated November 7, 2016, associated with Government to Government Agreement No. A13AP00043 that the BIA issued to the Crow Tribe. We could not perform the audit because the contractor and the BIA could not provide the necessary documentation for its contract or claim. Thus, we could not determine whether the contractors’ claimed costs of $14,492,813 were allowable under Federal laws and regulations, allocable to the contract, incurred in accordance with the contract’s terms and conditions, and reasonable and supported by the contractor’s records. We question, therefore, the entire claim of $14,492,813. We determined that the Tribe did not comply with the agreement. Specifically, we found that the Tribe did not submit timely or accurate Federal Financial Reports (SF-425s) to the BIA, or they were not submitted at all; track the expenses allocated to the agreement within its accounting system; provide supporting documentation for claimed costs of $14,492,813; or submit a completed Single Audit for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2016. These deficiencies occurred because the Tribe did not adequately manage the terms within the Agreement due mainly to turnover within the finance department. Tribal officials told us that the reason they could not support expenses claimed on the Agreement was because the Tribe had to hire a new finance department to help manage its Federal agreements and the accounting records. The old contractor did not know how to manage Federal agreements and the accounting records associated with the agreements. The Tribe did not have adequate internal controls and a sufficient accounting system to track claimed costs. As a result, the Tribe was unable to support expenses claimed on the Agreement. We provided five recommendations to help the BIA address these deficiencies.