The audit of AmeriCorps grants awarded to the Puerto Rico Commission for Volunteerism and Community Service (the Commission) and two of its subgrantees found that the Commission and subgrantees did not comply with Federal regulations and AmeriCorps grant terms and conditions resulting in $625,446 in questioned Federal and match costs, and education awards. Specifically, the Commission did not adequately document or appropriately report costs. We also found the Commission insufficiently monitored its subgrantees’ compliance with grant terms and conditions and the Commission’s and a subgrantee’s financial management system did not properly track grant and report expenditures.We made recommendations for the Commission and AmeriCorps that focus on improving the Commission’s and its subgrantees’ administrative and management procedures for monitoring AmeriCorps grants. The Commission concurred with all findings within the report and noted that it had begun implementing corrective actions consistent with the auditor’s recommendations. AmeriCorps acknowledged working with the Commission on its management response and noted it will make its final determination for all findings, recommendations, and questioned costs after receiving the final report and reviewing the auditor’s working papers and the Commission’s corrective action plan.
Open Recommendations
| Recommendation Number | Significant Recommendation | Recommended Questioned Costs | Recommended Funds for Better Use | Additional Details | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | No | $0 | $0 | ||
| Instruct its Office of Regional Operations to implement an oversight mechanism to ensure that the Commission: (a) Performs and documents the results of subgrantee risk assessments. (b) Performs and documents annual subgrantee monitoring activities. (c) Communicates subgrantee performance measures. (d) Evaluates subgrantee performance against communicated performance measures. | |||||
| 7 | No | $0 | $0 | ||
| Require the Commission to provide subrecipients with further guidance on the nature of F&A costs and conduct training to ensure subrecipients claim and report F&A costs consistent with AmeriCorps’ Terms and Conditions. | |||||
| 10 | No | $0 | $0 | ||
| Require the Commission to ensure MI provides detailed accounting records from its general ledger to support the costs reported in its PERs before the Commission reimburses MI for the costs. This requirement should remain in place until MI updates its general ledger accounting system to appropriately identify Federal funds received and expended, as required per Federal regulations. | |||||
| 15 | Yes | $0 | $0 | ||
| Require the Commission to provide its subgrantees with additional training and guidance regarding how to appropriately exit members, including members with CPCs. This guidance should include procedures designed to ensure its subgrantees receive and maintain a detailed justification that documents the reason(s) for the member’s exit and verifies that the circumstances causing the member to exit represent an allowable CPC prior to certifying that the member is eligible for an education award. | |||||
| 20 | Yes | $0 | $0 | ||
| Require the Commission and its subgrantees to implement additional internal controls and establish additional policies and procedures to ensure that they only charge allowable costs to AmeriCorps Commission support grants. The additional controls should ensure that: (a) The Commission and its subgrantees calculate all payroll expenses charged to AmeriCorps grants using a rate commensurate with the employee’s established salary and the level of effort the employee dedicated to the AmeriCorps program. (b) Employees understand how to document trip costs to demonstrate that costs did not increase due to combining personal and business travel. | |||||
| 22 | No | $0 | $0 | ||
| Require the Commission to determine whether AmeriCorps members who served at MI in 2016 and 2019 should receive $20,794 in additional living allowance payments. | |||||
| 27 | No | $0 | $0 | ||
| Require the Commission to verify that MI begin tracking its Federal awards and expenditures within its general ledger accounting system. Specifically, MI’s accounting system should enable MI to identify all Federal costs and match costs reported in the PERs submitted to the Commission. | |||||
