Audit of the Office of Justice Programs Victim Assistance Grants Awarded to the West Virginia Department of Homeland Security, Division of Administrative Services, Justice and Community Services, Charleston, West Virginia

Require West Virginia JCS to train its financial staff on the DOJ Grants Financial Guide FFR requirements and the instructions within the West Virginia JCS’ Accounting Policies and Procedures.

Require West Virginia JCS to enhance its written drawdown policies and procedures to include: (1) an adequate system of internal controls over the disbursement of VOCA funds to ensure funds are only provided to subrecipients for allowable costs that were incurred, and (2) supervisory review (or another control) of the reconciliation process used to calculate drawdown amounts to ensure West Virginia JCS does not request funds in excess of its needs.

Require West Virginia JCS to develop and implement written policies and procedures to ensure compliance with the 5-percent administrative expenditure limit.

Require West Virginia JCS to: (1) reconcile and correct its SARs and its subaward list for the audited grants to ensure OVC has accurate information for those previously awarded VOCA subawards, and (2) implement procedures to ensure that West Virginia JCS’ subaward list and SARs are accurate and submitted timely as well as periodically reviewed to make necessary updates.

Ensure West Virginia JCS updates its policies and procedures to implement a process to collect, verify, and maintain monthly progress reports and their respective support.

Require West Virginia JCS to establish adequate controls to ensure its monitoring staff performs monthly financial reviews in compliance with the West Virginia JCS policies and that it maintains evidence to support all claimed subrecipient expenditures reviewed as part of monitoring activities.

Coordinate with West Virginia JCS to establish procedures, such as staff instructions and control mechanisms, to: (1) maintain a comprehensive schedule of monitoring activities, (2) ensure monitoring actions effectively assess subrecipients’ implementation of VOCA-funded programs, (3) develop and provide to subrecipients reports of monitoring activities complete with required signatures in accordance with West Virginia JCS policies, and (4) pursue and close out monitoring report findings and recommendations.

Ensure West Virginia JCS: (1) updates its VOCA Administrative Manual with applicable VOCA Fix and federal award requirements, and (2) periodically reviews and makes necessary updates to the document to ensure compliance with federal statutes, regulations, and the award terms and conditions.