The Improving Head Start for School Readiness Act of 2007 required the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Head Start (OHS), to develop the Designation Renewal System to ensure that it would not automatically renew a Head Start grant for a grantee that has not provided a high-quality and comprehensive Head Start program. Instead, the Head Start grant would be subject to an open competition. In 2013, OHS notified Pathways for Children, Inc. (Pathways) that because of noncompliance with program requirements, it would be required to compete for Head Start funding. Pathways applied to compete for the Head Start funding and was awarded the grant again as the sole applicant. On the basis of its noncompliance, we selected Pathways for this audit.
Open Recommendations
| Recommendation Number | Significant Recommendation | Recommended Questioned Costs | Recommended Funds for Better Use | Additional Details | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 267887 | No | $0 | $0 | ||
| We recommend that Pathways for Children, Inc. implement policies and procedures to request prior written approval from ACF before purchasing capital assets. | |||||
| 267886 | No | $0 | $0 | ||
| We recommend that Pathways for Children, Inc. implement policies and procedure to require that LEAs provide documentation to Pathways showing that IEP services were not paid by Federal funds. | |||||
| 267885 | No | $0 | $0 | ||
| We recommend that Pathways for Children, Inc. implement policies and procedures to ensure that revenue generated from non-Federal match fundraising expenses are allocated to Head Start program in accordance with the relative benefits received. | |||||
| 267883 | No | $296,982 | $0 | ||
| We recommend that Pathways for Children, Inc. refund to the Federal Government $296,982 for FY 2017 unallowable non-Federal share expenses or provide documentation showing that Federal sources were not billed for IEP services. | |||||
| 267884 | No | $44,655 | $0 | ||
| We recommend that Pathways for Children, Inc. refund to the Federal Government $44,655 for FY 2017 capital expenditures that lacked prior written approval from ACF and work with ACF to determine the amount of FY 2016 Head Start funds that were drawn down without proper prior approval and refund that amount. | |||||
