The Puerto Rico Department of Agriculture Met Pandemic Funds Requirements but Was Slow to Disburse Fishery Consolidated Appropriations Act Funds

This final report provides the results of our audit of the Puerto Rico Department of Agriculture’s (PR DOA’s) use of Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act of 2020 (CARES Act) and Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) of 2021 funds. Our objective was to determine whether PR DOA’s costs claimed through the CARES Act and CAA funds were allowable, allocable, and reasonable in accordance with federal cost principles.3 We conducted this audit as part of a response to a congressional request. This report provides answers to congressional questions related to CARES Act and CAA funds. To answer the audit objective and the congressional request, we ascertained the status of the award and funds expended and conducted limited testing of expenditures. We tested approximately $297,111 in costs claimed from the expended $2,508,354 CARES Act and CAA funds and found that PR DOA had documentation to support that costs claimed were allowable, allocable, and reasonable in accordance with federal cost principles.
For the 74 applications we reviewed, PR DOA maintained documentation that generally supported that applicants for aid were eligible to receive incentive payments of CARES Act and CAA funds. Specifically, we relied on the sworn statements provided and additional verification steps taken by PR DOA officials as support that applicants had incurred an economic loss greater than 35 percent. Based on the results of our review and the similar finding and recommendation in our report titled Puerto Rico’s Department of Natural and Environmental Resources Properly Disbursed Funds but Was Slow in Expending Fishery Disaster Assistance Funds, we did not make any recommendations in this report.