Puerto Rico Department of Education’s Internal Controls Over the Immediate Aid to Restart School Operations Program

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Date Issued

Wednesday, July 17, 2019

Submitting OIG

Department of Education OIG

Other Participating OIGs

Department of Education OIG

Agencies Reviewed/Investigated

Department of Education

Components

Office of Elementary and Secondary Education

Report Number

A04S0013

Report Description

Our audit objective was to determine whether the Puerto Rico Department of Education (Puerto Rico DOE) has effectively designed internal controls for the administration of Immediate Aid to Restart School Operations (Restart) program funds. We found that the Puerto Rico DOE needs to enhance its system of internal controls to ensure that Restart program funds will be properly administered. Specifically, we foundthat the Puerto Rico DOE’s procurement and monitoring processes did not provide reasonable assurance that the Puerto Rico DOE will properly administer or adequately monitor Restart program funds. We found deficiencies in five of the six procurement transactions we reviewed.

Report Type

Audit

Number of Recommendations

Questioned Costs

Funds for Better Use

Additional Details

https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/oig/auditreports/fy2019/a04s0013.pdf

External Entity

Puerto Rico Department of Education

Open Recommendations

This report has 6 open recommendations.

Recommendation Number	Significant Recommendation	Recommended Questioned Costs	Recommended Funds for Better Use
1.1	Yes	$0	$0
We recommend that the Assistant Secretary for the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education require the Puerto Rico DOE to provide to the Department documentation for purchases and contracts reviewed in this report that is consistent with Regulation 7040 and the Guide for expenditures charged to the Restart and Title I grants, including adequate justification of the procurement of professional services not subject to competition, or return to the Department funds charged to the grants.
1.2	Yes	$0	$0
We recommend that the Assistant Secretary for the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education require the Puerto Rico DOE to establish controls to ensure that staff involved in the procurement of goods and nonpersonal services follow the requirements established in Regulation 7040, including any updates made in response to Puerto Rico Law 85, and provide training as applicable.
1.3	Yes	$0	$0
We recommend that the Assistant Secretary for the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education require the Puerto Rico DOE to establish controls to ensure that staff involved in the procurement of professional services follow the requirements established in the Guide, and provide training as applicable.
2.1	Yes	$0	$0
We recommend that the Assistant Secretary for the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education require the Puerto Rico DOE to timely implement its monitoring plan to properly monitor the Restart program to ensure appropriate use of funds and compliance with applicable laws and regulations.
2.2	Yes	$0	$0
We recommend that the Assistant Secretary for the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education require the Puerto Rico DOE to segregate monitoring and program coordination duties to eliminate conflicts of interest and reduce the risk of fraud, waste, and abuse.
2.3	Yes	$0	$0
We recommend that the Assistant Secretary for the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education require the Puerto Rico DOE to implement the procedures created to report fraud, waste, and abuse.