We audited the costs claimed by the State of South Dakota’s Department of Game, Fish and Parks under grants awarded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) through the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program. The audit included claims totaling approximately $52 million on 62 grants that were open during the State fiscal years that ended June 30, 2016, and June 30, 2017. The audit also covered the Department’s compliance with applicable laws, regulations, and FWS guidelines, including those related to the collection and use of hunting and fishing license revenues and the reporting of program income. We found that the Department generally complied with applicable grant accounting and regulatory requirements. The South Dakota single audit report for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2016, however, reported a noncompliance finding for license revenue being used for purposes other than administering the State fish and wildlife agency. We therefore identified a potential diversion of license revenue from an inequitable allocation of the State’s radio communications costs to the Department. In addition, we found that the Department had insufficient oversight of subawards. We also observed that the Department had not completed the prior audit recommendation for its land inventory reconciliation. Both the Department and the FWS concurred with the three recommendations we made, and they will work together to implement corrective actions.
SD
United States
