Federal Reports

We audited the Housing Authority of the County of Stanislaus’ Shelter Plus Care program based on a hotline complaint and concerns expressed by the San Francisco Office of Community Planning and Development regarding the Authority’s lack of documentation to support participant eligibility. Our objective was to determine whether the Authority documented participant eligibility related to homelessness and disability in accordance with Shelter Plus Care program requirements. While participants’ disabilities were supported, the complaint had some merit as the Authority did not always adequately document participants’ eligibility related to homelessness in accordance with HUD requirements. In 1 of the 15 participant files reviewed, the Authority’s documents lacked detail to show that the applicant, who was in transitional housing, originally came from the streets or emergency shelters, an additional requirement stated in the notice of funding availability. This condition occurred because Authority staff did not fully understand the requirement and thought the service agency referral was sufficient to verify eligibility. As a result, the Authority could not support that $13,885 in housing assistance payments and any subsequent payments made were for an eligible participant.We recommend that the Director of HUD’s San Francisco Office of Community Planning and Development require the Authority to provide supporting documentation for $13,885 in housing assistance payments and subsequent payments made for the participant for whom eligibility could not be supported or repay its program from non-Federal funds.

We audited the Housing Authority of the County of San Bernardino’s Continuum of Care grant funds received from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). We audited the Authority because it is among the top 15 percent of competitive grantees in HUD’s Office of Community Planning and Development’s risk analysis. Our audit objective was to determine whether the Authority administered its Continuum of Care grants in accordance with HUD requirements.The Authority did not have adequate support for the administrative fees charged to its Continuum of Care grants. This condition occurred because the Authority lacked a detailed written administrative fee cost allocation methodology in its policies and procedures. As a result, HUD had no assurance that administrative fees of $663,070 charged to the Continuum of Care grants were appropriate. We recommend that the Director of HUD’s Los Angeles Office of Community Planning and Development require the Authority to (1) adequately support the administrative fees or repay its Continuum of Care grants $663,070 from non-Federal funds, (2) submit an indirect cost rate schedule for its Continuum of Care grants to HUD for approval, and (3) develop and implement written policies and procedures for its administrative fee charges.

The Office of the Inspector General audited TVA’s information systems categorization process to determine if TVA’s information systems categorization process was effective and in compliance with Federal Information Processing Standards Publication 199 and National Institute of Standards and Technology Special Publication (NIST SP) 800-60. We determined that portions of TVA’s process were effective. However, we found gaps with implementing NIST SP 800-60 guidance. TVA management agreed with our findings and recommendations.

The Office of Inspector General conducted a follow‐up audit evaluating NASA’s process for transferring Agency‐developed technology to the commercial sector.

We identified actions that Washington has taken, using Federal funds for improving prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs), to achieve program goals toward improving safe prescribing practices and preventing prescription drug abuse and misuse. As of July 2018, Washington had completed some of the activities it proposed for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) grant to enhance and maximize its PDMP. Specifically, of the 11 activities proposed for the audit period (March 1, 2016, through August 31, 2017), 6 were completed, and the remaining 5 were partially completed.