Federal Reports

EAC OIG, through the independent public accounting firm of McBride, Lock & Associates, LLC, audited $45.8 million in funds received by the Colorado Secretary of State under the Help America Vote Act. The objectives of the audit were to determine whether the Secretary of State (1) used payments authorized by Sections 101, 102, and 251 of the grant in accordance with grant and applicable requirements; (2) accurately and properly accounted for property purchased with Grant payments and for program income; and (3) met HAVA requirements for Section 251 funds for creation of an election fund, providing required matching contributions, and meeting the requirements for maintenance of a base level of state outlays, commonly referred to as Maintenance of Expenditures (MOE).

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Overall, we found that the Department had generally implemented the GPRA Modernization Act as required, but it could improve its disclosures related to congressional input and data verification and validation. Specifically, the Department did not identify on Performance.gov how congressional views were incorporated into the establishment of its agency priority goals. Also, although the Department established processes for ensuring the accuracy and reliability of data used to measure progress towards its agency priority goals, it had not accurately or adequately disclosed relevant information in its Annual Performance Plan or Annual Performance Report as required. As a result, the public may have less confidence that Congress and the Department are in agreement on the immediate priorities of the agency and that the data presented in performance reports is credible, and the public may be unaware of any limitations of the data that would provide important context for understanding it. The Department generally concurred with our findings and provided information on progress made related to our recommendations.