Federal Reports

Cotton & Company concluded that the Sewage and Water Board (Board) lacked an adequate accounting system and did not spend grant funds in compliance with applicable Federal laws and regulations as well as FEMA guidelines. We made 12 recommendations, that when implemented, should help strengthen program management, performance, and oversight. For example, we recommended FEMA Region VI ensure the Louisiana Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness require the Board to implement a process to track and conduct periodic financial reporting on its disaster expenditures and revenues; accumulate and maintain actual cost data to support expenditures paid using the administrative allowance and provide documentation to support these expenditures. We also recommended requiring the Board to implement procedures and controls to ensure expenditures agree with underlying accounting records and reconcile to the recorded grant revenue and to its accounting system. FEMA concurred with all 12 of the recommendations.

OIG evaluated the Farm Service Agency and the Farm Production and Conservation Business Center’s administration and oversight of the contract closeout process.

We are performing reviews in several States in response to a congressional request concerning deaths and abuse of people with developmental disabilities living in group homes.Federal waivers permit States to furnish an array of home and community-based services to Medicaid members with developmental disabilities so that they may live in community settings and avoid institutionalization. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) requires States to implement a critical incident reporting system to protect the health and welfare of the Medicaid members (as Medicaid beneficiaries are referred to in Iowa) receiving waiver services.