Federal Reports

Our audit to determine whether FSA had controls in place to ensure that students who had met or exceeded the Pell grant lifetime eligibility limit did not receive additional Pell grants found that FSA had those controls in place. We found no errors when testing the accuracy of the Lifetime Eligibility Used calculation1 for a random sample of Pell grant awards. Further, we tested controls for a judgmental sample containing different scenarios for awards having Lifetime Eligibility Used calculated at or above 600 percent maximum allowed and found no significant issues.

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During this semiannual period, we issued reports on the maturity of the Library’s system development life cycle processes and procedures and on the design of Library-wide internal controls for tracking information technology investments. These reports highlighted a number of structural issues that need to be addressed, and confirmed that managing information technology continues to be a top management challenge for the Library. We also issued a report on the Library’s fiscal year 2014 financial statement audit and continued various other audits and investigations.

The city of Travelers Rest is a small, mostly rural city in Northern Greenville County, SC. In an effort to revitalize the downtown section of Travelers Rest and attract businesses and people to the area, the grantee sought ARC funding to support the construction of a new Performing Arts and Cultural center.

We performed an assessment of the use of purchase cards in FY2014 to determine whether there were safeguards and internal controls in place to reduce the potential risk of Illegal, improper, or erroneous purchases and payments, and to evaluate the implementation of the policies and procedures in place for the administration and use of the purchase credit cards

We performed an assessment of the use of purchase cards in FY 2014 to determine whether there were safeguards and internal controls in place to reduce the potential risk of Illegal, improper, or erroneous purchases and payments.

ARC attempts to resolve the issue there remains open old HUD administered grants for which De-obligations should be finalized and available funds used for additional needed projects

ARC has established standardized controls to identify grants needing follow-up and actions such as cancellations, de-obligations and reduction of dormant construction grants.

Review of Area Development grant Applications and Approvals

These Statements contain substantial information about the economic conditions in the applicable Appalachian Region and identify many objectives and strategies in line with the four ARC goals

A review of FY 2014 Area Development (AD) applications, approvals and dollars approved confirmed that a significant amount of applications were received and processed in the last quarter of FY 2014 and a large majority of dollars were approved in the final quarter

A review of annual State Strategy Statements identified the potential for revising these Statements to improve their use as a management tool

The audit objectives were to determine whether program funds were managed in accordance with the ARC and Federal grant requirements

The United States Capitol Police (USCP or the Department) maintains a Crime Scene Search (CSS) Unit, which is responsible for collecting, receiving, identifying, processing, documenting, preserving, securing, transferring, and disposing of physical evidence obtained from crime scenes within the jurisdiction of the USCP.  At the request of the Chief of Police, the Office of inspector General (OIG) conducted an audit of controls over evidence because the CSS unit mixed physical evidence from multiple cases.

We found that FSA did not revise its enforcement procedures and guidance to ensure that they facilitated and did not hinder enforcement actions after the Department eliminated the incentive compensation safe harbors in 2010 and did not develop procedures and guidance instructing employees on how they should determine the appropriate enforcement action for incentive compensation violations. We also found that an internal memo from the then Deputy Secretary of Education issued to FSA in 2002 and the guidance and procedures FSA developed and implemented in response discouraged FSA employees from using all allowable enforcement actions at FSA’s disposal. We also concluded that FSA followed its established methods for tracking activities related to incentive compensation and adapted its methods for detecting incentive compensation ban violations; however, our review of 26 FSA program review files found that 23 contained insufficient evidence to show that institutional review specialists completed all the incentive compensation testing procedures that FSA’s program review manual required. Finally, we found that FSA did not properly resolve incentive compensation ban findings. Institutional review specialists and audit resolution specialists did not consult with FSA’s Administrative Actions and Appeals Service Group regarding final actions to resolve the one program review and four independent public accountant audits that identified violations of the incentive compensation ban from July 1, 2011, through September 17, 2013. Additionally, audit resolution specialists did not determine the merits of each violation by using a preliminary audit determination letter for findings in the four independent public accountant audit reports.

The audit objectives were to determine whether program funds were managed in accordance with the ARC and Federal grant requirements

EAC OIG, through the independent public accounting firm of McBride, Lock & Associates, LLC, audited $18.0 million in funds received by the District of Columbia Board of Elections and Ethics under the Help America Vote Act. The objectives of the audit were to determine whether the Board of Elections and Ethics (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).

Resource centers work with schools, economic development and workforce development agencies in Appalachia implementing programs focused on post secondary education attainment.