Independent Program Evaluation of National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Pandemic Relief Program

For the independent program evaluation of National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Pandemic Relief Program, the evaluation objective was to determine whether NIST grantees and subrecipients accounted for and expended pandemic relief funds provided under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act and subsequent funding authorizations in accordance with federal laws and regulations. We contracted with the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA), an independent firm, to perform this evaluation. Our office oversaw the evaluation’s progress to ensure that IDA performed it in accordance with the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency’s Quality Standards for Inspection and Evaluation (December 2020) and contract terms. However, IDA is solely responsible for the attached report and the conclusions expressed in it.In its evaluation, IDA identified that multiple recipients spent more than the approved budgeted amounts by category or in new budget categories without receiving the required prior approval, resulting in questioned costs of approximately $2.55 million.In addition, IDA made the following observations:• NIST’s technical oversight of awards encouraged process efficiencies where possible. • NIST leveraged existing processes to expedite awards, program objectives were aligned with award activities, and NIST can improve oversight by tracking quantitative goals and progress toward goals in progress reports.