Open Recommendations

Train employees responsible for safeguarding scanners at the Louisville Processing and Distribution Center on proper scanner accountability procedures and verify these procedures are followed.

Verify proper placarding procedures are followed and consistently completed at the Louisville Processing and Distribution Center.

Provide training to personnel responsible for truck safety, and verify all drivers are using wheel chocks at the Louisville Processing and Distribution Center.

Verify that fire extinguishers are not blocked and monthly fire extinguisher inspections are completed at the Louisville Processing and Distribution Center.

Review the 17,568 COVID-19 EIDLs and Emergency EIDL Advances identified with business establishment dates after January 31, 2020, to determine eligibility and to seek recovery of funds from ineligible recipients.

Assess the automated controls within the agency’s new lending platform, the Unified Lending Platform (ULP), to ensure they align with clearly defined disaster assistance criteria.

Implement a control in the Consolidated Claims Experience (CCE) to help ensure Supplemental Security Income (SSI) claimants and recipients are given the option, where appropriate, to file a SNAP application with the SSA office when they are in a pure SSI household.

Review the SNAP training material and update, as needed, to emphasize the requirement for SSA employees to correctly record information in CCE.

Reinforce the New Jersey Small Business Development Center’s adherence to requirements that costs spent on consultants are reasonable and supportable as prescribed in 2 CFR § 200.459.

Remedy $164,088 in unsupported expenses for consultant costs that are without established rate agreements.

Reinforce the New Jersey Small Business Development Center’s adherence to requirements on allowable types of hospitality cost under 13 CFR § 130.465 and Program Terms and Conditions, Section 7. Compare the $8,217 in unallowable costs to any overmatch funds per 13 CFR § 130.450(g) and recover costs as appropriate.

Instruct the New Jersey SBDC to submit an updated budget that reflects the $420,700 impact of the service center closure to evaluate whether funds are allowable in accordance with 2 CFR § 200.308(c)(5)(7).

Update the SBA resource partner website to reflect active New Jersey Small Business Development Center service centers.

Instruct the New Jersey Small Business Development Center to reconcile $75,247 of program income across the network to ensure generated income and expenses are accounted for and reported accurately in accordance with 13 CFR § 130.480.

Enforce the requirement for the New Jersey Small Business Development Center to timely adhere to export certification requirements and regularly report on its compliance status to SBA in accordance with Notice of Funding Section 5.1.4.4.

Ensure the New Jersey Small Business Development Center is maintaining sufficient accessibility to its facilities and appropriate staff levels and notifying clients of service centers’ hours of operation in accordance with 15 USC § 648(c)(2).

Ensure the New Jersey Small Business Development Center implements a process to ensure all personnel funded by federal grant funds are notified of their whistleblower protection rights in accordance with 41 U.S.C § 4712.

Ensure the New Jersey Small Business Development Center relates financial data and program accomplishments toward meeting the performance goals for the entire performance period as 2 CFR § 200.329(b) requires.

Ensure ICE staff respond to all detainee requests within the required 3 business days.

Determine the allowability of $25,536 in questioned costs ($17,482 ineligible and $8,054 unsupported) on page 11 and 27 of the audit report and recover any amount that is unallowable.

Verify that DIM-FHIS/SEDECOAS corrects the two material weaknesses in internal control detailed on page 25 of the audit report.

Verify that DIM-FHIS/SEDECOAS corrects the one instance of material noncompliance detailed on page 33 of the audit report.

Develop and implement a policy that clearly defines roles and responsibilities for Office of Multifamily Housing Programs' staff for EBLL-related requirements, including the oversight of property owners' compliance with these requirements.

Establish processes to track reported EBLLs for the Office of Multifamily Housing Programs to easily identify the status of owners' remediation efforts for units that were the source of the confirmed EBLL.

We recommend that the Acting Chief Program Officer of the Treasury Office of Capital Access works with the OIG to ensure that the State of Oregon returns to Treasury the $32,554 of CRF proceeds that were used by the City of Lakeside, Oregon in violation of subsection 601(d) of the Social Security Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. 801(d)), as well as Treasury’s Guidance and FAQs.