State & Local Reports

To evaluate the State’s readiness to provide essential information needed to respond to the global pandemic, this operational audit focused on COVID-19 data collection and reporting processes at the Agency for Health Care Administration (Agency), Department of Health (Department), and Division of Emergency Management (Division) during the period March 1, 2020, through October 9, 2020. As subsequently described, the number of entities reporting data, apparent inaccurate or incomplete data reported to the State by those entities, and the lack of effective access controls in the systems used to gather data, impacted the State’s ability to accurately report COVID-19 data at the beginning of the pandemic. Notwithstanding, we recognize the great effort put forth by public servants in responding to and accounting for the COVID-19 pandemic

The audit concluded that the Small Business Relief Program disbursed approximately $282 million of CARES Act funds through the issuance of 5,754 grants; however, the distribution rate of grant funds fell far short of expectations. The State expected to distribute $150 million per month, yet only $18 million was distributed by the end of the program’s second month. Additionally, Results of testing found a high rate of unallowable grant awards. Auditors tested 155 grants and identified at least one error for 39 percent of the grants tested