{"database": "mytown-research", "table": "audit_findings", "rows": [[26, "wa-sao", "1021258", "2017-001", null, "WA", "Evergreen School District No 114", "School District", "1841", null, "no_match", "Washington State Auditor's Office", "Financial and Federal audit \u2014 Evergreen School District No 114", "Financial and Federal", 2017, "2016-09-01", "2017-08-31", "2018-05-14", "federal_award_compliance", "material_weakness", 0.0, "Questioned Cost Amount: $0", "The District did not have adequate internal controls to ensure compliance with suspension and debarment requirements for purchases of goods and materials. CFDA Number and Title: 84.010 \u2013 Title I Grants to Local Educational Agencies Federal Grantor Name: U.S. Department of Education Federal Award/Contract Number: NA Pass-through Entity Name: Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction Pass-throu", "Description of Condition \nDuring fiscal year 2017, the District spent $5,401,583 in Title I grant funds. This \nprogram\u2019s objective is to improve the teaching and learning of children who are at \nrisk of not meeting challenging academic standards and who reside in areas with \nhigh concentrations of children from low-income families. The District used these \nfunds to improve teaching and learning at 14 elementary schools. \nFederal requirements prohibit grant recipients from contracti ng with or making \nsubawards to parties who have been suspended or debarred from doing business \nwith the federal government. The District must verify that all vendors receiving \n$25,000 or more in federal awards have not been suspended or debarred. To do this, \nthe District could obtain a written certification from the vendor or insert a clause \ninto the contract where the vendor states it is not suspended or debarred. \nAlternatively, the District may review the federal Excluded Parties List (EPLS) \nissued by the U.S. General Services Administration. The District must meet one of \nthese requirements before entering into a contract with the vendor. \nThe District did not have procedures in place when it purchased from three vendors \nmore than $25,000 each for educati onal materials. The District did not obtain a \n \n \nWashington State Auditor's Office\n___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________\n \n \nwritten certification or review EPLS to verify the vendors were not suspended or \ndebarred before awarding the contracts. \nWe consider this internal control deficiency to be a material weakness. This issue \nwas not reported as a finding in the prior audit. \nCause of Condition \nThe District was aware of suspension and debarment requirements but was not \naware they applied to the purchase of goods and materials. \nEffect of Condition and Questioned Costs \nThe District paid three vendors a total of $439,499 in fiscal year 2017 and did not \nverify that the vendors were not suspended or debarred. Payments on contracts to \nsuspended or debarred vendors would be unallowable and subject to recovery by \nthe grantor. We were able to verify the vendors had not been suspended or debarred; \ntherefore, we are not questioning costs for these payments. \nRecommendation \nWe recommend the District follow established internal controls to ensure vendors \nare not suspended or debarred from participating in federal programs before making \nany payments. \nDistrict \u2019s Response \nThe District agrees with the State Auditor\u2019s audit finding, as explained in the report \nsections on Description and Cause of Condition, and Effect of Conditions and \nQuestioned Costs. The District verified the three vendors that the District \npurchased educational materials were not Suspended or Debarred, after the State \nAuditors notified the District that education materials are within the Suspended \nand Debarment federal regulations. \nThe District agrees with the State Auditor\u2019s recommendations, and will make the \nnecessary changes to strengthen controls, so that audit conditions of this nature \nwill not happen again. We thank the State Auditors for making it clear that the \nDistrict was aware of Suspension and Debarment federal regulations, except for \nthe purchase of goods and materials. \nThe District has very effective procedures for compliance with Suspension and \nDebarment federal regulations for processing contracts for professional s ervices \nand public works projects. The District has made initial changes to its procedures \nfor purchasing goods and materials using federal funds. The District will complete \n \n \nWashington State Auditor's Office\n___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________\n \n \nits procedures after confirmation of the regulations is received from the State \nAuditor\u2019s office. \nAuditor\u2019s Remarks \nWe appreciate the District\u2019s commitment to resolve this finding and thank the \nDistrict for its cooperation and assistance during the audit. \nAppli cable Laws and Regulat ions \nTitle 2, Code of Federal Regulations \u2013 Grants and Agreements, Section \u00a7 200.303 \nInternal controls states in part: \nThe non-Federal entity must: \n(a) Establish and maintain effective internal control over the \nFederal award that provides reasonable assurance that the \nnon-Federal entity is managing the Federal award in \ncompliance with Federal statutes, regulations, and the terms \nand conditions of the Federal award. These internal \ncontrols should be in compliance with guidance in \n\u2018\u2018Standards for Internal Control in the Federal \nGovernment\u2019\u2019 issued by the Comptroller General of the \nUnited States or the \u2018\u2018Internal Control Integra ted \nFramework\u2019\u2019, issued by the Committee of Sponsoring \nOrganizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO). \n(b) Comply with Federal statutes, regulations, and the terms \nand conditions of the Federal awards. \nTitle 2, Code of Federal Regulations \u2013 Grants and Agreements, Section \u00a7 200.516 \nAudit findings, states in part: \n(a) Audit findings reported . The auditor must report the \nfollowing as audit findings in a", "https://portal.sao.wa.gov/ReportSearch/Home/ViewReportFile?arn=1021258&isFinding=false&sp=false", "2026-07-30 13:24:54"]], "columns": ["rowid", "source", "report_number", "finding_number", "muni_id", "state", "entity_name", "entity_type", "entity_ext_id", "place_geoid", "match_method", "auditor", "report_title", "audit_type", "fiscal_year", "period_start", "period_end", "published_date", "finding_category", "severity", "questioned_cost", "cost_basis", "finding_title", "finding_text", "report_url", "fetched_at"], "primary_keys": ["rowid"], "primary_key_values": ["26"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 5.127309006638825, "source": "MyTown", "source_url": "https://mytown.theboringparts.com", "license": "CC BY 4.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"}