EIN: 651122406
UEI: FDDXSKLB1679
Audited by: VERDEJA & ALVAREZ, LLP
Cognizant agency: 93 [Department of Health and Human Services]
Data as of August 28, 2026
Management decision deadline — for entities that funded this organization
The FAC accepted this audit on September 16, 2020. Under 2 CFR 200.521(d), a pass-through entity that provided federal funds to this organization for this audit period must issue a management decision on these findings by March 16, 2021 (1991 days ago).
What is a management decision? →Programs: Child Care Development Fund Cluster ? CFDA# 93.575 93.596 Temporary Assistance for Needy Families ? CFDA# 93.558 Criteria: In accordance with the contracts, the Organization is required to comply with all applicable federal, state, and local laws regarding activities allowed and/or allowable cost and eligibility of the programs. Conditions: Challenges with the Florida Department of Education?s (DOE) new data system that the Organization is contractually required to utilize created a number of operational and data integrity issues. The system was released before all functions required by the organization to properly operate were functional. The data was inaccurate due to data migration issues when DOE migrated from the old legacy system to the new system. This has caused significant challenges for all the entities relying on the system?s controls and process to adequately determine supported payments to providers. In addition, while the Organization has continued to perform the eligibility functions required by the granting agencies in order to determine whether a child was eligible for service and has retained the necessary documentation for each child as required, the Organization did not utilize the eligibility information or criteria in determining the amount actually due or paid to the provider. Instead, the Organization made estimated payments to all providers as required to do so by the DOE. The DOE is currently in the process of updating and correcting the system so that payments made to providers are accurately supported. Cause: The Organization was unable to extract many management reports and those that were extracted were inaccurate. This not only included management reports needed to properly project and pay expenditures or adjust expenditures based on eligibility criteria, but also reports needed by providers to reconcile the payments made by the organization. As the result, the organization was directed by the DOE to pay providers based on estimates instead of the usual practice of paying providers based on actual attendance or changes in eligibility criteria which can fluctuate monthly based on the number of eligible families and children enrolled. Effect: Due to the volume of transactions processed by the organization and the number of providers under contract, a manual reconciliation system was not practical. Additionally, the organization was not able to fully begin the reconciliation process and had to stop several times because the data changed with every enhanced version of the data system. Every time the data changed, the reconciliation process had to start from inception. As a result, adequately demonstrating that program expenditures are accurate and complete was not a possibility. The organization requested support from the DOE and a team of DOE representatives provided this support in person in Miami on February 17 ? 21, 2020. After a discussion that included inviting a number of providers to be part of the reconciliation process for their programs, a plan was developed with the DOE on how to best approach the reconciliation process, considering the volume, workload, and timeframe. Recommendation: Due to the inability to rely on the new DOE system, the Organization should reconcile each provider on a monthly basis and remit payment based on those reconciliations. If impractical, a plan should be in place, in coordination with the DOE, in the event that there is a similar problem with this system in the future. As of the date of these financial statements, the Organization had reconciled 54% of all provider payments.
Show full finding ▾Hide full finding ▴Programs: Child Care Development Fund Cluster ? CFDA# 93.575 93.596 Temporary Assistance for Needy Families ? CFDA# 93.558 Criteria: In accordance with the contracts, the Organization is required to comply with all applicable federal, state, and local laws regarding activities allowed and/or allowable cost and eligibility of the programs. Conditions: Challenges with the Florida Department of Education?s (DOE) new data system that the Organization is contractually required to utilize created a number of operational and data integrity issues. The system was released before all functions required by the organization to properly operate were functional. The data was inaccurate due to data migration issues when DOE migrated from the old legacy system to the new system. This has caused significant challenges for all the entities relying on the system?s controls and process to adequately determine supported payments to providers. In addition, while the Organization has continued to perform the eligibility functions required by the granting agencies in order to determine whether a child was eligible for service and has retained the necessary documentation for each child as required, the Organization did not utilize the eligibility information or criteria in determining the amount actually due or paid to the provider. Instead, the Organization made estimated payments to all providers as required to do so by the DOE. The DOE is currently in the process of updating and correcting the system so that payments made to providers are accurately supported. Cause: The Organization was unable to extract many management reports and those that were extracted were inaccurate. This not only included management reports needed to properly project and pay expenditures or adjust expenditures based on eligibility criteria, but also reports needed by providers to reconcile the payments made by the organization. As the result, the organization was directed by the DOE to pay providers based on estimates instead of the usual practice of paying providers based on actual attendance or changes in eligibility criteria which can fluctuate monthly based on the number of eligible families and children enrolled. Effect: Due to the volume of transactions processed by the organization and the number of providers under contract, a manual reconciliation system was not practical. Additionally, the organization was not able to fully begin the reconciliation process and had to stop several times because the data changed with every enhanced version of the data system. Every time the data changed, the reconciliation process had to start from inception. As a result, adequately demonstrating that program expenditures are accurate and complete was not a possibility. The organization requested support from the DOE and a team of DOE representatives provided this support in person in Miami on February 17 ? 21, 2020. After a discussion that included inviting a number of providers to be part of the reconciliation process for their programs, a plan was developed with the DOE on how to best approach the reconciliation process, considering the volume, workload, and timeframe. Recommendation: Due to the inability to rely on the new DOE system, the Organization should reconcile each provider on a monthly basis and remit payment based on those reconciliations. If impractical, a plan should be in place, in coordination with the DOE, in the event that there is a similar problem with this system in the future. As of the date of these financial statements, the Organization had reconciled 54% of all provider payments.
Audit Finding No.: 2019-001 Audit Finding Title: Activities Allowed or Unallowed and Allowable Cost/Cost Principles and Eligibility Responsibility for these findings lies entirely with the Florida Department of Education's Office of Early Learning (OEL) and not with the ELC. In July 2018, OEL deployed a flawed new version of the Single Statewide Information System that lacked critical functionality needed to comply with OEL and the State of Florida's own requirements for monthly provider payment processing. ELC was incapable of performing the necessary reconciliations because this functionality was not available in the new OEL system for all 12 months of the fiscal year. OEL's statement of responsibility is included below. Development/Deployment of EFS Mod. In July 20 I 8, OEL launched SR eligibility and enrollment features and migrated the data from the 35 EFS Legacy databases into EFS Mod. Unfortunately, the data migration resulted in SR data mismatches. OEL decided the best course of action was to work with coalitions to correct the data errors over the next few months. However, these efforts still continue. Payments to Providers. The absence of EFS Mod system functionality for all twelve months of FY2018-19 prevented the Early Learning Coalitions (ELCs) and Redlands Christian Migrant Association (RCMA) from complying with monthly reconciliation requirements as instructed in OEL 's grant agreements. Given the issues related to the data migration, OEL instructed coalitions and RCMA in July 2018 to pay providers based on estimated attendance. These instructions included a plan to "true-up" (i.e. , reconcile) any FY2018-19 estimates used with actual attendance data once records migrated to EFS Mod were corrected and the system 's attendance functionality feature was operational. However, system functionality challenges remain and corrections are ongoing for the data and records in EFS Mod. Conclusions. All early learning coalitions and RCMA were impacted by the issues described here for EFS Mod in FY2018-19. These system-wide issues are to be considered state agency- level errors and as a result, OEL understands and asserts ? ? The amounts presented are based on best available data from OEL records and/or self- reported estimates from the entity as of 1/31/2020. ? The variances noted are a consequence of the ongoing (but incomplete) efforts of OEL to obtain data accuracy and system functionality for EFS Mod for FY2018-19. ? Future efforts to address EFS Mod data corrections and system upgrades may identify and/or result in additional variances for this entity. The ELC is now working entirely in EFS Mod effective July 2019. The Early Learning Coalition is required to utilize the state's data system to determine eligibility for families and to make payments to providers. Payments are driven by the number of children that are eligible. The Department of Education, Office of Early Learning, does not allow Early Learning Coalitions to utilize program funds to create local stand-alone systems as a backup for their data system. Due to the volume of cases, the dollar amount, the complexity of the eligibility and provider payment process, a manual system is not practical or allowable. While the Early Learning Coalition is cognizant that it remains responsible for managing the state and federal dollars under its grant agreement with the Department of Education, the only system that can be used to manage the DOE grants is the state system. The Department of Education is responsible for ensuring that the system remains operational and that data reports necessary to help Early Learning Coalitions manage its grants are available. If the state's data system is not operational for any reason, the Early Learning Coalition is unable to perform the process of determining family eligibility for its programs and is unable to make payments to providers. Corrective Action Plan and anticipated completion date The ELC began a manual reconciliation process upon realization of the flaws in the EFS Mod system. As mentioned above, the reconciliation process was delayed due to continued system functionality challenges that remained during the entire fiscal year ended June 30, 2019. Despite these challenges, the ELC has reconciled a significant amount of provider payments, however the reconciliation process is still ongoing. The completion of all reconciliations is dependent on the final review and approval of the OEL. In the event that the Early Learning Coalition's management foresees a problem with the data system, they will seek the assistance, guidance and authorization of the Department of Education to determine what alternate system may be available to ensure that the family eligibility and the payment process to providers continues uninterrupted. However, the Early Learning Coalition is unable to provide assurances that the Department of Education's alternative system will produce accurate eligibility determinations or accurate payments as the Early Learning Coalition has no control over the state data systems it is required to utilize.
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