City of CasperLocal Government

2024-001 FINDING: Procurement, Suspension, and Debarment Policy Federal Program Affected: Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (ALN 21.027) Compliance Requirement: Procurement, Suspension, and Debarment Questioned Costs: None Condition and Cause: A search for suspended and debarred vendors was not performed prior to awarding a construction contract with federal funding. The construction contractor was not suspended or debarred. Criteria and Effect: Not performing a search could result in the City contracting with a vendor that is suspended or debarred from doing business with the federal government, resulting in noncompliance. Repeat Finding from Prior Year: No Recommendation Management should adhere to their written procurement policies and verify all vendors are not suspended or debarred by searching SAM.gov, or other methods. Additionally, documentation should be retained that the search was performed. Response/Corrective Action Plan: The City agrees with the above finding. See Corrective Action Plan.

Significant Deficiency in Internal Control over Federal Awards 2021-004 ? Procurement, Suspension, and Debarment Federal Program: Highway Planning and Construction Cluster, Highway Planning and Construction Federal Assistance Listing Number: 20.205 Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Transportation Pass-Through Grantor: Wyoming Department of Transportation Program Pass-Through Entity Identifying Number Grant Year Highway Planning and Construction CD16205 2016 Highway Planning and Construction FT18047 2018 Highway Planning and Construction FT19047 2019 Highway Planning and Construction CD19201 2019 Highway Planning and Construction FT20047 2020 Highway Planning and Construction FT21047 2021 Criteria Government wide requirements for nonprocurement suspension and debarment are contained in guidance at 2 CFR 180.220. Non-Federal entities are prohibited from contracting with or making subawards under covered transactions to parties that are suspended or debarred or whose principals are suspended or debarred. ?Covered transactions? include those procurement contracts for goods and services awarded under a nonprocurement transaction (e.g., grant or cooperative agreement) that are expected to equal or exceed $25,000 or meet certain other specified criteria. 2 CFR section 180.220 of the government wide nonprocurement debarment and suspension guidance contains those additional limited circumstances. All nonprocurement transactions (i.e., subawards to subrecipients), irrespective of award amount, are considered covered transactions. a) Covered transactions under this part: 1. Do not include any procurement contracts awarded directly by a Federal agency; but 2. Do include some procurement contracts awarded by non-Federal participants in nonprocurement covered transactions. b) Specifically, a contract for goods or services is a covered transaction if any of the following applies: 1. The contract is awarded by a participant in a nonprocurement transaction that is covered under ? 180.210, and the amount of the contract is expected to equal or exceed $25,000. 2. The contract requires the consent of an official of a Federal agency. In that case, the contract, regardless of the amount, always is a covered transaction, and it does not matter who awarded it. For example, it could be a subcontract awarded by a contractor at a tier below a nonprocurement transaction, as shown in the appendix to this part. 3. The contract is for Federally-required audit services. c) A subcontract also is a covered transaction if: 1. It is awarded by a participant in a procurement transaction under a nonprocurement transaction of a Federal agency that extends the coverage of paragraph (b)(1) of this section to additional tiers of contracts (see the diagram in the appendix to this part showing that optional lower tier coverage); and 2. The value of the subcontract is expected to equal or exceed $25,000. Condition The City was lacking a process to determine if an entity was suspended or debarred or otherwise excluded from participating in the transaction before entering into the transaction with that entity. As a result, the City did not determine whether contractors used in this program had been identified as suspended or debarred parties. Cause The City lacked the knowledge and training of the requirements for procurement, suspension, and debarment. Effect The City could have potentially entered into a transaction with an entity that was suspended or debarred or otherwise excluded from participating in the transaction. If the contractors used had been suspended or debarred, the City could have to repay to the granting agency the funds expended under this program. Questioned Costs None. Context We examined five of the thirteen vendors and determined that a search on the SAM.gov website was not performed for any of these vendors. The program manager and staff did not determine whether any of the entities and their principals were suspended or debarred or otherwise excluded from participating in the transactions. It was subsequently determined such parties were not suspended or debarred. Discussed with the client and noted that the client did not run this search for any of the vendors for Metropolitan Planning Organization projects. This is a violation of federal requirements and the City?s policy that each vendor be researched on the SAM.gov website to ensure they are not suspended or debarred. Recommendation We recommend the City review the suspension and debarment status on all procurements funded with federal grants. This verification may be accomplished by (1) Checking the Excluded Parties List System (EPLS) maintained by the General Services Administration (GSA) and available at https://www.sam.gov/portal/public/SAM/ (Note: EPLS is no longer a separate system; however, the OMB guidance and agency implementing regulations still refer to it as EPLS), (2) Collecting a certification from the entity, or (3) Adding a clause or condition to the covered transaction with that entity. Identification of a repeat finding This is a new finding for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2021. Views of responsible officials See Corrective Action Plan

2021-005 ? Allowable Costs, Cost Principles Federal Program: Federal Transit Cluster, Federal Transit Formula Grants, COVID-19 ? Federal Transit Formula Grants Federal Assistance Listing Number: 20.507 Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Transportation Pass-Through Grantor: Wyoming Department of Transportation Program Pass-through Entity Identifying Number Grant Year Federal Transit Formula Grants WY-2019-004-00 2020 COVID-19 ? Federal Transit Formula Grants WY-2020-003-00 2020 Criteria 2 CFR 200.403 establishes principles and standards for determining costs for federal awards carried out through grants, cost reimbursement contracts, and other agreements with state and local governments. To be allowable, under federal awards, cost must meet certain criteria. a) Be necessary and reasonable for the performance of the Federal award and be allocable thereto under these principles. b) Conform to any limitations or exclusions set forth in these principles or in the Federal award as to types or amount of cost items. c) Be consistent with policies and procedures that apply uniformly to both federally-financed and other activities of the non-Federal entity. d) Be accorded consistent treatment. A cost may not be assigned to a Federal award as a direct cost if any other cost incurred for the same purpose in like circumstances has been allocated to the Federal award as an indirect cost. e) Be determined in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), except, for state and local governments and Indian tribes only, as otherwise provided for in this part. f) Not be included as a cost or used to meet cost sharing or matching requirements of any other federally-financed program in either the current or a prior period. g) Be adequately documented. h) Cost must be incurred during the approved budget period. Additionally, 2 CFR 200.303 indicates that non-Federal Entities receiving Federal awards must establish and maintain effective internal control over the Federal award that provides reasonable assurance that the non-Federal entity is managing the Federal award in compliance with Federal statutes, regulations and terms and conditions of the Federal award. Condition Schedules detailing COVID-19 expenditures submitted by CATC for reimbursement to the City included duplicated expenditures. Cause The City?s staff reviewed and matched invoices on the reimbursement requests provided by Casper Area Transportation Coalition, Inc. before reimbursement. Due to presentation of some of the supporting schedules of COVD-19 expenditures, the City?s staff did not detect the duplication of the COVID-19 expenditures. The error could have been discovered if the City?s staff manually recalculated totals and subtotals on each schedule submitted by Casper Area Transportation Coalition, Inc. Effect or potential effect This condition resulted in costs charged to the program that were unallowable. Questioned Costs The direct costs charged to the program for year ended June 30, 2021 was $39,525. Context The City?s public transportation system, from Casper Area Transportation Coalition, Inc., requests reimbursement for costs incurred to provide services. During the year, Casper Area Transportation Coalition, Inc. added an additional bus line, the Blue line. The City reimbursed the cost of the Blue line, however, these expenditures were duplicated in the supporting schedule. This resulted in excess Federal Transit Authority funds being receipted in by the City. Identification of a repeat finding This is a new finding for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2021. Recommendation We recommend all requests for Federal Transit Authority funds have proper supporting documentation that is reviewed for allowability under the federal program. Views of responsible officials See Corrective Action Plan.

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