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As part of our fiscal compliance audit of the Department of General Services – Office of State Procurement (OSP) for the period beginning October 16, 2018 and ending October 31, 2021, we found that OSP did not always conduct emergency procurements in compliance with State procurement regulations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our test of four emergency procurements for commodities and information technology services valued at $54.9 million awarded between March 2020 and May 2021 disclosed that OSP could not provide documentation of the basis for the purchases (such as justification for the use...

New Jersey City University senior administrators submitted a budget for approval by the Board of Trustees (the Board) that proposed using nearly $14 million in federal COVID-19 relief funds to pay for an existing institutional scholarship program. The Office of the State Comptroller found that the University's former administrators were aware that using federal COVID-19 relief funding from the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund to fund the existing institutional scholarship program likely violated federal law. Nevertheless, rather than presenting a budget that reflected the University’s...

Weaknesses in Treasury’sCARES Act Loan Monitoring

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) is issuing this management advisory to bring to your attention concerns regarding the return of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funds. This issue requires immediate attention and action by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) to ensure it has processes and procedures in place to adequately accept, process, and account for PPP funds returned by borrowers, lenders, and financial institutions. Expedited management action should mitigate the risk of financial loss to taxpayers.Establishing clear and detailed guidance for borrowers, lenders, and...

From March 2020 through June 2022, the Department of Health Services (DHS) awarded $159.6 million in program grants to 1,431 long-term health care and emergency medical services providers. We question $518,700 that DHS paid to 10 grant applicants that did not submit sufficient documentation to support their grant applications or the grant amounts they requested. We provide recommendations to DHS to improve how it administers its grant programs and its Ventilator Stewardship program. We also recommend DHS improve how its Office of Inspector General ensures program integrity.

We performed procedures at the Department of Education (DOE) to provide assurances on financial information that is significant to the state’s Annual Comprehensive Financial Report; evaluate the effectiveness of DOE’s internal controls over financial reporting and compliance; and determine whether DOE complied with applicable laws and regulations. In addition, we determined whether management has taken actions to correct the findings reported in the prior year. For the second consecutive audit, DOE did not comply with Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act reporting requirements.