NCJ Number
249834
Date Published
March 2016
Length
37 pages
Annotation
The U.S. Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General presents its audit of the Office of Justice Programs' (OJP's) grant to the Housing Authority of Plainfield (HAP) in Plainfield, NJ, for the purposes of reducing street gang recruitment activities and the causes of gang violence by providing positive alternative activities and family support for at-risk youth, as well as in-school and after-school community outreach and summer programs.
Abstract
The audit's objective was to assess performance in the areas of grant management that were applicable and appropriate for the grant. Plainfield received the grant funds, which were forwarded to a third-party Program Director; however, Plainfield did not properly monitor the Program Director. Neither Plainfield nor the Program Director provided auditors sufficient documentation to support grant expenditures and grant-related activity; neither were the auditors provided a listing of grant expenditures from an adequate accounting system. The audit's assessment of the documentation provided and the totality of the circumstances described in this report determined that Plainfield was in material non-compliance with the essential grant conditions that were tested. Specifically, Plainfield lacked accountability over Federal funds, documentation to support the grant expenditures claimed on the financial reports, and documentation to support the grant drawdowns. In addition, Plainfield did not properly monitor the grant budget, its contractors, and its consultants; and it did not maintain documentation in support of its progress reports or its report on performance metrics. Due to these deficiencies and Plainfield's inability to provide basic accounting data, the audit questions the expended portion of the entire grant, which totaled $244,233. This report provides nine recommendations to OJP regarding how it can remedy the grantee's deficiencies identified in this report. 1 table and appended audit methodology, schedule of dollar-related findings, and HAP and OJP responses to the draft report