Why OIG Did This Review
“HHS, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), is subject to Federal audits of its internal activities as well as Federal and non-Federal audits of activities performed by its grantees and contractors. As a followup to these audits, SAMHSA is responsible for resolving Federal and non-Federal audit report recommendations related to its activities, grantees, and contractors within 6 months after formal receipt of the audit reports. HHS, OIG, prepares and forwards to SAMHSA monthly stewardship reports that show the status of these reported audit recommendations.”
“Our objectives were to determine whether SAMHSA resolved audit recommendations in a timely manner during Federal fiscal years (FYs) 2015 and 2016 and to identify all unresolved audit recommendations that were due for resolution as of September 30, 2016.”
What OIG Found
“SAMHSA did not resolve audit recommendations in a timely manner during FYs 2015 and 2016. SAMHSA resolved 104 of the 292 audit recommendations that were outstanding during FYs 2015 and 2016. However, it did not resolve any of the 104 recommendations within the required 6-month resolution period. In addition, as of September 30, 2016, SAMHSA had not resolved 188 audit recommendations that were past due for resolution. These 188 past-due recommendations were procedural in nature; none of them involved dollar amounts such as recommended disallowances…”
What OIG Recommends
“We recommend that SAMHSA finalize and follow its policies and procedures related to the audit resolution process,promptly resolve the 188 outstanding audit recommendations that were past due as of September 30, 2016,and reconcile each month the appropriate OIG or HHS records with SAMHSA’s audit resolution records and follow up on any differences noted…” Read the full 18-page report here.
Source: The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Resolved Approximately One-Third of Its Audit Recommendations, None in Accordance With Federal Timeframe Requirements – July 2019. OIG.
