In accordance with our goal to review and ensure the proper administration of Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) funds provided under the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA) and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act), we conducted a capacity review of the City of Waterbury’s (subgrantee), Waterbury Development Corporation’s, operations (subrecipient), who has responsibility for administering the City’s NSP program. The City of Waterbury is a subgrantee of the State of Connecticut, Department of Economic and Community Development (grantee). Our objective was to determine whether the subrecipient had sufficient capacity to adequately administer the subgrantee’s NSP funds.

Our review found that the subrecipient needs to improve its capacity to effectively administer NSP funds provided through the HERA. We found that the subrecipient 1) staffing was inadequate, 2) had an inadequate selection process for approving NSP applicants, 3) may have delays in completing projects, 4) had inadequate support for the scope of work developed for two projects, 5) had an inadequate procurement process, 6) will not meet performance goals for its rehabilitation activities, and 7) did not properly charge NSP expenses to the program. As a result, the subrecipient may not meet program requirements and its goals for the NSP.

We recommend that the Hartford Connecticut Director of HUD’s Office of Community Planning and Development require the grantee to ensure the subgrantee/subrecipient 1) implements adequate policies, procedures, and controls to ensure that NSP funds are used effectively and efficiently, and in accordance with applicable requirements, 2) hires additional staff, as needed, to assist in administrating the NSP to ensure that the subrecipient has sufficient capacity to effectively and efficiently administer program funds, 3) strengthens its procurement controls to ensure that they are following the subgrantee's policies and Federal policies when procuring services, 4) submits an amendment to its NSP local action plan reducing the number of units to be completed for its acquisition and rehabilitation activities. and 5) requests comments from the Connecticut State Historical Preservation Office for properties approved for NSP rehabilitation funding that are not in accordance with the Secretary of the Interior’s Rehabilitation Standards and Guidelines.

We also recommend that the Hartford Connecticut Director of HUD’s Office of Community Planning and Development 1) perform additional monitoring, and provide technical assistance to the subrecipient, as needed, to ensure that the subrecipient properly administers the NSP funding in accordance with federal requirements, and 2) review salaries charged by staff to determine whether costs were properly charged to HUD programs and require the subrecipient to make adjustments to its direct and indirect expenses as necessary.