Update its policies and procedures for tracking expenditures related to slow-spending grantees, including steps for assisting the grantees to expedite spending (including the grantee’s steps or actions to address slow spending), identifying the reasons for the delays with the grant, and documenting the outcome of its efforts.
Corrective Action Taken
CPD updated guidance addressing grantee slow spending through technical assistance, including actions grant managers can take when grantee expenditures do not appear to be “on pace” to meet the expenditure deadlines, and demonstrated it is providing technical assistance to grantees during monitoring. CPD also issued an additional Standard Monitoring Findings and Corrective Actions Guide for its staff to promote a consistent framework for crafting monitoring findings and the corrective actions needed to resolve identified deficiencies and prevent future occurrences. This new resource provides general guidance and examples for presenting Finding components in monitoring reports for fourteen topics including, “Failure to Meet Timeliness of Expenditures Requirements.
Publication Report
2022-AT-0001 | January 05, 2022
Opportunities Exist To Improve CPD’s Oversight of and Monitoring Tools for Slow-Spending Grantees
We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Community Planning and Development’s (CPD) oversight and monitoring of its Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) slow-spending grantees. This… moreRelated Recommendations
Community Planning and Development
Revise its methodology to identify slow spenders, including appropriate baselines and the definition of slow spenders.
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Establish a reasonable timeframe for grantees to resolve DRGR flags or at a minimum, if a flag cannot be resolved within the established timeframe, have the grantee provide a remediating comment explaining why the flag could not be resolved and a proposed timeline for resolution.
Resolve or remediate outstanding flags for grants B-12-MT-01-0001, B-13-MS-36-0002, B-16-MH-48-0001, and B-16-DL-12-0001 in DRGR.
Require updated projections for grants B-12-MT-01-0001, B-13-MS-36-0002, and B-16-DL-12-0001 and provide assistance to the grantees to ensure that the expenditure deadlines will be met.
Update its policies and procedures to require grantees to identify the reason for variances between the actual and projected expenditures to enhance CPD’s oversight.
Update monitoring exhibit 6-1 to include (1) reasons for differences between actual and estimated projections and (2) a question to determine whether the grantee is meeting the timelines established and if the timelines are not met, providing reasons.
Update policies and procedures to require CPD staff to sufficiently document its basis for conclusions to meet the monitoring handbook and QPR checklist requirements and intentions.
Consider suggestions made by grantees to assist with the progress of spending funds and provide support for the guidance it plans to share with grantees based on these suggestions. (See bullets under Grantees Generally Considered CPD’s Assistance With the Progress of Their Grants Helpful.)