U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government Here’s how you know

The .gov means it’s official.

Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you're on a federal government site.

The site is secure.

The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Hotline

Report Fraud, Waste and Abuse
January 08, 2008
  • Community Planning and Development
2008-AT-1004
ig0841004.pdf

HUD OIG audited the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program administered by the City of West Palm Beach, Florida (City). The objective of the audit was to determine whether the City administered its CDBG program in accordance with applicable U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requirements.

The City failed to properly administer its CDBG program in accordance with HUD requirements. Specifically, the City was deficient in (1) contract administration, (2) monitoring, (3) maintaining supporting documentation, and (4) reporting program income. The City failed to ensure that CDBG funds were used in compliance with program requirements and used to meet national objectives. As a result, we consider more than $2.7 million to be unsupported costs because the City failed to demonstrate that national objectives and other program requirements were met. In addition, the City did not adequately award four contracts in accordance with federal procurement requirements. It awarded contracts without full and open competition; did not prepare a cost analysis before awarding the contracts; and did not maintain documentation supporting that contractors were not debarred, suspended, or ineligible. As a result, the City could not ensure that more than $1.2 million in contracts it awarded provided full and open competition and that the costs were reasonable.

OIG recommended that the Director of the Miami Office of Community Planning and Development require the City to (1) provide documentation supporting that HUD requirements were followed and national objectives were met for 27 CDBG activities or reimburse the CDBG program more than $2.7 million from nonfederal funds for not properly administering the program, and (2) develop, implement, and enforce more comprehensive written policies and procedures that comply with HUD requirements. In addition, the Director should require the City to (1) provide supporting documentation to justify the eligibility and reasonableness of $624,631 disbursed for the four contracts, or reimburse the CDBG program from nonfederal funds; and (2) ensure that federal procurement requirements are incorporated into the City policies and procedures, implemented, and enforced.