Bureau of Land Management Cooperative Agreement No. L12AC20673 With Utah Correctional Industries

The U.S. Department of the Interior, Office of Inspector General audited the costs claimed by Utah Correctional Industries (UCI) under Cooperative Agreement No. L12AC20673 with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). We audited a total of $3,918,437 in costs claimed from September 30, 2012, through October 31, 2014, and questioned $1,931,699 in costs. 

 

UCI, a division of Utah’s Department of Corrections, offers products and services to State agencies and local governments. As part of its mission, UCI employs inmates and trains them in general work habits and skills to increase their employment prospects when released from prison. These inmates provide the labor for UCI’s products and services. On March 19, 2007, BLM entered into an initial cooperative agreement with UCI for a horse-gentling program. According to the agreement, the horse-gentling program would further BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Program by increasing the number of horses available for adoption by the public. In return, the horse-gentling program would provide inmates with work opportunities and rehabilitation through caring for, feeding, training and gentling wild horses. 

 

On September 30, 2012, BLM awarded a second agreement—Cooperative Agreement No. L12AC20673—to UCI to continue the horse-gentling program through September 30, 2017. On November 20, 2014, BLM issued a Notification of Closeout and Deliverable Requirements to confirm an agreed upon termination of the cooperative agreement, effective October 31, 2014, and requested that we perform an audit of UCI’s claimed costs under the agreement. During our audit, we found that of the $3,918,437 in claimed costs, we identified $1,303,455 in unallowable costs and $628,244 in unsupported costs, totaling $1,931,699 in questioned costs.