We audited grants awarded to the State of Louisiana under the Coastal Impact Assistance Program (CIAP) to determine whether—
- grant recipients have complied with the program's authorizing language and grant regulations, in addition to U.S. Department of the Interior policies;
- costs charged to the grants are allowable, allocable, and reasonable; and
- the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) effectively administers CIAP by evaluating its overall strategy to award and monitor grants.
Created by the Energy Policy Act of 2005, CIAP provides grant funds derived from Federal offshore lease revenues to oil-producing States for the conservation, protection, or restoration of coastal areas, wildlife, and natural resources. The Act authorized the Secretary of the Interior to disburse $250 million in each of the fiscal years 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010 to eligible grant recipients in the coastal zone counties, parishes, or boroughs of Alabama, Alaska, California, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. Oversight of these funds was delegated to the Minerals Management Service, but the responsibility for managing the ongoing grants and awarding the balance of the funds was later transferred to FWS.
Our audit found significant deficiencies in FWS' and Louisiana's management of the State's CIAP grants, including ineffective grant monitoring by FWS; insufficient State procurement laws; unallowable costs and mishandled accounting and financial issues; improper acquisitions of real property; ineligible drawdowns; and inappropriate changes in grant scope.
As a result, we questioned almost $10 million in CIAP funds representing ineligible grant charges, unreasonable costs, and expenses not supported by proper documentation. In addition, we identified over $4.3 million in CIAP funds that could be put to better use.
We made 30 recommendations to FWS, targeting the deficiencies we identified and seeking to improve FWS' management and oversight of CIAP funds. FWS concurred or partially concurred with 23 of our recommendations and is working to resolve or close them.