We audited costs claimed by the Chicago Horticultural Society (CHS) on Grant No. L15AC00032 with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to determine whether they were allowable and allocable and whether the CHS complied with Federal regulations, BLM policies and procedures, and contract terms and conditions.
We found the CHS did not comply with many of the applicable Federal regulations, BLM policies and procedures, and contract terms and conditions. Specifically, we identified the following deficiencies:
• Inadequate oversight of subaward recipients
• Failure to follow Federal regulations when hiring interns
• Ineligible payroll and training costs
• Unapproved changes to the budget
• Unsupported intern recruitment costs
• Inaccuracies in the CHS accounting system
These deficiencies occurred because CHS had a loss of institutional knowledge, misunderstood which BLM employees could authorize changes to the agreement, and disregarded a requirement. We also questioned a total of $549,205 of the costs claimed.
We made 10 recommendations to help the BLM recover costs and develop policies and procedures to ensure the CHS complies with Federal regulations, BLM policies and procedures, and grant agreement terms and conditions.