As a part of our oversight responsibilities for the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) appropriations to the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), we have reviewed the Office of Insular Affairs’ (OIA’s) initial oversight steps for the CARES Act grant funds to the Insular Area governments.
The CARES Act provided the DOI with $756 million to support the needs of its programs, bureaus, Indian Country, and the Insular Areas. The OIA was allocated $55 million, which it distributed to the seven Insular Area governments through its Technical Assistance Program (TAP) Office in April 2020, to help prepare for, prevent, and respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Republic of the Marshall Islands received $3.9 million of the CARES Act funds, to be expended by September 30, 2021. As part of the award, the Marshall Islands must meet the grant terms and conditions, which include a requirement to document how it used the funds to prevent and respond to the pandemic and how the funds supported its pandemic plan.
We issued this management advisory to the Marshall Islands’ Office of the Auditor General to share some of the lessons we have learned from auditing grant awards during emergency situations. We attached two of our CARES Act flash reports, The Office of Insular Affairs Took Appropriate Action With CARES Act Funds and Lessons Learned for CARES Act Awards, for additional information. We also discussed challenges unique to the Marshall Islands.