10 Program, Fiscal Monitoring, and Audit, 2605(b)(10) - Assurance 10

10.1. How do you ensure good fiscal accounting and tracking of funds? The State OHEP Office tracks grant awards in partnership with the Department of Human Services Office and Budget and Finance. Available funding is tracked in the State’s Financial Management Information System (FMIS) and the OHEP Data Management System. The OHEP Data Management System tracks benefit commitments as Local Administering Agencies certify applications. Weekly the State OHEP Office generates Electronic Delivery Statements that are issued to the program vendors and Budget and Finance. Budget and Finance enters the payments into FMIS and transmits to the Office of the Comptroller to process payments. State OHEP staff record payments by week to track expenditures. Vendor refunds are sent to the State OHEP Office where they are recorded by funding source and sent to Budget and Finance to deposit. State OHEP staff also record the refunds by funding source in the OHEP data Management System. 10.1a Provide your definitions of the following: Obligation A commitment of funds for a specific use in accordance with programmatic requirements. Maryland considers LIHEAP funds obligated at the time customers applications are certified, Local Administering Agencies sign their contracts to administer program requirements, or the program creates a purchase order to procure goods/services. Expenditures Payments made. Maryland considers LIHEAP expenditures when payments for obligations are made. For benefits, every Wednesday the state OHEP agency processes certified applications and submits information to accounts payable to process payments. Expenditure timeframe The time for which an expenditure can be made in accordance with the funding requirements. Maryland LIHEAP expenditure timeframe is October 1, 2025- September 30, 2026. Expenditures for benefits are processed weekly, with payments from the Comptrollers Office being issued within 30 days. Local Administering Agency payments are processed quarterly, with payments from the Comptrollers Office being issued within 30 days. Administrative costs Non-benefit expenditures are used to fund state OHEP staff and operations, Local Administering agencies and operations and to conduct outreach and ensure program integrity. Audit Process 10.2. Is your LIHEAP program audited annually under the Single Audit Act and OMB Circular A - 133? Yes No 10.2a - if yes, describe your auditor selection process. The LIHEAP Program is subject to be audited annually under the State of Maryland Single Audit guidelines based on the amount of Federal funding received in the prior fiscal year. The State of Maryland Department of General Services issues a Request for Proposals to solicit proposals from licensed Cetrified Public Accounting Firms and Sole Proprietors to perfrom Audit Services for State of Maryland Agencies under a Audit Services Master Contract. The State awards Master Contracts to qualified Offerors that will compete on an as needed basis throughout the term of the Master Contract(s) on subsequently issued Task Orders to perform Audit Services for Maryland State Agencies. State agencies requiring Audit Services will obtain those services through the issuance of a Task Order Request for Proposals (TORFP). All Offerors awarded a Master Contract as a result of the RFP (Master Contractors) are invited to compete for the work assignment or task detailed in the TORFP unless the TORFP is designated for a Small Business Reserve (SBR) (see RFP Section 4.37) or the Master Contractor is Suspended (see RFP Section 2. 6). Under a Small Business Reserve TORFP, only Master Contractors that qualify as small businesses will be invited to submit Proposals. (See COMAR §21.05.07.06(A)(4) and §21.11.01.04). A given Task Order may be a one-time audit or engagement, or a periodic recurring audit for an identified number of months or years, including possibly for the full duration of the Master Contract.Each Task Order Agreement will establish a NTE dollar amount 10.3. Describe any audit findings of the grant recipient (i.e. State/Tribe/Territory) rising to the level of material weakness or reportable condition cited in the single audits, inspector general reviews, or other government agency reviews from the most recently audited fiscal year. No Findings Finding Type Brief Summary Resolved? Action Taken 1 financial Preliminary review found the Department charged costs to the federal grant prior to the allowable start of the period of performance. The expenditures were incurred from one to twenty-six days prior to the start of the award period. The Department did not separately record grant expenditure to the general ledger which requires the auditor to use a focus report to test period of performance. This result in the grant period of performance population having costs that were outside of the grant period. DHS is waiting on the final report from the auditor. In Progress procedure/policy changes 10.4. Audits of Local Administering Agencies What types of annual audit requirements do you have in place for local administering agencies/district offices? Select all that apply. Local agencies/district offices are required to have an annual audit in compliance with Single Audit Act and OMB Circular A-133 Local agencies/district offices are required to have an annual audit (other than A-133) Local agencies/district offices' A-133 or other independent audits are reviewed by Grant recipient as part of compliance process. Grant recipient conducts fiscal and program monitoring of local agencies/district offices Local agencies and district offices are required to have an annual audit in compliance with Single Audit Act and OMB Circular A-133 Compliance Monitoring 10.5. Describe your monitoring process for compliance at each level below. Check all that apply. Grant recipients have a policy in place for appropriate separation of duties and internal controls. Internal program review Departmental oversight Secondary review of invoices and payments Other program review mechanisms are in place. Describe: Local Administering Agencies/District Offices: On - site evaluation Annual program review Monitoring through central database Desk reviews Client File Testing/Sampling Other program review mechanisms are in place. Describe: 10.6 Explain, or attach a copy of your local agency monitoring schedule and protocol. See attached 10.7. Describe how you select local agencies for monitoring reviews. Attach a risk assessment if subrecipients are utilized. Site Visits: Local agencies are selected for monitoring reviews based on a risk-based assessment policy. The State considers factors such as the history of audit findings, the amount of administrative funding, volume of applications processed, key staff turnover, application denial rates, and application processing timeliness to determine which agencies pose the highest risk and require auditing. All Local agencies will have a site visit at minimum once every three years. Desk Reviews: Local agencies not having a site review, will have a desk review annually. 10.8. How often is each local agency monitored? Please attach a monitoring schedule if one has been developed. Triannually 10.9. How many local agencies are currently on corrective action plans? 3 If any of the above questions require further explanation or clarification that could not be made in the fields provided, attach a document with said explanation here.