The findings, recommendations, and methodology are reported for the U.S. Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General's audit of grants awarded to Pueblo of Laguna, Laguna, NM, under the Bureau of Justice Assistance's (BJA's) Correctional Systems and Correctional Alternatives on Tribal Lands Program.
Pueblo of Laguna was awarded $1,767,373 under two grants for the purposes of planning, constructing, and renovating tribal justice facilities used in the incarceration and rehabilitation of juvenile and adult offenders subject to tribal jurisdiction. Improvement in the tribal justice system infrastructure was also covered under the grants. The audit's objective was to determine whether costs claimed under the grants were allowable, supported, and in accordance with applicable laws, regulations, guidelines, and the terms and conditions of the awards. The following areas of grant management were addressed in the audit: financial management, program performance, expenditures, budget management and control, drawdowns, an Federal financial reports. Audit criteria are contained in the OJP (Office of Justice Programs) Financial Guide and the grant award documents. As of June 2014, Pueblo of Laguna had drawn down $767,373, which was the entire award under one of the grants. There had been no expenditures or performance under the second grant at the time of this audit. The audit determined that Pueblo of Laguna did not comply with essential award conditions related to the use of funds, performance, and contract management. It was operating under an expired indirect cost rate; was not conducting suspension and debarment checks for contractors paid with grant funds; did not fully achieve one of the five grant objectives; and did not submit a Grant Adjustment Notice to OJP to remove a "special condition" from the grant. Four recommendations are addressed to OJP regarding actions it should take to remedy the non-compliance issues identified in the audit. 1 table and appended audit objectives, scope, and methodology; stakeholder responses to the draft audit report; and the analysis and summary of actions required to close the report