NCJ Number
250956
Date Published
July 2017
Length
55 pages
Annotation
Findings and methodology are reported for the U.S. Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General's (OIG's) audit of the cooperative agreements awarded to the Colorado Legal Services (Denver, CO) by the Office of Justice Programs' (OJP's) Office for Victims of Crime (OVC).
Abstract
Colorado Legal Services (CLS) was awarded $600,000 under award numbers 2012-VT-BX-K014 and 2014-VT-BX-K002 for the provision of legal services to victims of sex and labor trafficking in Colorado, including domestic and foreign nationals, both adults and minors. Types of legal services included advocacy in criminal justice processing, civil litigation, preparation of immigration petitions, assistance in seeking protective orders, advice and representation in domestic relations matters, and public benefits and health-care advocacy. The audit determined whether costs claimed under the awards were allowable, supported, and in accordance with applicable laws, regulations, guidelines, and terms and conditions of the award, as well as adequate progress toward achieving program goals and objectives. The audit determined that CLS did not comply with grant requirements related to the use of award funds, accounting for award expenditures, and Federal Financial Reports (FFRs); however, it demonstrated adequate progress in achieving the grants' stated goals and objectives. Specifically, CLS commingled funds between the awards; charged unallowable and/or unsupported personnel, consultants, subrecipients, and other direct costs to the award; submitted FFRs that were generally unsupported by the accounting records; and did not have an adequate general ledger to track matching expenditures or support the amount of matching expenditures reported on the FFRs. The questioned costs totaled $287,983. The audit report contains 19 recommendations for OJP in addressing audit findings. 6 tables and and appended audit methodology, schedule of dollar-related findings, and CLS and OJP responses to the draft audit report