NCJ Number
250616
Date Published
January 2017
Length
120 pages
Annotation
The findings and methodology are presented for the U.S. Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General's (OIG's) audit of the Office of Justice Programs' (OJP's) Tribal Justice Systems Infrastructure Program.
Abstract
The Tribal Justice Systems Infrastructure Program (TJSIP) provides grants to support planning, constructing, and renovating tribal justice facilities. The OIG conducted this audit to assess OJP's management and oversight of the funding provided under the TJSIP, including the contracting activities of grantees, and to determine the extent of OJP's cooperation and coordination with the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) to ensure efficient and effective correctional services in Indian country. The audit determined that coordination between OJP and BIA was not always effective, resulting in delays in the completion of TJSIP grants and grantees' inability to operate and fully staff grant-funded facilities upon completion of construction. The audit also found that OJP failed to complete due diligence during the awarding process, including awarding approximately $81 million in TJSIP grants without verifying the grantees' stated needs for these funds. In addition, the audit found inadequacies with OJP's post-award oversight ad management of TJSIP grants. The audit also identified two issues relating to OJP's current approach with the implementation of training and technical assistance for the planning grants. The audit suggests that a material cost savings may be possible if OJP were to define training and technical assistance services to include planning services that are currently provided through separate TJSIP grant-funded contracts. Regarding contract oversight, the audit found that OJP paid $59,338 to Alpha Corporation, another TJSIP funded training and technical assistance provider, for work that did not comply with contract terms and conditions. Twelve recommendations are presented to improve OJP's management and oversight of the TJSIP and coordination with BIA, as well as to address new dollar-related findings. 6 figures and 6 tables