Reports

The objective of this audit was to determine whether the New York Department of Labor is providing appropriate and timely services to workers affected by closings and layoffs that are covered under the Worker Adjustment and Retaining Notification and is effectively overseeing employer compliance with the Act. We found several areas the Department could improve to better meet its obligations under the Act and ultimately the needs of dislocated workers. Specifically we found weakness in the Department's oversight of employer compliance with the advance notice requirements of the Act, among other...

The Office of the State Comptroller issued a report in connection with its initial, limited review of the Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) administration of the New Jersey COVID-19 CARES Act Marine Fisheries Assistance Grant Program (Fisheries Program). This letter memorializes the results from the Office of the State Comptroller and the independent COVID-19 Integrity Oversight Monitors reviews of the Fisheries Program and reports on DEP’s recent commitment to recoup public funds that should be returned to the State.

The purpose of the audit is to determine whether the Florida Department of Education designed and implemented (1) application processes that adequately assessed nonpublic schools' eligibility for EANS funded services or assistance and complied with other applicable requirements and (2) oversight processes to ensure that EANS funded services or assistance were used for allowable purposes. 

The objective of the report is to compile SIGPR's audit products as well as lessons learned related to SIGPR's budget, jurisdiction, and hiring authority.

The Illinois Auditor General, conducted a performance audit of the Business Interruption Grant (BIG) program, which was developed under the state's Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) to provide $585 million in economic relief for small businesses hit hardest by COVID-19. Among their findings the Auditor General noted that DCEO allowed, without verification, BIG small business grant applicants to self-certify that they complied with all laws as well as reporting other pandemic funding. The office's analysis found 196 ineligible applicants received $3.42 million in the first...

New Jersey City University senior administrators submitted a budget for approval by the Board of Trustees (the Board) that proposed using nearly $14 million in federal COVID-19 relief funds to pay for an existing institutional scholarship program. The Office of the State Comptroller found that the University's former administrators were aware that using federal COVID-19 relief funding from the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund to fund the existing institutional scholarship program likely violated federal law. Nevertheless, rather than presenting a budget that reflected the University’s...

We performed procedures at the Department of Education (DOE) to provide assurances on financial information that is significant to the state’s Annual Comprehensive Financial Report; evaluate the effectiveness of DOE’s internal controls over financial reporting and compliance; and determine whether DOE complied with applicable laws and regulations. In addition, we determined whether management has taken actions to correct the findings reported in the prior year. For the second consecutive audit, DOE did not comply with Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act reporting requirements.

We conducted this audit to determine whether state entities complied with significant finance-related legal requirements regarding emergency purchasing. We audited emergency purchases entered into by state entities in response to the COVID-19 pandemic from January 1, 2020, through April 30, 2021, and the expenditures applied against those purchases through December 31, 2021. State entities generally complied with the significant finance-related legal requirements we tested. However, we identified some specific instances of noncompliance related to obtaining and using emergency purchasing...

As part of our fiscal compliance audit of the Department of General Services – Office of State Procurement (OSP) for the period beginning October 16, 2018 and ending October 31, 2021, we found that OSP did not always conduct emergency procurements in compliance with State procurement regulations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our test of four emergency procurements for commodities and information technology services valued at $54.9 million awarded between March 2020 and May 2021 disclosed that OSP could not provide documentation of the basis for the purchases (such as justification for the use...

From March 2020 through June 2022, the Department of Health Services (DHS) awarded $159.6 million in program grants to 1,431 long-term health care and emergency medical services providers. We question $518,700 that DHS paid to 10 grant applicants that did not submit sufficient documentation to support their grant applications or the grant amounts they requested. We provide recommendations to DHS to improve how it administers its grant programs and its Ventilator Stewardship program. We also recommend DHS improve how its Office of Inspector General ensures program integrity.