The Academy of Tucson

REFERENCE: 2024-101 CFDA NUMBER 84.425U – COVID 19 – EDUCATION STABILIZATION FUND U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION – 2024 PASSED THROUGH ARIZONA STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION GRANT NUMBER: S425U210038

QUESTIONED COSTS N/A

CONDITION The two construction contracts executed during fiscal year 2023-2024, did not include the provisions required under the Davis-Bacon-Act. Accordingly, weekly certified payroll reports were not obtained or reviewed.

CRITERIA In accordance with Title 2 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Subtitle A Office of Management and Budget Guidance for Grants and Agreements, Chapter II Office of Management and Budget Guidance, Part 200 Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards, Appendix II to Part 200 – Contract Provisions for non-Federal Entity Contracts Under Federal Awards, In addition to other provisions required by the Federal agency or non-Federal entity, all contracts made by the non-Federal entity under the Federal award must contain provisions covering the following, as applicable. (D), Davis-Bacon Act, as amended (40 U.S.C. 3141-3148). When required by Federal program legislation, all prime construction contracts in excess of $2,000 awarded by non-Federal entities must include a provision for compliance with the Davis-Bacon Act (40 U.S.C. 3141-3144, and 3146-3148) as supplemented by Department of Labor regulations (29 CFR Part 5, “Labor Standards Provisions Applicable to Contracts Covering Federally Financed and Assisted Construction”). In accordance with the statute, contractors must be required to pay wages to laborers and mechanics at a rate not less than the prevailing wages specified in a wage determination made by the Secretary of Labor. In addition, contractors must be required to pay wages not less than once a week. The non-Federal entity must place a copy of the current prevailing wage determination issued by the Department of Labor in each solicitation. The decision to award a contract or subcontract must be conditioned upon the acceptance of the wage determination. The non-Federal entity must report all suspected or reported violations to the Federal awarding agency. The contracts must also include a provision for compliance with the Copeland “Anti-Kickback” Act (40 U.S.C. 3145), as supplemented by Department of Labor regulations (29 CFR Part 3, “Contractors and Subcontractors on Public Building or Public Work Financed in Whole or in Part by Loans or Grants from the United States”). The Act provides that each contractor or subrecipient must be prohibited from inducing, by any means, any person employed in the construction, completion, or repair of public work, to give up any part of the compensation to which he or she is otherwise entitled. The non-Federal entity must report all suspected or reported violations to the Federal awarding agency.

In accordance with the OMB Compliance Supplement, Part 4 – Wage Requirements Cross-Cutting Section, All laborers and mechanics employed by contractors or subcontractors to work on construction contracts in excess of $2,000 financed by federal assistance funds must be paid wages not less than those established for the locality of the project (prevailing wage rates) by the Department of Labor (DOL) (40 USC 3141–3144, 3146, and 3147.

Nonfederal entities shall include in their construction contracts subject to the Wage Rate Requirements (which still may be referenced as the Davis-Bacon Act) a provision that the contractor or subcontractor comply with those requirements and the DOL regulations (29 CFR Part 5, Labor Standards Provisions Applicable to Contacts Governing Federally Financed and Assisted Construction). This includes a requirement for the contractor or subcontractor to submit to the nonfederal entity weekly, for each week in which any contract work is performed, a copy of the payroll and a statement of compliance (certified payrolls) (29 CFR sections 5.5 and 5.6; the A-102 Common Rule (section 36(i)(5)); OMB Circular A-110 (2 CFR Part 215, Appendix A, Contract Provisions); 2 CFR Part 176, Subpart C; and 2 CFR section 200.326).

In accordance with OMB Compliance Supplement, Part 6 – Internal Control, non-Federal entities receiving Federal awards establish and maintain internal control over the Federal awards that provides reasonable assurance that the non-Federal entity is managing the Federal awards in compliance with Federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the Federal awards.

EFFECT Program requirements were not complied with. The School did not ensure that the construction contractor complied with Davis-Bacon-Act (prevailing wage requirements).

CAUSE Training over Davis-Bacon-Act requirements was not completed by the appropriate personnel. Accordingly, internal controls were not designed appropriately to ensure that the vendors were notified of the contracts being funded with federal monies and that prevailing wage requirements had to be complied with.

RECOMMENDATION AND BENEFIT A control system should be developed and implemented to ensure that the contracts funded with federal monies contain the appropriate provisions to comply with the Davis-Bacon-Act requirements. Additionally, procedures should be established to obtain and review weekly certified payroll reports for construction services funded with federal monies. All documentation supporting prevailing wages requirements should be retained. This will help ensure that program requirements are complied with.

VIEWS OF RESPONSIBLE OFFICIALS See Corrective Action Plan.

REFERENCE: 2024-102 CFDA NUMBER 84.367 – IMPROVING TEACHER QUALITY U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION – 2023 PASSED THROUGH ARIZONA STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION GRANT NUMBER: S367A220049

QUESTIONED COSTS $28,100

CONDITION A fiscal monitoring completed by the Arizona Department of Education in December 2024, covering fiscal year 2023, reported $28,100 in unallowable costs for therapeutic services, not outlined in the approved grant budget, and that the School is required to repay.

CRITERIA In accordance with Title 2 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Subtitle A Office of Management and Budget Guidance for Grants and Agreements, Chapter II Office of Management and Budget Guidance, Part 200 Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards, Subpart E -Cost Principles 200.403 Factors Affecting Allowability of Costs, except where otherwise authorized by statute, costs must meet the following general criteria in order to be allowable under Federal awards: a. Be necessary and reasonable for the performance of the Federal award and be allocable thereto under these principles. b. Conform to any limitations or exclusions set forth in these principles or in the Federal award as to types or amount of cost items. c. Be consistent with policies and procedures that apply uniformly to both federally-financed and other activities of the recipient or subrecipient. d. Be accorded consistent treatment. A cost may not be assigned to a Federal award as a direct cost if any other cost incurred for the same purpose in like circumstances has been allocated to the Federal award as an indirect cost. e. Be determined in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), except, for state and local governments and Indian tribes only, as otherwise provided for in this part. f. Not be included as a cost or used to meet cost sharing or matching requirements of any other federally-financed program in either the current or a prior period. See also § 200.306(b). g. Be adequately documented. See also §§ 200.300 through 200.309 of this part. h. Administrative closeout costs may be incurred until the due date of the final report(s). If incurred, these costs must be liquidated prior to the due date of the final report(s) and charged to the final budget period of the award unless otherwise specified by the Federal agency. All other costs must be incurred during the approved budget period. At its discretion, the Federal agency is authorized to waive prior written approvals to carry forward unobligated balances to subsequent budget periods. See § 200.308(g)(3).

In accordance with OMB Compliance Supplement, Part 6 – Internal Control, non-Federal entities receiving Federal awards establish and maintain internal control over the Federal awards that provides reasonable assurance that the non-Federal entity is managing the Federal awards in compliance with Federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the Federal awards.

EFFECT Program requirements were not complied with. The School did not maintain adequate documentation of all costs charged to the federal program.

CAUSE Internal controls were not designed appropriately to ensure that all charges to the federal grant were allowable.

RECOMMENDATION AND BENEFIT A control system should be developed and implemented to ensure that documentation of all purchases charged to a federal program include only allowable costs and that the costs are included in the grant applications. Any reviews should be documented. This will help ensure that program requirements are complied.

VIEWS OF RESPONSIBLE OFFICIALS See Corrective Action Plan.

REFERENCE: 2024-103 CFDA NUMBER 84.425D – COVID 19 – EDUCATION STABILIZATION FUND CFDA NUMBER 84.425U – COVID 19 – EDUCATION STABILIZATION FUND U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION – 2022 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION – 2023 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION – 2024 PASSED THROUGH ARIZONA STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION GRANT NUMBERS: S425D200038, S425D210038, S425U2100038

QUESTIONED COSTS N/A

CONDITION For of 3 of 60 non-payroll transactions tested, documentation was not available to demonstrate that the cost was allowable and approved in the final grant application. The costs were removed from the completion report approved by the Arizona Department of Education on December 19, 2024.

Additionally, a fiscal monitoring completed by the Arizona Department of Education in December 2024, that covered the period of March 15, 2020 through September 30, 2023, reported the following unallowable costs, associated with Education Stabilization Funds grants, that the School is required to repay. • $4,982.34 (ESSER I) for continual internet and phone services not included in the approved grant budget; • $547.82 (ESSER I) for an online foreign language program not included in the approved grant budget; • $631.14 (ESSER II) for outdoor play equipment not included in the approved grant budget. • $3,000.00 (ESSER II) for contracted technical coach services not approved in the approved grant budget. The total known questioned costs are $9,161.30.

CRITERIA In accordance with OMB Compliance Supplement, Part 6 – Internal Control, non-Federal entities receiving Federal awards establish and maintain internal control over the Federal awards that provides reasonable assurance that the non-Federal entity is managing the Federal awards in compliance with Federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the Federal awards.

In accordance with Title 2 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Subtitle A Office of Management and Budget Guidance for Grants and Agreements, Chapter II Office of Management and Budget Guidance, Part 200 Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards, Subpart E -Cost Principles 200.403 Factors Affecting Allowability of Costs, except where otherwise authorized by statute, costs must meet the following general criteria in order to be allowable under Federal awards:

a. Be necessary and reasonable for the performance of the Federal award and be allocable thereto under these principles. b. Conform to any limitations or exclusions set forth in these principles or in the Federal award as to types or amount of cost items. c. Be consistent with policies and procedures that apply uniformly to both federally-financed and other activities of the recipient or subrecipient. d. Be accorded consistent treatment. A cost may not be assigned to a Federal award as a direct cost if any other cost incurred for the same purpose in like circumstances has been allocated to the Federal award as an indirect cost. e. Be determined in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), except, for state and local governments and Indian tribes only, as otherwise provided for in this part. f. Not be included as a cost or used to meet cost sharing or matching requirements of any other federally-financed program in either the current or a prior period. See also § 200.306(b). g. Be adequately documented. See also §§ 200.300 through 200.309 of this part. h. Administrative closeout costs may be incurred until the due date of the final report(s). If incurred, these costs must be liquidated prior to the due date of the final report(s) and charged to the final budget period of the award unless otherwise specified by the Federal agency. All other costs must be incurred during the approved budget period. At its discretion, the Federal agency is authorized to waive prior written approvals to carry forward unobligated balances to subsequent budget periods. See § 200.308(g)(3).

EFFECT Program requirements were not complied with. The School did not maintain adequate documentation of all costs charged to the federal program.

CAUSE Internal controls were not designed appropriately to ensure that all charges to the federal grant were allowable.

RECOMMENDATION AND BENEFIT A control system should be developed and implemented to ensure that documentation of all purchases charged to a federal program include only allowable costs and that the costs are included in the grant applications. Any reviews should be documented. This will help ensure that program requirements are complied.

VIEWS OF RESPONSIBLE OFFICIALS See Corrective Action Plan.