D.C. Government Needs To Improve Controls over Receipt of Federal Grant Funds

Although the District of Columbia made a commitment to Congress in 1972 to create a system to strengthen review and control of Federal grant funds received by the city, the city still does not effectively control the receipt of grant funds. The Mayor, in 1972, designated the Office of Budget and Management Systems (OBMS) as the focal point for grant activities and established some requirements intended to improve control over grants. OBMS in turn established additional requirements designed to improve control over grants, but some city agencies did not follow the requirements, and there were no procedures in effect to monitor whether the requirements were being followed. Some grant receipts were incorrectly recorded in the city's official financial records; other non-grant receipts were recorded as grant receipts. Some grant receipts were deposited long after they were received by the city and were not recorded in central accounting records until after they were deposited. There has been no assurance that all grant funds are deposited with the D.C. Treasurer or that the District's official accounting records and those of the grantee agencies are accurate and in agreement. OBMS should establish a monitoring system which will allow it to evaluate the extent of grantee-agency compliance with OBMS requirements and which will highlight the specific instances of agency non-compliance with the OBMS-grant requirements.