EL CENTRO DEL BARRIO

Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Federal Program Name: Health Center Program Cluster Assistance Listing Number: 93.224/93.527 Federal Award Identification Number and Year: H80CS00758 / 2025 Award Period: April 1, 2024 to March 31, 2025 Type of Finding: Significant Deficiency in Internal Control over Compliance and Compliance Criteria: Federal regulations (2 CFR §§ 200.212 and 200.318(h); 2 CFR § 180.300; 48 CFR § 52.209-6) require that entities entering into covered transactions with federal award recipients be verified as not debarred, suspended, or otherwise excluded from participation in federal programs. This verification must be performed annually and prior to entering into any transaction exceeding the applicable threshold. Condition: We identified one instance in which the agency did not perform timely suspension and debarment verification for a …

Corrective action: Health Center Program Cluster – Assistance Listing No. 93.224/93.527 Recommendation: The auditor recommends management implement suspension and debarment verification process for all covered vendors, regardless of their history or reputation, to ensure compliance with federal regulations. Explanation of disagreement with audit finding: There is no disagreement with the audit finding. Action taken in response to finding: In response to the recommendation: Management agrees with the finding and acknowledges that timely suspension and debarment verification was not consistently performed across all vendors. To address this deficiency, the Agency is implementing a standardized process to ensu…