D.C. agency's handling of grant money labeled deficient in audit

The D.C. government could not properly account for how it spent almost $325,000 in federal grant money intended to enhance state and local law enforcement, according to an audit report released Wednesday by the inspector general of the Justice Department.

Auditors found several deficiencies in the District agency responsible for managing the Edward Byrne Memorial Grant Program, a federal initiative that received $2.2 billion in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds. Among other concerns, auditors said the D.C. agency failed to follow procurement regulations, produced inaccurate financial reports and lacked supporting documentation for how some grant funds were spent.

The audit examined the Justice Department's performance in handing out grant money and how the funds were handled by a sampling of 12 local recipients, including the District.

Investigators found the federal agency generally managing grant funds well, but they found "significant deficiencies" in audits of agencies that received the money. Some agencies failed to employ sufficient staff to oversee the funds, while others waited years to put equipment purchased with grant dollars into use.

D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles said the audit appeared to show that several other jurisdictions had "the same problems" reported in the District's Justice Grants Administration.

Nickles said he would meet with Lisa Brooks, the agency's director, to "see whether in her view the critique is correct and, if so, what we've done to deal with any issues."

The District received $20 million in Byrne Program funds between 2006 and 2009, including nearly $12 million in stimulus funds, the audit states.

A D.C. grant application says the money supports programs to help prisoners reenter society and to reduce juvenile crime and incarceration, among other uses. In October, for instance, the agency awarded $500,000 to the anti-violence group Peaceoholics for prisoner re-entry programs.

Auditors said the D.C. agency "had not met important [grant] reporting, expenditure tracking, and monitoring requirements." The agency "could not provide supporting documentation" for $324,011 in grant expenses. The agency directed more than $600,000 to grant recipients that were not approved; most of the charges were subsequently reversed.

"As a result of these findings," the auditors wrote, "we are concerned with [the agency's] ability to manage the nearly $12 million in Recovery Act funds."