Iowa Improperly Claimed Some Child Care and Development Targeted Funds

The Iowa Department of Human Services (State agency) did not comply with Federal requirements when claiming some of the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) targeted funds for fiscal years (FY) 2004 through 2008. Specifically, the State agency (1) improperly reobligated $2.5 million of FY 2004 targeted funds after the obligation period had ended, (2) improperly obligated $134,000 of FY 2006 CCDF targeted funds to another entity at the same level in the State government as the State agency, and (3) did not refund to the Federal Government the $55,000 of targeted funds that either were returned by the grantee after the obligation period had ended or remained unliquidated after the liquidation period ended. We recommended that the State agency (1) refund the $2.7 million in unallowable CCDF targeted funds for FYs 2004 through 2008 to the Federal Government and (2) develop sufficient policies and procedures to monitor the expenditure of CCDF targeted funds to ensure that expenditures are properly obligated and liquidated. The State agency partially concurred with our recommendations; we maintain that all of our findings and recommendations are valid.