Review of Mississippi's Retroactive Claim for Foster Care Administrative and Training Costs and Maintenance Payments

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

This final report points out that Mississippi retroactively claimed costs under Title IV-E for foster care administrative and maintenance payments that did not Federal requirements for reimbursement. Approximately $9.4 million in administrative costs included costs that were unallowable, not documented, or claimed at an incorrect Federal sharing rate. Also, maintenance payments of about $3.1 million were unallowable for various reasons or were not documented. Finally, $2.5 million represents consultant fees unallowable because they were based on a contingency fee arrangement that did not meet Office of Management and Budget reimbursement requirements. We recommended financial adjustments. We also recommended procedural improvements to help the State preclude such problems in the future. The State generally disagreed with our recommendations for financial adjustments, but concurred with many of our recommendations for procedural improvements.