The Ministry of Health and Social Welfare National AIDS Control Program Did Not Always Manage and Expend PEPFAR Funds in Accordance With Award Requirements

Congress authorized the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) to receive $48 billion in funding for the 5-year period beginning October 1, 2008, to assist foreign countries in combating HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. Congress authorized additional funds to be appropriated through 2018.

CDC awarded PEPFAR funds of $7.8 million for December 15, 2012, through March 31, 2015, to the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare National AIDS Control Program (the Ministry), of which the Ministry expended $6.8 million. We reviewed 52 transactions totaling $1 million and found 27 unallowable transactions totaling $495,379. These transactions were unallowable because the Ministry did not provide adequate supporting documentation for the expenditures. Additionally, the Ministry could not support $1.5 million in funded personnel costs, did not always record financial transactions correctly, filed an inaccurate Federal Financial Report (FFR) for budget years 1 and 2, filed one of its FFRs more than 15 months late, did not maintain a United States dollar (USD) bank account, and paid unallowable value-added taxes (VAT).

We recommended that the Ministry (1) refund to CDC $495,379 of unallowable expenditures and (2) work with CDC to determine the allowability of the $1.5 million in personnel costs awarded to the Ministry during the audit period. We also made procedural recommendations. The Ministry did not specifically concur or nonconcur with our recommendations. However, for many of our recommendations, it described actions it had taken, or planned to take, to address them.