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Series: Post-Award State or Tribal Audits of Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's Opioid Response Grants

Announced on  | Last Modified on  | Series Number: SRS-A-25-015
Status
Completed
Agency
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

OBJECTIVE

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has awarded a series of grants to combat opioid use disorder. These grants include State Targeted Response to the Opioid Crisis grants (Opioid STR) with approximately half of $970 million awarded in fiscal year (FY) 2017 and the other half awarded in FY 2018. In FY 2018, SAMHSA also awarded more than $930 million in the State Opioid Response grants (SOR) and approximately $50 million in Tribal Opioid Response grants (TOR). The purpose of the Opioid STR, SOR, and TOR grants are to increase access to treatment, reduce unmet treatment need, and reduce opioid overdose related deaths. This post-award audit will determine how select States or Tribal agencies implemented programs under the Opioid STR, SOR, or TOR grants. We will also determine whether the activities of these agencies and subrecipients responsible for implementing the programs complied with Federal regulations and met grant program goals.

There are 3 projects in this series.

COMPLETED PROJECTS IN THIS SERIES (3)

Florida

Project A-04-24-08106 • Completed on August 4, 2025

Post-award Audit of SAMHSA's State Opioid Response Grants in West Virginia

Project A-06-22-01005 • Completed on April 22, 2024

New Jersey Compliance and Contracting Audit of Administering Its Opioid Response Grants

Project A-02-22-02002 • Completed on March 27, 2024

TIMELINE

  • January 5, 2022
    Series Number SRS-A-25-015 Assigned
  • January 5, 2022
    Project Announced

    New Jersey Compliance and Contracting Audit of Administering Its Opioid Response Grants - A-02-22-02002

  • April 6, 2022
    Project Announced

    Post-award Audit of SAMHSA's State Opioid Response Grants in West Virginia - A-06-22-01005

  • February 20, 2024
    Project Announced

    Florida - A-04-24-08106

  • March 27, 2024
    Project Complete - A-02-22-02002

    New Jersey Compliance and Contracting Audit of Administering Its Opioid Response Grants has been marked as complete. This audit resulted in 1 recommendation.

  • April 22, 2024
    Project Complete - A-06-22-01005

    Post-award Audit of SAMHSA's State Opioid Response Grants in West Virginia has been marked as complete. This audit resulted in 5 recommendations.

  • August 4, 2025
    Project Complete - A-04-24-08106

    Florida has been marked as complete. This audit resulted in 5 recommendations.

  • August 4, 2025
    Series Complete

    Post-Award State or Tribal Audits of Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's Opioid Response Grants has been marked as complete.

3 REPORT PUBLISHED

New Jersey Complied With Federal Regulations When Implementing Programs Under SAMHSA’s Opioid Response Grants, But Did Not Meet Its Program Services Goals (A-02-22-02002)

24-A-02-053.01 to SAMHSA - Closed Implemented
Closed on 08/22/2024
We recommend that DMHAS identify factors that could delay grant-funded activities when estimating goals for future STR and SOR grant applications.

View in Recommendation Tracker

Florida Did Not Fully Comply With Federal Reporting and Oversight Requirements for Its Opioid Response Grant (A-04-24-08106)

DCF implemented the FY 2020 SOR grant by using existing contracts with private, non-profit organizations responsible for regional coordination of services called Managing Entities for most prevention, treatment, and recovery services. DCF also contracted with other organizations to implement SOR initiatives, including data management, recovery housing, and training and technical assistance. However, our audit found that DCF:

  • Submitted a final Federal financial report (FFR) that was inaccurate and did not amend this report to reflect a reduction of $779,928 in expenditures until more than 16 months after the project period ended.
  • Did not adequately monitor subrecipient spending and could not support 5 of the 100 sampled expenditures we reviewed.
  • Could not fully support reported outcomes for two of the four program goals related to reducing opioid-caused deaths and increasing access to treatment.

These issues primarily occurred because DCF did not refund SAMHSA timely, did not have an adequate process to monitor SOR grant expenditures, and did not maintain historical documentation used to complete progress reports.

25-A-04-089.01 to SAMHSA - Open Unimplemented
Update expected on 02/03/2026
We recommend that the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) update the reconciliation process, or consider an alternative approach, so that Federal Financial Reports (FFRs) are submitted accurately and refunds of unspent funds are executed timely.

25-A-04-089.02 to SAMHSA - Open Unimplemented
Update expected on 02/03/2026
We recommend that the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) require that a review of State Opioid Response (SOR) expenditures is included in DCF's desk reviews.

25-A-04-089.03 to SAMHSA - Open Unimplemented
Update expected on 02/03/2026
We recommend that the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) require that Managing Entities (MEs) strengthen controls over service data entry and support maintained by network service providers.

25-A-04-089.04 to SAMHSA - Open Unimplemented
Update expected on 02/03/2026
We recommend that the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) require Opioid Prevention Program-enrolled organizations to maintain supporting documentation for Federal grant activities reported and include information on reporting requirements and consequences for inaccurate or untimely reporting in future trainings.

25-A-04-089.05 to SAMHSA - Open Unimplemented
Update expected on 02/03/2026
We recommend that the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) develop policies and procedures for maintaining data used to prepare progress reports for State Opioid Response (SOR) grants, including a standardized process for using data when reporting program goal outcomes.

View in Recommendation Tracker

West Virginia Lacked Effective Oversight of Its Opioid Response Grants (A-06-22-01005)

24-A-06-067.01 to SAMHSA - Closed Implemented
Closed on 07/29/2025
We recommend that West Virginia's Bureau of Behavioral Health include requirements in its procedures to maintain documentation used to prepare the annual progress report.

24-A-06-067.02 to SAMHSA - Open Unimplemented
Update expected on 01/29/2026
We recommend that West Virginia's Bureau of Behavioral Health conduct a periodic review of supporting documentation (e.g., invoices, payroll registers, and time-and-effort reports) for any subrecipient expenditures submitted to BBH.

24-A-06-067.03 to SAMHSA - Closed Implemented
Closed on 07/29/2025
We recommend that West Virginia's Bureau of Behavioral Health revise pre-designed progress reports to capture the necessary data to determine whether program goals are being met.

24-A-06-067.04 to SAMHSA - Open Unimplemented
Update expected on 01/29/2026
We recommend that West Virginia's Bureau of Behavioral Health provide training to program managers to ensure that advanced payments are being approved as close as administratively feasible to actual disbursements by the subrecipient.

24-A-06-067.05 to SAMHSA - Open Unimplemented
Update expected on 01/29/2026
We recommend that West Virginia's Bureau of Behavioral Health revise procedures to ensure that subrecipient agreements are finalized and closed out with returned funds recorded in the general ledger prior to filing the Federal financial report.

View in Recommendation Tracker
Work Plan Type
Office of Audit Services
HHS Agencies
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
Issue Areas
Financial Stewardship Mental Health Public Health Issues Substance Abuse Disorder
Target Groups
-
Financial Groups
Grants