The Department of Health and Human Services Designed Its Internal Controls Over Hurricane Sandy Disaster Relief Funds To Include Elements Specified by the Office of Management and Budget

The Disaster Relief Appropriations Act, 2013 (Disaster Relief Act), in part, provided the Department of Health and Human Services (the Department) approximately $800 million in funding for use in aiding Hurricane Sandy (Sandy) disaster victims and their communities. It also required the Department to implement internal controls to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse of these funds. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued guidance to the Department that specified required elements that would augment existing internal controls to address additional risks associated with administering Sandy disaster relief funding.We found that the Department designed its internal controls for overseeing Sandy disaster relief funds to include elements specified by OMB. Specifically, the Department's internal controls for Sandy disaster relief program funding include the following elements: additional levels of review, monitoring and oversight of grant recipients, OIG collaboration, and review and resolution of audit findings. The Department also implemented internal controls to address the management of unexpended grant funds. The Department's internal controls for measuring and reporting improper payments were under development during our audit period. Therefore, we were unable to assess whether these controls addressed OMB requirements.

This report contains no recommendations.