Office of Justice Programs National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Centers

Audit Report 07-22
March 2007
Office of the Inspector General


Appendix IV
Auditee’s Response
MEMORANDUM TO: Glenn A. Fine
Inspector General
United States Department of Justice

THROUGH: Guy K. Zimmerman
Assistant Inspector General for Audit
Office of the Inspector General
United States Department of Justice

FROM: Regina B. Schofield
Assistant Attorney General

SUBJECT: Response to Office of the Inspector General’s Draft Audit Report, Office of Justice Programs National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Centers

This memorandum responds to the Office of the Inspector General’s (OIG’s) draft audit report entitled “Office of Justice Programs National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Centers.” The draft report contains four recommendations and $697,005 in questioned costs.

The Office of Justice Programs (OJP) agrees with Recommendations 1, 2, and 4, and the related $697,005 in questioned costs. However, the OJP does not agree with Recommendation 3. The recommendations are restated in bold below, and are followed by the OJP’s response.

  1. Remedy $472,069 in unsupported costs.

  2. The Office of Justice Programs agrees with the recommendation. By November 30, 2006, the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) will work with the Rural Law Enforcement Technology Center (RULETC) and the Rocky Mountain Center to remedy unsupported costs of $5,494 and $466,575, respectively.

  3. Remedy the $224,936 in unallowable costs.

  4. The Office of Justice Programs agrees with the recommendation. With respect to the $207,947 related to unallowable indirect costs charged by RULETC, Eastern Kentucky University (EKU) acknowledged that the off-campus rate should have been used to calculate indirect costs. By November 30, 2006, EKU will submit a request to NIJ to reprogram those funds. In addition, by November 30, 2006, the NIJ will work with the RULETC and Rocky Mountain Center to remedy the remaining unallowable costs of $4,003 and $12,986, respectively.

  5. Require NIJ to revise RULETC’s cooperative agreement so that it complies with NLETC policy regarding the delegation of executive authority over center operations.

  6. The Office of Justice Programs does not agree with the recommendation. NIJ’s cooperative agreement with EKU, through which the RULETC is operated, complies with NLECTC policy regarding the delegation of executive authority over center operations.

    The draft report notes that "The individual delegated authority over the RULETC operation in Hazard, Kentucky was not on the center staff and devoted only 25% of her time to center-related activity." The individual referenced is the Director of the Justice and Safety Center at EKU, not the RULETC Director. The RULETC Director, 100% of whose time is devoted to the RULETC and who has executive authority over it (as required by NLECTC policy), reports to the Director of the Justice and Safety Center.

    Eastern Kentucky University, the grantee and host organization for RULETC, has the fiduciary responsibility to ensure that the provisions of the agreement with NIJ are followed. The Justice and Safety Center is the operating arm of EKU that is responsible for the RULETC. The Director for the Justice and Safety Center is the individual responsible to EKU to ensure that the operations of the Center comply with the provisions of NIJ's cooperative agreement with EKU. The RULETC Director, in turn, who has executive authority over Center operations, is responsible to the Director of the Justice and Safety Center. Since RULETC is only one part of the Justice and Safety Center, it is reasonable to expect that only 25% of the Justice and Safety Center's Director's time is devoted to overseeing RULETC operations.

    All of NIJ's NLECTC Centers are part of larger organizations. Center Directors submit their annual operating plans and budgets to their parent organizations, who, in turn, submit them to NIJ. For example, the NLECTC-National Center is operated through an agreement between NIJ and Lockheed Martin Aspen Systems. The individual in Lockheed Martin Aspen Systems, under whose purview the NLECTC-National Center falls, is listed in the grant documentation as the responsible organizational point of contact, not the NLECTC-National Center Director.

  7. Require NIJ program management to review NLECTC-Rocky Mountain practices to determine whether a conflict of interest or an inappropriate appearance of a conflict of interest exists, and if so, to ensure that proper controls are established to address such a conflict.

  8. The Office of Justice Programs agrees with the OIG recommendation. By November 30, 2006, NIJ will work with the OJP’s Office of General Counsel to determine whether a conflict of interest or an inappropriate appearance of a conflict of interest exists. If so, NIJ will issue appropriate correspondence to Denver University, the grantee/host organization with fiduciary responsibility for NLECTC Rocky Mountain, to ensure that proper controls are established to address such a conflict.

    Thank you for the opportunity to respond to the draft audit report. If you have any questions regarding this response, please feel free to contact me on (202) 307-5933, or LeToya Johnson, Director, Program Review Office, on (202) 514-0692.


cc:

Beth McGarry
Deputy Assistant Attorney General
    for Operations and Management

Glenn R. Schmitt
Acting Director
National Institute of Justice

LeToya A. Johnson
Director, Program Review Office

Richard P. Theis
DOJ Audit Liaison



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