Nationwide Audit of State and Local Government Efforts to Record and Monitor Subrecipients' Use of Public

Page 2 – Charles Schable • Fifteen had unobligated balances of Federal bioterrorism funds as of August 30, 2003 totaling approximately $65 million, or 15 percent of the $428 million awarded. Improvements are needed to ensure that bioterrorism program funds are efficiently and effectively utilized. We recommend that CDC: • continue to emphasize the requirement to account for funds by focus area • identify awardees that have not accounted for their funds in accordance with the cooperative agreements and ensure that they revise their accounting procedures • provide guidance to awardees on monitoring subrecipient expenditures and measuring subrecipient performance, including emphasizing the need for awardees to make site visits to directly review subrecipients’ expenditures and assess subrecipients’ progress in improving bioterrorism preparedness • identify the reasons for large unobligated balances and assist the awardees in overcoming barriers to a more timely use of funds Officials in your office have concurred with our recommendations, set forth on page 7 of the attached report and have taken, or agreed to take, corrective action. We appreciate the cooperation given us in this audit. We would appreciate your views and the status of any further action taken or contemplated on our recommendations within the next 60 days. If you have any questions about this report, please do not hesitate to call me, or have your staff contact Donald L ...