Audit of Unobligated Balances of funds Awarded Under the Public Health Preparedness and Response for

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES Office of Inspector General { > -- ****v.,aa Washington, D.C. 20201 GEC - 5 2006 TO: Julie L. Gerberding, M.D., M.P.H. Director Centers for Disease Control and Prevention FROM: Daniel R. Levinson-@-Inspector General SUBJECT: Audit of Unobligated Balances of Funds Awarded Under the Public Health Preparedness and Response for Bioterrorism Program (A-05-05-0003 1) The attached final report provides the results of our audit of unobligated balances of funds awarded under the Public Health Preparedness and Response for Bioterforism Program (Bioterrorism Program). From August 3 1, 1999, to August 30,2005, when the Bioterrorism Program ended, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) awarded almost $3 billion to States and major local health departments (awardees). To monitor the expenditure of these funds, CDC required awardees to submit financial status reports within 90 days after the end of each budget period. ~hg reports showed such information as the amounts expended, obligated, and unobligated. Our objectives were to determine how much funding remained unobligated at the close of the Bioterrorism Program and what factors contributed to the balances. At the close of the Bioterrorism Program, cumulative unobligated balances totaled more than $157 million for the 52 awardees that submitted financial status reports for the last budget period. This amount represented 15.8 percent of the ...