Audit Report On The Oversight By The Department Of Youth And Community Development On The Immigrant Special Initiative Contracts

AUDIT REPORT IN BRIEF

The audit determined whether DYCD is adequately overseeing its Immigrant Special Initiative (ISI) contracts. The Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD) was created in October 1996; through its Office of Immigrant Initiatives, DYCD awards contracts to various community-based organizations (CBOs) throughout the five boroughs. DYCD awarded 27 contracts to various CBOs as part of an ISI to provide services in one or more of four program areas: Legal Assistance, Immigrant Women, Immigrant Youth Development, and Legal Services for Undocumented Youth in the Foster Care System.

The Office of Immigrant Initiatives conducts monitoring of the CBOs performance under the ISI contracts. It provides CBOs with technical assistance to ensure proper completion and submission of quarterly reports, and provides support to ensure that program participants are receiving quality services and that program participants achieve the target outcome. CBOs are required to track and report on program participants and the outcomes they achieve. The contracts ran from January 1, 2005 through June 30, 2006, and were renewed for one additional year running though June 30, 2007. The initial contracts and contract renewals awarded amount to a total of $6,497,289.

Audit Findings and Conclusions

DYCD needs to improve oversight over its ISI contracts. We noted that the Office of Immigrant Initiatives followed guidelines established by DYCD. Specifically, contract managers conducted required administrative and programmatic site visits, assessed program activities and participants’ files to determine whether they were maintained in accordance with DYCD requirements, and took corrective action when necessary. Further, we ascertained that all current contracts were registered and that vendor evaluations were performed.

However, our audit disclosed weaknesses in the monitoring of CBO performance in meeting contract goals. DYCD (1) did not ensure that CBOs submit all required quarterly reports and (2) has limited controls to ensure that CBOs reported accurate information on program participants and the outcomes they achieved. Although DYCD has procedures in place to ensure that CBOs keep adequate documentation of program participants and the services provided, there is no adequate control to ensure that CBOs submit required reports detailing contract activity, and that the data included in those reports is accurate. As a result, DYCD is hindered in assessing contractor performance in meeting contract goals.

We also noted that improvements can be made to further enhance the management control of services provided by CBOs—specifically, offering program participants alternative ways of informing DYCD of any complaints against the CBOs.

Audit Recommendations

To address these issues we make seven recommendations, including that DYCD should:

• Increase its efforts in reaching out to CBOs to encourage timely submission of quarterly reports.

• Continue to ensure detection of inaccuracies in quarterly reports and implement effective procedures to aid CBOs in the completion of those reports.

• Implement new procedures that will aid Outcome Specialists and Contract Managers in verifying the data submitted by CBOs.

• Ensure that future ISI contracts include a clause whereby contractors are required to post contact information in various languages for complaint handling and resolution.

Agency Response

In their response, DYCD agreed with six of the audit’s seven recommendations.