Summary: Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on a firm's Cuban entrant program, focusing on: (1) the amount and sources of federal funds it received; (2) how it spent the federal funds; (3) the propriety of its paying for leases with federal funds; and (4) how the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) carried out its administrative responsibilities.
GAO found that the firm: (1) received about $1.7 million from the Social Security Administration's Office of Refugee Resettlement, $16.5 million from the NIMH Refugee Mental Health Program, and $585,000 from the Department of Justice's Community Relations Service; (2) provided community-based mental health services to 245 Cuban youth resettling in the United States; (3) did not comply with its proposed 18-month maximum participation limit until NIMH issued a policy guideline limiting participation to 6 to 9 months; (4) could not evaluate its program's effectiveness, since it did not follow up on participants after discharge; and (5) spent $196,150 more than it was authorized to during three award periods. GAO also found that NIMH did not: (1) adjust program funding to reflect the varied number of participants during different award periods; (2) adequately document or maintain program-related proposals, budget requests and cooperative agreements, program expenditures, or monitoring reports; (3) develop an indirect cost rate and allowed the firm to charge the government $2.4 million in indirect costs it categorized as burden allocation; (4) take any enforcement action for the firm's failure to timely submit acceptable financial status reports; or (5) maintain adequate documentation to support the propriety of the firm's charging the government for the costs of its leasing arrangements.
