Sneak Preview: AmeriCorps Adopts GAO’s Framework To Tackle Fraud
(The following was excerpted from a recent Thompson Grants Compliance Expert article.) In response to Government Accountability Office (GAO) concerns about the amount of fraud reported within AmeriCorps’ grant programs, AmeriCorps is adopting GAO’s suggested leading practices for fraud risk assessments as part of its new program-level assessments of risk.
In federal fiscal year (FY) 2023, AmeriCorps disbursed more than $900 million under its grant programs to address various community needs. However, the agency’s Office of Inspector General previously has identified improving financial management and prioritizing fraud prevention and detection as a major management challenge. For example, in May 2020, one organization agreed to pay more than $2.5 million to settle federal claims that the organization falsified some 1,500 timesheets and 61 education awards under AmeriCorps grants.
AmeriCorps annually monitors a selection of its grants to help ensure that program activities comply with federal regulations and agency policies. However, GAO found in a report conducted in 2017 that AmeriCorps’ process did not prioritize the highest-risk grants for review, and GAO recommended at the time that the agency should take a risk-based approach to monitoring grants. In response, AmeriCorps developed a portfolio risk assessment that includes more than 70 risk factors and evaluates real-time data to develop grantee risk scores.
In its latest review, GAO assessed AmeriCorps management of grant fraud risks from January 2023 to March 2024. GAO now notes that the agency’s current fraud risk assessment is conducted at the agency level and is not tailored to identify program-specific risks, as AmeriCorps programs vary in size and scope. “The agency-level assessment may not result in the information necessary to effectively manage program-level risks,” GAO explained, stating that one of the agency’s programs funds some 7,000 volunteers, while another program funds more than 115,000 volunteers.
(The full version of this story has now been made available to all for a limited time here.)
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