Office Of Justice Programs Technical Assistance And Training Program

Audit Report No. 04-40
September 2004
Office of the Inspector General

Appendix 1

Objectives, Scope, and Methodology


Objectives

The objectives of our audit were to: (1) determine whether the Office of Justice Programs (OJP) implemented internal control measures to ensure accurate financial reporting by grantees, and (2) assess the OJP's monitoring and evaluation of grant objectives.

Scope and Methodology

The audit was performed in accordance with the Government Auditing Standards issued by the Comptroller General of the United States, and included tests and procedures necessary to accomplish the objective.

Generally, the audit focused on the administrative activities and grant management functions within the OJP's Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), Office of the Comptroller (OC), and the Office of Budget and Management Services (OBMS). We performed our fieldwork at the OJP headquarters in Washington, D.C., and at 18 grantee locations throughout the country.30

To accomplish the audit objectives, we judgmentally selected 21 grants of $1 million or more for review. The total dollar amount of these 21 grants was $77.7 million, or 25 percent of the $312.5 million in TA&T grants awarded during various time periods between FY 1995 and FY 2002.

In addition, we conducted interviews with officials from the OJP, including the Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General and staff from the BJA, the OJJDP, the OC, the OBMS, and the Office for Victims of Crime. We also reviewed a wide variety of documents, including: the OJP's organizational structure and grant management guidance; the grant management policies and procedures from the BJA, the OJJDP, and the OC; and the OBMS's budget and performance measurement processes.

The interviews and analyses of documents included:

  • Reviewing prior audit reports and studies by the Department of Justice and other agencies on related issues;

  • Reviewing applicable laws, organization charts, mission statements, and program policies and procedures;

  • Reviewing budgetary documents to determine the funds budgeted and expended for each fiscal year;

  • Interviewing OJP component heads and officials to obtain an understanding of their operations;

  • Reviewing organizational structures of the OJP and its Bureaus;

  • Obtaining an understanding of the OJP's grant management policies and procedures; and

  • Assessing whether the OJP is effectively evaluating the Technical Assistance and Training Program.

Footnotes

  1. We audited a total of 21 grants at these 18 sites. Two grantees received multiple awards.