On July 24, 2000, the Inspections Division sent copies of the draft memorandum report to the Acting Assistant Attorney General, Office of Justice Programs (OJP). We addressed two recommendations to OJP concerning its monitoring of grantees for the Residential Substance Abuse Treatment for State Prisoners Formula Grant (RSAT) Program. The OJP responded to the recommendations on August 30, 2000. Our analysis of OJP's response follows.

Recommendation Number:

1. Resolved-Closed. The OJP did not agree with the original recommendation as written, "The Acting Assistant Attorney General, OJP, should ensure the Corrections Program Office requires its grant managers to obtain timely and accurate reports from grantees." The OJP stated that the recommendation did not accurately reflect the restrained authority of the Corrections Program Office in enforcing the RSAT Program's reporting requirements. Because the reports are initiated by grantees, the Corrections Program Office believes its grant managers can only remind grantees to submit reports if they are untimely. Although the Corrections Program Office believes it can only remind grantees to submit reports, we believe the Corrections Program Office has the authority, responsibility, and leverage to enforce its reporting requirements. Grantees who do not comply with the programmatic, administrative, and financial requirements of the RSAT Program can face suspension of funding or other sanctions. We recognize that such actions are serious and the Corrections Program Office works closely with grantees to informally resolve problems.

   We changed the recommendation to read, "The Acting Assistant Attorney General, OJP, should ensure the Corrections Program Office requires its grant managers to notify grantees when reports are untimely or inaccurate and work with the grantees to ensure submission of the overdue or corrected reports." In addition to timeliness of the reports, we maintained the critical aspect of "accuracy," which had been omitted in the revision suggested by the Corrections Program Office.

   No further action is required for this recommendation.

2. Resolved-Closed. The OJP concurred with the recommendation to require grant managers in the Corrections Program Office to formally document site visits and other significant contacts with grantees and subgrantees and maintain these records in the grant files. No further action is required for this recommendation.