The primary responsibility of cognizant grants administration offices shall be to advise and assist grants officers and recipients prior to and after award, and to help ensure that recipients fulfill all requirements in law, regulation, and award terms and conditions. Specific functions include:
(a) Conducting reviews and coordinating reviews, audits, and audit requests. This includes:
(1) Advising grants officers on the extent to which audits by independent auditors (i.e., public accountants or Federal auditors) have provided the information needed to carry out their responsibilities. If a recipient has had an independent audit in accordance with subpart F of 2 CFR part 200, and the audit report disclosed no material weaknesses in the recipient's financial management and other management and control systems, additional preaward or closeout audits usually will not be needed (see §§ 22.420(b) and 22.825(b)).
(2) Performing pre-award surveys, when requested by a grants officer, after providing advice described in paragraph (a)(1) of this section.
(3) Reviewing recipients' systems and compliance with Federal requirements, in coordination with any reviews and compliance audits performed by independent auditors under subpart F of 2 CFR part 200, or in accordance with the terms and conditions of the award. This includes:
(i) Reviewing recipients' financial management, property management, and purchasing systems, to determine the adequacy of such systems.
(ii) Determining that recipients have drug-free workplace programs, as required under 32 CFR part 26.
(iii) Determining that governmental, university and nonprofit recipients have complied with requirements in subpart F of 2 CFR part 200, as implemented at subpart E of 2 CFR part 1128, to have single audits and submit audit reports to the Federal Audit Clearinghouse. If a recipient has not had a required audit, appropriate action must be taken (e.g., contacting the recipient and coordinating with the Office of the Assistant Inspector General for Audit Policy and Oversight (OAIG(P&O)), Office of the Deputy Inspector General for Inspections and Policy, Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Defense (OIG, DoD), 4800 Mark Center Drive, Alexandria, VA 22350-1500).
(b) Performing property administration services for Government-owned property, and for any property acquired by a recipient, with respect to which the recipient has further obligations to the Government.
(c) Ensuring timely submission of required reports.
(d) Executing administrative closeout procedures.
(e) Establishing recipients' indirect cost rates, where the Department of Defense is the cognizant or oversight Federal agency with the responsibility for doing so.
(f) Performing other administration functions (e.g., receiving recipients' payment requests and transmitting approved payment authorizations to payment offices) as delegated by applicable cross-servicing agreements or letters of delegation.
[63 FR 12164, Mar. 12, 1998, as amended at 70 FR 49466, Aug. 23, 2005; 72 FR 34989, June 26, 2007; 85 FR 51243, Aug. 19, 2020]