The National Science Foundation’s Office of Inspector General semi-annual report for the period ending March 31, 2013 has been released.
102 audits were reviewed, and of those, 42 NSF awardees had a total of 110 findings. Seventeen of the findings were repeats from the previous year, which represents a decrease from the previous year’s report. Internal control problems and noncompliance with federal requirements were addressed in findings concerning time and effort reporting; documentation for salaries and wages, equipment, travel and indirect costs charged directly to awards, subrecipient monitoring; financial statements; and timeliness of financial and progress reports.
Thirty-seven management letters were included in the audits reviewed by OIG. The deficiencies noted in the letters included inadequate tracking, management, and accounting for NSF costs; lack of adequate policies and procedures; and inadequate segregation of duties. NSF looks at these issues because they can lead to an environment where fraud and abuse are not prevented or detected until it is too late.
The semi-annual report also summarizes audit resolutions and investigations of fraudulent activity conducted during the reporting period. The report discusses five civil and criminal investigations related to awards to colleges and universities. A Washington, D.C. university entered into a settlement agreement with the U.S. attorney’s office to repay $530,000 to NSF for salary and stipends paid to faculty and students that were inadequately documented and for using participant support payments on other expenses without prior written approval. A PI at a Georgia college charged an NSF grant and two NASA grants for personal travel, purchases, and expenses unrelated to the grants. The government was reimbursed $1.2 million by the university who subsequently did not renew that PI’s contract. In an incident involving purchase card fraud, a PI charged items purchased to NSF awards, then returned the items for refunds, and kept the refund money. The PI pled guilty and was sentenced to two years of probation and $2,525 in fines. The university had to return $160,435 to NSF, which included the fraudulent sums and other questionable charges.
A significant rise in research misconduct allegations was noted this year. Research misconduct is defined as fabrication, falsification, and plagiarism. OIG referred 11 cases and 7 of those involved college and university staff. These cases involved falsified data in projects and proposals, falsified and fabricated data in dissertations and publications, and plagiarism in proposals.
*This information comes from the July/August 2013 Federal Grants News newsletter published by Atlantic Information Services, Inc.
