U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Education’s Internal Controls over the Immediate Aid to Restart School Operations Program

Our audit objective was to determine whether the U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Education (Virgin Islands DOE) has effectively designed internal controls for the administration of Immediate Aid to Restart School Operations (Restart) program funds. Our audit covered May 14, 2018, the date the U.S. Department of Education awarded a Restart grant to the Virgin Islands DOE, through December 21, 2018. We found that the Virgin Islands DOE must enhance its designed system of internal controls to ensure that it will properly administer Restart program funds and meet program objectives. Specifically, we found that the Virgin Islands DOE’s fiscal and programmatic monitoring processes do not provide reasonable assurance that it will spend Restart program funds timely or that it will conduct effective monitoring of Restart program performance. In addition, we found that the Virgin Islands DOE has not staffed its Internal Audit Division in accordance with planned staffing levels. Also, we found that the Internal Audit Division does not have standard operating procedures. The Virgin Islands DOE also does not have processes to assess fraud risks and report fraud.