SANCTIONS POLICIES
I.
Purpose: The purpose of these policies is
in conjunction with Chapter
6 - General Provisions, of the
Workforce Investment Act (WIA) and to establish a comprehensive performance
accountability system, comprised of the implementation of the activities
described throughout the Act and Regulations and the requirements of the
Arkansas Workforce Investment Board (AWIB), as well as to assess the
effectiveness of Local Workforce Investment Areas (LWIA) in achieving
continuous improvement of workforce investment activities funded under the Act,
in order to optimize the return on investment of Federal funds in statewide and
local workforce investment activities, in conjunction with the Act and
Regulations.
II
General Information: The Workforce
Investment Act and Regulations provide that the recipient (Governor) is
responsible for all funds granted to the State. In turn, the Governor holds
Local Boards and Chief Elected Officials (CEO), through the Grant Recipient
and/or Administrative Entity, responsible for all WIA funds they receive,
including performance and the proper expenditures of such funds. The Governor
is also responsible for monitoring and oversight of compliance with WIA
requirements, as well as other applicable Federal and State laws and policies.
The political jurisdiction(s) of the CEOs, in a Local Workforce
Investment Area (LWIA), is liable for any misuse of any WIA funds (unless an
agreement has been reached with the Governor to bear such liability) (reference
the Act at Section
300 and the Federal Regulations
at Sections
661.300 and
667.705 ).
When the LWIA is comprised of more than one unit of general local
government, the joint liability of the individual jurisdictions must be
specified in a written agreement between the chief elected officials and part
of the local plan (Reference the Act at Section
117(c) ).
The Arkansas Workforce Investment Board (AWIB) and its staff and
the Arkansas Employment Security Department (AESD) act on behalf of the
Governor for all Workforce Investment Act activities in Arkansas. (Throughout
instances in these policies, the AWIB and AESD staffs are referred to as State
Staff.) As part of the ongoing responsibilities for the oversight of federal
employment and training activities in Arkansas, the State staff conducts
continuous desk reviews, captures and reviews performance data, and conducts
on-site monitoring reviews on a regularly scheduled basis (not less than once
annually).
III.
Review Implementation: The State staff (AWIB
and AESD) performs as the State's administrative entity responsible for
implementing employment and training, monitoring and oversight and capturing
performance data associated with Title I B of the Workforce Investment Act,
using Federal and/or State developed review guides and performance
requirements. The State staff will also be responsible for conducting
programmatic, financial, EEO and ADA monitoring reviews.
The primary mission of the desk or on-site monitoring review is
to ensure administrative policies, practices, standards and systems are
functioning and operational within the parameters established by federal/state
legislation, regulations and policy directives. The primary mission of
capturing and reviewing performance is to ensure that required performance
criteria are being achieved.
The results of each monitoring review will be documented and
compiled in a formal report and disseminated for response and, as warranted,
include recommended corrective action to the appropriate Local Workforce
Investment Board, Administrative Entity and Grant Recipient. Specific
activities subject to the State's on-site and desk monitoring reviews may
include, but are not limited to:
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Allowable activities
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Eligibility
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Targeting
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Assessment methodology
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Selection
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Property management
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EEO and ADA compliance
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Fiscal accountability
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Internal controls
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Inventory control
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Security maintenance Data validation
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Conflict of interest
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Nepotism
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Customer satisfaction
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Record keeping
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Data entry and sharing
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Record retention
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Contracts and subcontracts
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Compilation of performance data
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Complaint and Grievance policies and procedures
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Management Information Systems and performance
data
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Certifications (e.g. Local Workforce Investment Boards,
service providers, etc.)
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(A comprehensive Monitoring (Compliance) Review Instrument
and Procedures are provided in a separate document.)
IV.
Corrective Action: The State staff will review
monitoring findings requiring corrective action and make recommendations to the
AWIB Executive Director for consideration. Prior to making its recommendation
to the Director, OPAR may request additional information from the LWIA, or
conduct a meeting with appropriate officials to ascertain all pertinent facts
regarding any finding(s).
If corrective action is necessary, the AWIB Executive Director
will submit a request for an approved Corrective Action Plan to the LWIB
Chairperson. Within fourteen (14) days of receipt of the request, the Local
Workforce Investment Area shall submit a CAP signed by the LWIB
Chairperson.
The Corrective Action Plan shall include, at a minimum:
A. An assessment of the current situation,
including a review of action that has already been taken to address the
problem;
B. A plan which describes,
in detail, the action which will be taken to correct the problem; and
C. A timetable for the action that identifies
what steps will be taken through a specified time period, benchmarking dates by
which certain levels of progress will be accomplished.
The AWIB Executive Director will review each Corrective Action
Plan and make recommendations for CAP approval or disapproval. Upon approval of
the CAP, the Executive Director will determine if the LWIB will be required to
submit written progress reports, as well as the frequency of such reports. When
required, each progress report shall describe the progress of the action taken;
attainment or non-attainment of benchmarks and any necessary revision of the
plans.
The progress of each CAP will be reported to the AWIB. In the
event of failure or non-implementation of corrective action plans, the AWIB
Executive Director may apply sanctions to the LWIA by withholding WIA funds
until LWIA funds until a Corrective Action Plan has been submitted to the State
or corrective actions have been implemented, or will make recommendations to
the AWIB regarding applying more severe sanctions to the LWIA. Notification of
any sanction(s) to be imposed beyond corrective action plans will be
communicated to the LWIB Chairperson, Lead CEO, Administrative Entity, and
Grant Recipient (if these are separate entities).
V.
Findings: When appropriate, a follow-up review
may be conducted to ascertain if corrective action was implemented, and/or to
provide technical assistance. Where performance is determined not to be in line
with the requirements of the Workforce Investment Act, applicable Federal
Regulations and/or AWIB/State policies governing the program, the AWIB
Executive Director shall impose a negotiated Corrective Action Plan or the
Sanctions as described in Section
VI of this document.
In determining whether to impose a sanction, the frequency,
quantity, flagrancy and severity of the finding and whether it was the result
of willful disregard of the Act or other applicable laws and regulations will
be considered.
The 1) frequency, 2) quantity, 3) flagrancy, 4) severity, and/or
5) willfulness of the finding will also determine the precise sanction imposed.
Any one or a combination of any of these conditions could result in sanctions;
doesn't have to be all; (for example, frequent late responses or reports could
result in no funds until responses or reports are received, even if the
violation is not judged as willful).
Specific findings, although not all-inclusive, which may result
in the imposition of sanctions, are outlined below. These findings may fall
into four major categories: Administrative, Fiscal, Participant, and
Performance Standards.
A.
Administrative Findings:
Sanctions may be
imposed for violations of law, regulations and State standards. Major examples
of sanctionable findings in the administrative area are failure to:
1. Maintain local board membership in
accordance with any of the provisions of 661.300 through 661.325;
2. Maintain a youth council to carry out
responsibilities in accordance with any of the provisions of 661.335 through
661.340;
3. Submit accurate
required financial, participant, data collection or other reports by
established due dates (667.300 and State requirements to coincide with 667.170
(a)(8));
4. Maintain an adequate
local/internal review (monitoring) system (at a minimum, monitoring of
subrecipients must be conducted on an annual basis, to comply with
667.410);
5. Maintain accurate,
required and current data in the State's Information System, and in accordance
with applicable federal or state laws (667.300 and Section
185 ) or state policies. (Current
means data must be entered into the information system no later than on the day
of the start of an activity);
6.
Maintain an up-to-date local workforce investment area plan;
7. Address deficiencies within allowable
timeframes after receipt of State's request for corrective action (State
requirement to coincide with 667.170 (a)(6);
8. Adhere to federal, state and local
policies and procedures regarding EEO and ADA requirements;
9. Provide disallowed services using federal
funds.
10. Partner with the
required one stop partners or coordinate with other federal partners, and thus
maximize the services available to participants (
20 CFR
662.200-
662.230
);
11. Solicit, approve, and manage
the eligible provider process (
20CFR
663.500-
663.535
).
B.
Fiscal Findin2s: Sanctions may be imposed for
violations of law, regulations and State standards. Major examples of
sanctionable findings in the fiscal area are failure to:
1. Operate within minimum cash balance
requirements (State requirement to coincide with 667.170 (3));
2. Maintain effective cash management or cost
controls resulting in no excess cash on hand - 667.170 (a) (I 0);
3. Comply with program cost limitations
according to the approved budget (667.220 and 667.410 (a)(1));
4. Conduct procurements according to State
and federal policies and procedures, including prior approval where necessary
(Section 184(a)(3)(B)
);
5. Maintain adequate systems of
fiscal control;
6. Submit accurate
required fiscal reports within required time frames; a Corrective Action Plan
is required at the end of any 3 -month interval in which an organization
submits two or more late or inaccurate monthly fiscal reports;
7. Maintain property control
system;
8. Resolve audit findings
or questioned costs.
C.
Program and Performance Findings:
Sanctions may be imposed for violations of law, regulations and/or State
standards. Major examples of findings which could entail sanctions being
applied are failure to:
1 . Meet negotiated
levels of performance of the core or customer satisfaction indicators for any
program year (Section
136(h)(1) )
(may result in technical assistance and modification of
operationalplans; or for a second consecutive year, Section
136(h)(2) ) may
result in the local area being reorganized);
2. Obtain proper information for eligibility
determination resulting in ineligible participants receiving benefits from the
program;
3. Meet required
enrollment levels for any group established as priority through State
performance standards;
4. Exit
participants when the end of the last services funded by the WIA program or
funded by a partner program was more than 90 consecutive days earlier (TEGL
#07-99 and TEGL #15-03);
5. LWIA
setting and following policies regarding maximum (or minimum) amounts and other
restrictions, etc., when providing Individual Training Accounts
6. Provide Individual Training Accounts for
participants who have been determined eligible and in need of training when
funds are available (20 CFR Part
663 --Subpart C-Training
Services; Subpart D-Individual Training Accounts).
D.
Management
Concerns:
Also, during the monitoring review process,
items may be detected that do not completely coincide with the WIA Law,
Regulations, or State issued policies. Where warranted, such items will be
provided to the monitored entity as Management Concerns. Although such concerns
may not constitute a non-compliance issue(s), these concerns are provided to
avoid issues that may lead to non-compliance. Such concerns do require
response(s) and corrective action(s). These concerns will be provided via a
separate document from the official Monitoring Report.
E.
Local Monitoring
Requirements:
Each LWIB will establish general policies
and procedures related to their oversight responsibilities. These procedures
are to be contained in the local operational plan. Minimum standards shall
include, but are not limited to:
1. An annual
schedule of activities to be reviewed;
2. An instrument or guide and procedures
related to the overall monitoring
requirements;
3. Operational procedures related to
documentation of the reviews;
4.
Operational procedures related to resolution of findings;
5. Operational procedures related to
corrective action; (
20CFR
667.400(c)(1).
VI.
Application of Sanctions:
Ongoing
program evaluation through monitoring and compliance reviews will strive to
focus on program improvement. Should it become necessary for the State to
entertain sanctions for disregard of the Act, other applicable laws,
regulations, or AWIB/State issued policies, the following includes a list of
possible sanctions which may be applied:
A.
Withholding LWIA funds until a Corrective Action Plan has been submitted to the
State or corrective actions have been implemented;
B. AWIB or its designee temporarily taking
over data entry for both financial and participant data and charging grantee
for cost of inputting;
C. Recapture
of unexpended funds;
D. Disallowing
costs associated with a particular violation or deficiency and the seeking of
repayment from non-federal funds;
E. Disapproval of requests for specific or
all WIA funds draw-downs, until the violation or deficiency has been
corrected;
F. Deducting the amount
of errant-expenditures from the LWIA's administrative funds, either current or
those which are part of subsequent program year's allocation;
G. Development of performance
improvement/Corrective Action plan or development of modified local area
plan;
H. Monetary sanctions to
reduce the funding allocation for the next program year by up to 5% based upon
the degree of failure to meet negotiated level of performance;
I. Revocation of a local area plan until
conditions, violations or deficiencies have been corrected (grantees without
approved local plans cannot receive any WIA funds);
J. Imposition of a Reorganization Plan,
pursuant to Sections
136(h)(2) and
184(b)
including, but not exclusively limited to;
1.
Decertifying the local board involved;
2. Prohibiting the use of specific
providers;
3. Selecting an
alternative entity to administer the program for the local area
involved;
4. Merging the local area
into another local area;
5. Making
other such changes as determined necessary to secure compliance.
K. Others as deemed appropriate by
the Arkansas Workforce Investment Board or by the State staff after approval of
the Board.
NOTE: The State reserves the right to increase the
severity of sanction(s) for uncorrected violation(s). If, after lifting a
sanction, the local workforce investment area again fails to adhere to agreed
upon corrective action(s), the subsequent sanction(s) will be more severe in
nature.
Additionally, two or more violations of a similar nature within
six months of each other will be deemed to be consecutive for purposes of
determining deliberateness, or seriousness, and/or frequency of the
violation.
