UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20202

Jan 23 1998

Dear Sirs and Madam:

Subject: Cooperative Audit Resolution of Closed Audit Findings

This letter represents the final program determinations for the 25 findings listed in the enclosed First Supplement to the Matrix of Closed Findings (Matrix) for which the Assistant Secretaries for the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE), the Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE), the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS), and the Regional Commissioner of the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) of the U.S. Department of Education (Department) are respectively responsible for resolving. The findings closed by this program determination letter (PDL) are in addition to the 80 findings closed by the PDL sent to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (PA) on November 7, 1997. Staff from OESE, OVAE, OSERS, and RSA, in addition to the Office of the Chief Financial and Chief Information Officer, the Office of Inspector General, and the Office of the General Counsel, comprise the Department's Cooperative Audit Resolution Oversight Initiative (CAROI) team. Since the Department issued the November 7, 1997, PDL, the Department and PA CAROI Project Teams have held subsequent conference calls to resolve and close the additional 25 findings that are listed in the enclosed Matrix. These findings were reported in the Single Audit Reports for the following audit years:

CAROI representatives from the PA Departments of "Education," "Health, " "Labor and Industry," and "Public Welfare," the Auditor General, Office of the Budget, and Governor's Policy Office, and the U.S. Department of Education's CAROI representatives verified the accuracy and completeness of the enclosed Matrix with respect to those findings for which they are responsible. For your convenience, we are enclosing, in addition to the enclosed Matrix of closed findings, a list of the 25 closed findings and a table of those findings by Department program and PA agency, department, or office.

After resolving the Vocational Education Single Audit findings in the enclosed Matrix, the CAROI team members agreed to have additional discussions and information exchanges regarding the manner in which the PA Department of Education applies its approved indirect cost rate.

We wish to thank you and your staff for the cooperation that has resulted in this achievement. We anticipate similar progress as a result of the CAROI process in resolving the remaining 14 open findings.

If you have any questions about the final program determinations for the findings listed in the enclosed Matrix, please contact Ms. Hazel Fiers, CAROI Committee, at (202) 401-1194.

Sincerely yours,

Enclosures

List of Closed Findings
Table of Closed Findings by Program Office/Commonwealth
First Supplement to Matrix of Closed Findings

cc: Honorable Robert Casey, Auditor General
Mr. Harvey Eckert, Deputy Secretary for Comptroller Operations
Mr. Donald Rappaport, Chief Financial and Chief Information Officer
Ms. Jamienne S. Studley, Acting General Counsel
Honorable Thomas R. Bloom, Inspector General
CAROI Committee and Team Members

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