Our objective was to determine whether the Office of Postsecondary Education (OPE) has an adequate process in place to ensure that institutions of higher education (schools) use Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) grant funds appropriately and that performance goals are met.
OPE needs to strengthen its oversight processes to ensure that schools use HEERF grant funds appropriately and that performance goals are met. Although we determined that OPE established and implemented several controls to promote transparency and accountability in program administration, it did not perform or document several key activities that are essential to effective program oversight. Regarding performance goals, we found that OPE established a metric related to the timeliness of its initial HEERF awards to schools; however, it did not otherwise establish any clear performance goals for the HEERF program or specific metrics that would provide a basis against which it could monitor individual schools’ performance or report on outcomes at the program level.
We made two recommendations, including that the Department develop a monitoring framework for the HEERF program that uses a risk assessment process to identify and prioritize significant program risks, and design and implement a risk-based monitoring plan and associated key control activities.
Implementing Pandemic Relief Aid
This is one of several reports the OIG has issued involving HEERF. Find other reports on our Pandemic Relief page.