Summary

GAO reviewed how three Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) field offices monitored entitlement grantees of Community Development Block Grants (CDBG).

GAO found that: (1) inadequate supervisory and evidentiary control guidance contributed to HUD weaknesses in monitoring entitlement grantees; (2) audit working papers did not adequately document the conclusions reached during on-site monitoring or record the work performed; (3) supervisors rarely accompanied their staff during on-site reviews of grantees or examined the resulting documentation; (4) without adequate documentation, HUD could not ensure the detection of management problems or that staff did not duplicate previous work; and (5) field offices did not fully use the information the Office of Inspector General (OIG) reports provided when planning on-site monitoring.