Report 2017-129 Recommendation 19 Responses
Report 2017-129: Department of Rehabilitation: Its Inadequate Guidance and Oversight of the Grant Process Led to Inconsistencies and Perceived Bias in Its Evaluations and Awards of Some Grants (Release Date: July 2018)
Recommendation #19 To: Rehabilitation, Department of
To ensure that it consistently and thoroughly evaluates appeals, Rehabilitation should establish in state regulations and its grant manual that to be able to rescore applications when necessary, the review committee members should be subject-matter experts or, if they are not subject-matter experts, the review committee should have the authority to recommend a new evaluation panel instead of rescoring applications itself when it identifies a reason to invalidate previous evaluations.
Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From September 2023
The Department revised its Grant Solicitation Manual (GSM) based on community input and the recommendations in the audit report. The Department went through the rulemaking process and in December 2019 discovered that it was necessary to revise the proposed regulations.
In 2019 and 2022, the Department withdrew its rulemaking packages after consultation with the Office of Administrative Law about the proposed sections related to the development of requests for applications. The Department expects to notice proposed regulations in October 2023 without the proposed sections related to RFA development and submit them to the Office of Administrative Law for approval by July 2024. Regarding the recommendation to promulgate regulations for development of requests for applications, by September 29, 2023, the Department will submit a request to the Principal Auditor for further discussion.
The final GSM will be published by December 2024.
- Estimated Completion Date: December 2024
California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Pending
Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2022
The Department revised its Grant Solicitation Manual (GSM) based on community input and the recommendations in the audit report. The Department went through the rulemaking process and in December 2019 discovered that it was necessary to revise the proposed regulations.
The Department received written and public comment, including the public hearing on this rulemaking package and is not in the process of completing the rulemaking file to submit to the Office of Administrative Law in accordance with the Administrative Procedures Act. The Department expects approval of this rulemaking package in December 2022.
The final GSM will be published after the regulations are adopted. In the interim, the Department published an Interim GSM on October 29, 2018 for use until the regulatory process has concluded.
- Estimated Completion Date: December 2022
California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Pending
Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2021
The Department revised its Grant Solicitation Manual (GSM) based on community input and the recommendations in the audit report. The Department went through the rulemaking process and in December 2019 discovered that it was necessary to revise the proposed regulations.
The Department has completed a draft of the proposed text for the grant regulations. Consistent with the Department's mission statement and core principles of partnership and transparency, the Department is engaging with its advisory bodies to obtain their input on the proposed concepts and approach before finalizing the proposed text and commencing the rulemaking process, including publication of the notice of proposed rulemaking and public comment period. The anticipated engagements include, but may not be limited to, the State Rehabilitation Council, Blind Advisory Council, State Independent Living Centers, and Assistive Technology Advisory Committee at their regularly scheduled public meetings.
The final GSM will be published after the regulations are adopted. In the interim, the Department published an Interim GSM on October 29, 2018 for use until the regulatory process has concluded.
- Estimated Completion Date: 12/2022
California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Partially Implemented
Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2020
The Department revised the GSM in October 2018 to include these recommendations and implemented these practices during the Department's first RFA solicitation process after Report 2017-129 was published. These changes are contained in the GSM Interim Guidance: October 2018.
- Completion Date: February 2020
California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Partially Implemented
Rehabilitation is in the process of promulgating regulations, and it has amended its grant manual providing that the review committee members can rescore applications. It does not distinguish whether review committee members should be subject matter experts. The grant manual also provides the review committee the authority to recommend a new evaluation panel when it identifies a reason to invalidate the previous evaluations. For its most recent grant, despite one evaluator having at minimum a perceived bias, the review committee upheld the award decision, and did not exercise this authority to convene a new evaluator panel to rescore the applications. Until it addresses these shortcomings and finalizes its regulations, we will continue to report this recommendation as not fully implemented.
- Auditee did not address all aspects of the recommendation
Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From July 2020
The Chief Deputy Director, responsible for appointing the review committee, will implement these changes. In addition to incorporating this recommendation into regulations, the Department has revised the GSM to include these recommendations and will carry out these practices in future grant appeals.
- Estimated Completion Date: December 2020
California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Pending
Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2019
The Chief Deputy Director, responsible for appointing the review committee, will implement these changes. In addition to incorporating this recommendation into regulations, the Department has revised the GSM to include these recommendations and will carry out these practices in future grant appeals.
- Estimated Completion Date: July 2020
California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Pending
1-Year Agency Response
The Chief Deputy Director, responsible for appointing the review committee, will implement these changes. In addition to incorporating this recommendation into regulations, the Department has revised the GSM to include these recommendations and will carry out these practices in future grant appeals.
- Estimated Completion Date: August 2019
- Response Date: July 2019
California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Pending
6-Month Agency Response
The Chief Deputy Director, responsible for appointing the review committee, will implement these changes. In addition to incorporation this recommendation into regulations, the Department has revised the GSM to include these recommendations and will carry out these practices in future grant appeals.
- Estimated Completion Date: GSM Interim Guidance - October 2018: Final GSM - After regulatory process has concluded: Regulations - June 1, 2019
- Response Date: January 2019
California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Pending
60-Day Agency Response
The Chief Deputy Director, responsible for appointing the review committee, will implement these changes. In addition to incorporating this recommendation into regulations, the Department has revised the GSM to include these recommendations and will carry out these practices in future grant appeals.
- Estimated Completion Date: October 2018 for Interim GSM; Final GSM after regulatory process has concluded; Regulations June 2019
- Response Date: September 2018
California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Pending
All Recommendations in 2017-129
Agency responses received are posted verbatim.