ACORN
Federal Funding and Monitoring [Reissued on June 17, 2011]
Gao ID: GAO-11-484 June 14, 2011
The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) was established in 1970 to advocate for low-income families. Allegations of voter registration fraud and videotapes of questionable behavior by ACORN employees raised concerns about ACORN, and Congress passed fiscal year 2010 laws prohibiting federal funds from being awarded to ACORN and ACORN related organizations. GAO was asked to report on these organizations, including (1) how much federal funding was awarded to them for fiscal years 2005 through 2009 and the purpose of the funding, (2) the extent to which federal agencies' monitoring of these awards detected issues identified by audits, (3) the nature and results of any federal investigations or prosecutions conducted of these organizations from fiscal years 2005 through 2009, and (4) how federal agencies implemented provisions prohibiting the award of funds. Among other things, GAO identified awards to ACORN or potentially related organizations by 31 federal agencies and audits of such awards; documentation of related investigations and cases; and actions to implement funding restrictions by the 27 agencies in our review subject to them.
Seventeen of the 31 agencies identified more than $48 million--$44.6 million in federal grants and at least $3.8 million in subawards (grants and contracts awarded by federal grantees)--to ACORN or potentially related organizations, primarily for housing-related purposes, during fiscal years 2005 through 2009. Agencies were not required to collect data on subawards; consequently, agencies were limited in their ability to identify all funding they provided to ACORN or potentially related organizations through subawards. Agencies reported that their monitoring of awards to ACORN and potentially related organizations was based primarily on the award amount or available resources and ranged from reviewing progress reports to conducting site visits. We found that agencies' monitoring of these awards generally did not detect issues identified by inspectors general or internal audits. Audits conducted by inspector general offices or the internal audit unit at six of the agencies supplemented agency monitoring and identified issues regarding the organizations' use and documentation of funding--such as lack of proper recording and accounting for how funds were spent--that were not detected by the agency, except in one case. The audits were generally more detailed than agency monitoring. Agency officials said they plan to use the findings of the audits to modify their monitoring processes for future grants, for example by revising monitoring guidance. Of 22 investigations and cases of election and voter registration fraud and wage violations involving ACORN or potentially related organizations from fiscal years 2005 through 2009, most were closed without prosecution. One of the eight cases and investigations identified by the Department of Justice resulted in guilty pleas by eight defendants to voter registration fraud and seven were closed without action due to insufficient, or a lack of, evidence. The Federal Election Commission (FEC) reported five closed matters; for one, the FEC reached a conciliation agreement with a penalty. Another matter was dismissed, and FEC found no reason to believe the violations occurred for three matters. The Department of Labor identified eight wage and hour disputes, plus one delinquent reporting of required documentation, all of which resulted in an organization complying or agreeing to take corrective measures to comply with the applicable requirements. Twenty-seven of the 31 agencies within the scope of our review were subject to fiscal year 2010 appropriations restrictions on funding to ACORN and certain related organizations, and all took action to comply with the restrictions. Most agencies alerted staff of the restrictions through e-mails, memorandums, or oral communications. Other actions included alerting awardees, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development and National Science Foundation provided guidance on which organizations may fall within the scope of their respective funding restrictions. Eleven agencies reported that they took action to implement the restrictions, at least in part, as a result of our inquiry and subsequent discussions. GAO is not making any recommendations. Nine of the 45 agencies and organizations to which a draft of the report was sent provided technical comments, which GAO incorporated as appropriate.
GAO-11-484, ACORN: Federal Funding and Monitoring [Reissued on June 17, 2011].
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[This report was revised on June 17, 2011, to correct typographical
errors on pages 37 and 47; to update cross-references to tables on pages
33, 41, 45, 49, 52, 59, and 63; and to add a case citation on page 66]
United States Government Accountability Office:
GAO:
June 2011:
Report to Congressional Addressees:
ACORN:
Federal Funding and Monitoring:
GAO-11-484:
GAO Highlights:
Highlights of GAO-11-484, a report to congressional addressees.
Why GAO Did This Study:
The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) was
established in 1970 to advocate for low-income families. Allegations
of voter registration fraud and videotapes of questionable behavior by
ACORN employees raised concerns about ACORN, and Congress passed
fiscal year 2010 laws prohibiting federal funds from being awarded to
ACORN and ACORN related organizations. GAO was asked to report on
these organizations, including (1) how much federal funding was
awarded to them for fiscal years 2005 through 2009 and the purpose of
the funding, (2) the extent to which federal agencies‘ monitoring of
these awards detected issues identified by audits, (3) the nature and
results of any federal investigations or prosecutions conducted of
these organizations from fiscal years 2005 through 2009, and (4) how
federal agencies implemented provisions prohibiting the award of
funds. Among other things, GAO identified awards to ACORN or
potentially related organizations by 31 federal agencies and audits of
such awards; documentation of related investigations and cases; and
actions to implement funding restrictions by the 27 agencies in our
review subject to them.
What GAO Found:
Seventeen of the 31 agencies identified more than $48 million-”$44.6
million in federal grants and at least $3.8 million in subawards
(grants and contracts awarded by federal grantees)-”to ACORN or
potentially related organizations, primarily for housing-related
purposes, during fiscal years 2005 through 2009. Agencies were not
required to collect data on subawards; consequently, agencies were
limited in their ability to identify all funding they provided to
ACORN or potentially related organizations through subawards.
Agencies reported that their monitoring of awards to ACORN and
potentially related organizations was based primarily on the award
amount or available resources and ranged from reviewing progress
reports to conducting site visits. We found that agencies‘ monitoring
of these awards generally did not detect issues identified by
inspectors general or internal audits. Audits conducted by inspector
general offices or the internal audit unit at six of the agencies
supplemented agency monitoring and identified issues regarding the
organizations‘ use and documentation of funding”-such as lack of
proper recording and accounting for how funds were spent”-that were
not detected by the agency, except in one case. The audits were
generally more detailed than agency monitoring. Agency officials said
they plan to use the findings of the audits to modify their monitoring
processes for future grants, for example by revising monitoring
guidance.
Of 22 investigations and cases of election and voter registration
fraud and wage violations involving ACORN or potentially related
organizations from fiscal years 2005 through 2009, most were closed
without prosecution. One of the eight cases and investigations
identified by the Department of Justice resulted in guilty pleas by
eight defendants to voter registration fraud and seven were closed
without action due to insufficient, or a lack of, evidence. The
Federal Election Commission (FEC) reported five closed matters; for
one, the FEC reached a conciliation agreement with a penalty. Another
matter was dismissed, and FEC found no reason to believe the
violations occurred for three matters. The Department of Labor
identified eight wage and hour disputes, plus one delinquent reporting
of required documentation, all of which resulted in an organization
complying or agreeing to take corrective measures to comply with the
applicable requirements.
Twenty-seven of the 31 agencies within the scope of our review were
subject to fiscal year 2010 appropriations restrictions on funding to
ACORN and certain related organizations, and all took action to comply
with the restrictions. Most agencies alerted staff of the restrictions
through e-mails, memorandums, or oral communications. Other actions
included alerting awardees, and the Department of Housing and Urban
Development and National Science Foundation provided guidance on which
organizations may fall within the scope of their respective funding
restrictions. Eleven agencies reported that they took action to
implement the restrictions, at least in part, as a result of our
inquiry and subsequent discussions.
What GAO Recommends:
GAO is not making any recommendations. Nine of the 45 agencies and
organizations to which a draft of the report was sent provided
technical comments, which GAO incorporated as appropriate.
View [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-11-484] or key
components. For more information, contact Eileen R. Larence at (202)
512-8777 or larencee@gao.gov.
[End of section]
Contents:
Letter:
Agencies Reported Awarding More Than $48 Million to ACORN or
Potentially Related Organizations from 2005 through 2009:
Agencies‘ Monitoring Was Based Primarily on Award Amount or Available
Resources; Agencies Plan to Modify Monitoring as a Result of Audit
Findings:
Twenty-two Federal Investigations of Wage Violations and Voter
Registration and Election Fraud Resulted in Guilty Pleas in One Case
and One Civil Penalty:
All 27 Agencies within the Scope of Our Review That Were Subject to
Fiscal Year 2010 ACORN Appropriations Restrictions Have Taken Action
to Implement Those Restrictions, Some in Response to Our Inquiries:
Agency Comments, Third-Party Views, and Our Evaluation:
Appendix I: Objectives, Scope and Methodology:
Appendix II: Monitoring Activities of Direct Grant Programs Conducted
by Agencies, Fiscal Years 2005 through 2009:
Appendix III: Federal Provisions Restricting Funding to ACORN and
Related Organizations and Related Court Case:
Appendix IV: GAO Contact and Acknowledgments:
Tables:
Table 1: Direct Awards to ACORN or Potentially Related Organizations,
Fiscal Years 2005 through 2009:
Table 2: Selected Subawards to ACORN and Potentially Related
Organizations, Fiscal Years 2005 through 2009:
Table 3: Summary of Audit and DOJ-IG Review Findings Regarding ACORN
and Potentially Related Organizations‘ Management of Federal Grant
Funds:
Table 4: U.S. Attorney‘s Office and FBI Closed Case and Investigations
Involving ACORN or Potentially Related Organizations or Their
Employees; Fiscal Years 2005 through 2009:
Table 5: FEC Matters Opened from Fiscal Years 2005 to 2009 That
Involve ACORN or Potentially Related Organizations:
Table 6: DOL Cases and Investigations Opened from Fiscal Years 2005
through 2009 that Involve ACORN or Potentially Related Organizations:
Table 7: Actions Agencies Have Taken to Implement Applicable Funding
Restrictions[A]:
Table 8: Agency Characteristics That Indicate They Could Have Funded
ACORN or Potentially Related Organizations:
Table 9: ACORN”Family Tree and ACORN Bankruptcy Identified
Organizations:
Table 10: Indicators of Potential Affiliation with ACORN:
Organizations Identified by DUNS Number that Received Federal Funding
from Fiscal Years 2005 through 2009:
Table 11: Indicators of Potential Affiliation with ACORN:
Organizations Identified other than by DUNS Number that Received
Federal Funding from Fiscal Years 2005 through 2009:
Table 12: Indicators of Potential Affiliation with ACORN:
Organizations or Their Employees Investigated or Prosecuted by DOJ,
FBI, FEC or DOL, Fiscal Years 2005 through 2009:
Table 13: Monitoring Activities of Direct Awards Conducted by
Agencies, Fiscal Years 2005 through 2009:
Table 14: Fiscal Year 2010 Appropriations Act Restrictions on Funding
ACORN and Other Entities for 27 of the 31 Agencies Reviewed:
Figure:
Figure 1: Timeline of Actions Related to ACORN v. United States:
[End of section]
United States Government Accountability Office:
Washington, DC 20548:
June 14, 2011:
Congressional Requesters:
Nonprofit organizations play an important role in providing a wide
range of public services. To provide these services, these
organizations rely on funding through various sources, including
federal grants and contracts. Just as federal agencies are held
accountable for the efficient and effective use of taxpayer dollars,
so too are nonprofit organizations held accountable for their use of
federal funds.
The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN)--a
nonprofit organization that received federal funds--was established in
1970 as a grassroots organization to advocate for low-income families.
By 2009, ACORN's General Counsel reported that ACORN had 500,000
members and had expanded into a national network of organizations
involved in the development of affordable housing, foreclosure
counseling, and voter registration, among other things. ACORN
organizations relied on membership dues and on federal and private
foundation funding to support various activities. Voter registration
fraud allegations and widely distributed videotapes depicting what
appeared to be inappropriate behavior by employees of several local
ACORN chapters spurred calls to identify federal funding provided to
ACORN and organizations potentially related to it, and for legislation
to restrict or eliminate that funding.[Footnote 1] In addition, the
inspectors general at five agencies that provided funding to ACORN or
potentially related organizations--the Corporation for Public
Broadcasting (CPB), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Department
of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Department of Justice (DOJ),
and the Election Assistance Commission (EAC)--as well as
NeighborWorks' internal audit unit, initiated ACORN-related reviews.
[Footnote 2]
Subsequently, Congress passed provisions restricting the funding of
ACORN or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, or allied organizations
in the fiscal year 2010 continuing resolutions, which were followed by
several fiscal year 2010 appropriations acts that prohibited any
appropriated funds from being awarded to ACORN and various ACORN-
related organizations.[Footnote 3] In addition to the federal funding
restrictions, ACORN's General Counsel reported reductions in private
foundation funding, and in March 2010 stated that the national ACORN
organization would terminate its field operations and close all of its
field offices because of the loss of funding, although some of its
related organizations were to remain open. ACORN filed for chapter 7
bankruptcy on November 2, 2010.[Footnote 4]
The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010, directed us to issue a
report on funding to ACORN and related organizations within 180 days
(by June 14, 2010).[Footnote 5] We also received three request letters
from a total of 23 members of Congress asking that we provide
information on federal funding provided to ACORN and related
organizations and on the monitoring of the use of this funding. A list
of the congressional requesters is provided at the end of this report.
We combined our work for the mandate and requests to produce a
preliminary report on June 14, 2010, on the first three objectives
below.[Footnote 6] Our preliminary report identified at least $40
million in federal funding awarded by nine agencies to ACORN and other
organizations (that were identified by the Congressional Research
Service as possibly related to ACORN). In terms of agency monitoring
of the funding, we found that monitoring was based primarily on award
amount or available resources, and generally did not identify problems
with the funding awarded. In terms of investigations or prosecutions
of ACORN or potentially related organizations or their employees, we
also described 12 closed cases and investigations reported by the
Executive Office of U.S. Attorneys (EOUSA) and the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI), and four closed Federal Election Commission (FEC)
matters related to ACORN or potentially related organizations. This
report includes our final results on these three objectives, as well
as a fourth objective for this final report, which was added based on
congressional interest:
(1) From fiscal years 2005 through 2009, how much funding did federal
agencies award to ACORN or any potentially related organizations, and
what was the purpose of the funding?
(2) To what extent did federal agencies' monitoring of ACORN or
potentially related organizations' use of federal funding detect
issues identified by inspector general and internal audits?
(3) What federal investigations or prosecutions were conducted of
ACORN or potentially related organizations from fiscal years 2005
through 2009, and what were the nature and results of these
investigations and prosecutions?
(4) How have federal agencies subject to fiscal year 2010 provisions
barring the distribution of appropriated funds to ACORN or its
affiliates, subsidiaries, or allied organizations implemented those
provisions?
To conduct our work, we first had to determine which organizations may
be related to ACORN as a branch, subsidiary, or affiliate. We
consolidated nine lists of potential ACORN organizations that others,
including federal agencies and congressional committees, had created.
We provided the consolidated list to Dun and Bradstreet (D&B). We
selected D&B because it has the most comprehensive information on
business entities of any source that we identified, and D&B maintains
data on all Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) numbers.[Footnote
7] We asked D&B to consolidate duplicate records into one unique
record and identify those that could be matched with a DUNS number. As
a result of its analysis, D&B provided us with DUNS numbers associated
with organizations on the nine lists. D&B also identified which of
these DUNS numbers were associated with a member of the ACORN "family
tree"--that is, a branch or subsidiary of ACORN.[Footnote 8]
For our first objective, we asked the 31 federal agencies we believe
might have provided funding (based on factors such as whether the
agency was included in the federal government's grant availability Web
site, grants.gov), to identify any grants, contracts, or cooperative
agreements awarded directly or as a subaward (subgrant or subcontract)
from fiscal years 2005 through 2009 to organizations associated with
the complete list of DUNS numbers. We assessed the reliability of
agency databases used to search for funding by reviewing agency annual
financial statements and agency responses to questions regarding the
integrity of those databases. We determined that the databases were
reliable for our purposes.
For each of the organizations included on the list from D&B that
agencies had funded, we conducted additional analysis to determine
whether there was a potential affiliation with ACORN.[Footnote 9]
Specifically, we looked for five indicators of affiliation--shared
address, phone number, bank account, employer identification number,
or at least one executive or member of the board of directors in
common between the organization and ACORN. These five indicators are
data points that relate to various statutory and regulatory tests for
determining whether an affiliate or subsidiary relationship exists
between entities, the crux of which is the ability of one entity to
control the other.[Footnote 10] When reporting on funding to ACORN and
potentially related organizations, we included only those
organizations that had at least one indicator of affiliation with
ACORN, but the presence of any one or more of these indicators does
not necessarily mean that there is a control relationship between the
entities so as to make them affiliates. Organizations that were on our
list of DUNS numbers and were funded, but did not have an indicator of
affiliation, were excluded from this report. We did not determine
whether the organizations included in this report were actually
affiliated with ACORN because sufficient information was not available
to make that determination for the various organizations within the
scope of our review. Therefore, we refer to these organizations as
"potentially related."
To address our second objective, we obtained reports that reviewed
funding awarded to ACORN or a potentially related organization that
were issued by the inspectors general at CPB, DHS, HUD, DOJ, or EAC,
or by the internal audit unit of NeighborWorks. We also reviewed these
reports and found the conclusions and recommendations drawn in each
report to be appropriate based on methodologies used. For each agency
where a review was conducted, we analyzed documentation of the
agency's monitoring of the funding encompassed by the audits. We also
interviewed officials at the six agencies to determine the extent to
which the specific monitoring mechanisms applied at each agency
captured the issues identified in the audits, the rationale for the
monitoring mechanisms the agency applied, and whether the monitoring
process would be modified based on the audits.
For our third objective, we analyzed information from DOJ--including
the FBI and DOJ litigating divisions[Footnote 11]--as well as the 31
agencies and the investigative components of their offices of
inspector general regarding any investigations or prosecutions they
have conducted of ACORN or potentially related organizations or their
employees from fiscal years 2005 through 2009. As with our first
objective, for any organizations that agencies reported having been
involved in an investigation or prosecution, we determined whether the
organizations had any indicators of affiliation with ACORN. Only those
organizations that had at least one indicator are included in this
report. We assessed the reliability of the data that EOUSA, FBI, DOL,
and FEC used to search for the investigations and prosecutions they
reported to us, and found the data to be reliable for our purposes.
Agencies used name searches to identify cases in their systems, which
is not as precise a method of searching as by number, so there is a
potential that some cases may have been missed using this method.
For our fourth objective, we asked officials representing the 27 out
of the 31 agencies within our scope that are subject to fiscal year
2010 appropriations provisions that prohibit funding to ACORN and
related organizations to describe and provide documentation of the
actions the agencies have taken to implement the provisions. The
remaining four of the 31 agencies in our scope--DHS, Department of
Energy (DOE), the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and
the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)--were not subject to such
provisions. We analyzed actions taken by agencies to implement their
specific provisions. Executive agencies are required to establish and
maintain systems of accounting and internal controls that reasonably
ensure compliance with applicable law; the control activities are
established by management of the audited agency.[Footnote 12] We did
not make an independent assessment of the sufficiency of processes
agencies have in place to restrict funding, as a review of the
internal controls in place at 27 agencies (a lengthy and resource
intensive process) was not feasible within the scope of this review.
In addition, there is no defined list of organizations that agencies
are prohibited from funding (to determine if the internal controls
were sufficient to prevent these organizations from receiving federal
funds). We are not making a determination that any organization named
in this report falls within the scope of the funding restrictions.
Agencies are responsible for ensuring that they are implementing their
applicable appropriations statutes properly.[Footnote 13]
Appendix I provides additional detail on our objectives, scope, and
methodology. We conducted this performance audit from August 2010
through June 2011 in accordance with generally accepted government
auditing standards. Those standards require that we plan and perform
the audit to obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a
reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit
objectives. We believe that the evidence obtained provides a
reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit
objectives.
Agencies Reported Awarding More Than $48 Million to ACORN or
Potentially Related Organizations from 2005 through 2009:
Seventeen of the 31 agencies identified a total of approximately $48.4
million--$44.6 million in direct federal grants and $3.8 million in
subgrants and subcontracts--awarded to ACORN or potentially related
organizations for fiscal years 2005 through 2009, with much of the
funding designated for housing-related purposes.[Footnote 13] We
identified a total of 73 direct awards and 44 subawards during this
period. Of the awardees, ACORN Housing Corporation received the most
federal funding, primarily for foreclosure mitigation and housing
counseling services. ACORN Housing Corporation received over $25
million from one agency (NeighborWorks) in 2008. Federal funding was
also awarded to ACORN and potentially related organizations for other
purposes, including operating public radio stations and foreign
language programs. For example, the Tides Center received $238,755
from the Department of Education in fiscal year 2008 to teach Chinese
and Arabic to high school students from low-income families.
Table 1 identifies agency-reported direct federal funding awarded to
ACORN or potentially related organizations.
Table 1: Direct Awards to ACORN or Potentially Related Organizations,
Fiscal Years 2005 through 2009 A:
Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB):
Funded organization: Arkansas Broadcasting Foundation (KABF-FM);
Fiscal year and amount (in dollars):
2005 - $37,694;
2006 - $84,801;
2007 - $87,388;
2008 - $77,475;
2009 - $81,250;
Program description: Community Services Grant (CSG) Supports radio
stations in their general operations and programming.
Funded organization: Agape Broadcasting Foundation (KNON-FM);
Fiscal year and amount (in dollars):
2005 - $19,508;
2006 - $115,484;
2007 - $110,162;
2008 - $103,839;
2009 - $97,249;
Program description: Community Services Grant (CSG) Supports radio
stations in their general operations and programming.
Funded organization: Arkansas Broadcasting Foundation (KABF-FM);
Fiscal year and amount (in dollars):
2005 - $15,000;
Program description: Internet Acquisition Grant (IAG) Helps rural and
minority radio stations use Web technology to increase services to
their listeners.
Funded organization: Agape Broadcasting Foundation (KNON-FM);
Fiscal year and amount (in dollars):
2005 - $15,000;
Program description: Internet Acquisition Grant (IAG) Helps rural and
minority radio stations use Web technology to increase services to
their listeners.
Funded organization: Agape Broadcasting Foundation (KNON-FM);
Fiscal year and amount (in dollars):
2006 - $80,000;
Program description: Digital Radio Conversion Fund (DRC) Provides
funds to radio stations planning to covert to digital audio
transmission.
Department of Agriculture (USDA):
Agency/office or division: Risk Management Agency (RMA)[B];
Funded organization: The Tides Center;
Fiscal year and amount (in dollars):
2005 - $100,000[A];
2006 - $110,111[A];
2007 - $115,000[A];
Program description: Community Outreach and Assistance Partnership
Program; Provides direct marketing tools, technical assistance, and
service to a selected group of farmer advocacy organizations.
Agency/office or division: Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS);
Funded organization: The Tides Center;
Fiscal year and amount (in dollars):
2009 - $61,380;
Program description: Farmers Market Promotion Program; Promotes the
domestic consumption of agricultural commodities by expanding
opportunities for direct producer-to-consumer sales.
Department of Defense (DOD):
Agency/office or division: Army Corps of Engineers;
Funded organization: The Tides Center;
Fiscal year and amount (in dollars):
2005 - $132,785[A];
Program description: Feasibility Study Provides labor and materials to
prepare selected marine areas of Puget Sound for analysis of change in
near-shore areas.
Agency/office or division: National Security Agency (NSA);
Funded organization: The Tides Center;
Fiscal year and amount (in dollars):
2008 - $119,980;
2008 - $119,980;
2009 - $115,000;
2009 - $115,000;
Program description: OneWorld Now! Summer Language Camp and After
School Classes Introduces middle and high school students to different
languages and motivates continued study of the language and culture.
The grants funded studies of Chinese and Arabic.
Department of Education (Education):
Agency/office or division: Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB):
Funded organization: The Tides Center;
Fiscal year and amount (in dollars):
2005 - $248,000;
2005 - $198,400;
2008 - $238,755;
Program description: Fund for the Improvement of Education The grants
were congressional earmarks that funded secondary student foreign
language instruction in Chinese and Arabic.
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS):
Agency/office or division: Office of Refugee Settlement;
Funded organization: The Tides Center;
Fiscal year and amount (in dollars):
2006 - $855,000[C];
Program description: Comprehensive Torture Treatment Services and
Capacity Building Project Provides services such as training,
consultation, and outreach for agencies, educators, and social service
providers who serve refugee/asylum survivors. Also can support
specialized and culturally appropriate psychological and medical case
management and advocacy for their treatment.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS):
Agency/office or division: Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA);
Funded organization: ACORN Institute;
Fiscal year and amount (in dollars):
2007 - $450,484;
2008 - $997,482[D];
Program description: Fire Prevention and Safety Program Enhances the
safety of the public and firefighters from fire and related hazards.
The primary goal is to target high-risk populations and reduce injury
and prevent death.
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD):
Agency/office or division: Office of Community Planning and
Development (CPD);
Funded organization: ACORN Housing Corporation (AHC);
Fiscal year and amount (in dollars):
2005 - $527,000[E];
Program description: Self-Help Homeownership Opportunity Program
(SHOP) Provides funds for eligible national and regional non-profit
organizations and consortia to purchase home sites and develop or
improve the infrastructure for homeowner improvements and volunteer-
based homeownership programs for low-income persons and families.
Agency/office or division: Federal Housing Administration (FHA);
Funded organization: AHC;
Fiscal year and amount (in dollars):
2005 - $1,197,255;
2005 - $275,000;
2005 - $323,439;
2005 - $78,123;
2006 - $1,821,596;
2007 - $1,628,829;
2008 - $1,623,570;
Program description: Housing Counseling Grant Supports the delivery of
a wide variety of housing counseling services to homebuyers,
homeowners, low-to moderate-income renters, and the homeless. The
primary program objectives are to improve financial literacy, expand
homeownership opportunities, improve access to affordable housing, and
preserve homeownership.
Agency/office or division: Office of Fair Housing and Equal
Opportunity (FHEO);
Funded organization: AHC;
Fiscal year and amount (in dollars):
2005 - $100,000[A];
2007 - $100,000[F];
Program description: Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) Supports
nonprofit organizations that assist people who feel they have been
victims of housing discrimination.
Agency/office or division: Office of Fair Housing and Equal
Opportunity (FHEO);
Funded organization: Arkansas Community Housing Corporation;
Fiscal year and amount (in dollars):
2005 - $100,000[A];
2007 - $99,948;
Program description: Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) Supports
nonprofit organizations that assist people who feel they have been
victims of housing discrimination.
Agency/office or division: Office of Fair Housing and Equal
Opportunity (FHEO);
Funded organization: New York Agency for Community Affairs (NYACA);
Fiscal year and amount (in dollars):
2005 - $99,975;
2008 - $99,427;
Program description: Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) Supports
nonprofit organizations that assist people who feel they have been
victims of housing discrimination.
Agency/office or division: Office of Fair Housing and Equal
Opportunity (FHEO);
Funded organization: ACORN Community Land Association of LA, Inc.;
Fiscal year and amount (in dollars):
2005 - $100,000;
2006 - $100,000;
Program description: Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) Supports
nonprofit organizations that assist people who feel they have been
victims of housing discrimination.
Agency/office or division: Office of Fair Housing and Equal
Opportunity (FHEO);
Funded organization: New Mexico ACORN Fair Housing;
Fiscal year and amount (in dollars):
2006 - $99,724;
2007 - $99,757;
Program description: Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) Supports
nonprofit organizations that assist people who feel they have been
victims of housing discrimination.
Agency/office or division: Office of Fair Housing and Equal
Opportunity (FHEO);
Funded organization: ACORN Associates, Inc.;
Fiscal year and amount (in dollars):
2006 - $49,997;
2008 - $99,974[G];
Program description: Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) Supports
nonprofit organizations that assist people who feel they have been
victims of housing discrimination.
Agency/office or division: Office of Fair Housing and Equal
Opportunity (FHEO);
Funded organization: American Institute for Social Justice;
Fiscal year and amount (in dollars):
2005 - $100,000[A];
2006 - $99,080;
2007 - $99,887;
Program description: Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) Supports
nonprofit organizations that assist people who feel they have been
victims of housing discrimination.
Agency/office or division: Office of Fair Housing and Equal
Opportunity (FHEO);
Funded organization: American Environmental Justice Project;
Fiscal year and amount (in dollars):
2006 - $99,716[H];
Program description: Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) Supports
nonprofit organizations that assist people who feel they have been
victims of housing discrimination.
Agency/office or division: Office of Fair Housing and Equal
Opportunity (FHEO);
Funded organization: Missouri Tax Justice Research Project;
Fiscal year and amount (in dollars):
2005 - $100,000[A];
Program description: Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) Supports
nonprofit organizations that assist people who feel they have been
victims of housing discrimination.
Agency/office or division: Office of Fair Housing and Equal
Opportunity (FHEO);
Funded organization: ACORN Institute;
Fiscal year and amount (in dollars):
2005 - $96,953[A];
Program description: Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) Supports
nonprofit organizations that assist people who feel they have been
victims of housing discrimination.
Agency/office or division: Office of Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard
Control (OHHLHC);
Funded organization: ACORN Associates, Inc.;
Fiscal year and amount (in dollars):
2005 - $1,999,920[I];
Program description: Lead Elimination Action Program (LEAP) Assists
private-sector and non-profit organizations in creating wide-ranging
programs to identify and control lead-based paint hazards in eligible
privately owned housing.
Agency/office or division: Office of Public and Indian Housing (PIH);
Funded organization: NYACA;
Fiscal year and amount (in dollars):
2005 - $124,942;
2006 - $249,894;
Program description: Resident Opportunities and Self Sufficiency Grant
(ROSS) Provides supportive services to public housing residents, for
example, by linking them with essential services, or providing
assistance to become economically self sufficient. Also supports
independent living for the elderly.
Agency/office or division: Office of Public and Indian Housing (PIH);
Funded organization: ACORN Institute;
Fiscal year and amount (in dollars):
2005 - $362,378;
2006 - $189,171[J];
2006 - $124,915;
2006 - $179,916;
2006 - $124,693;
2007 - $124,324;
Program description: Resident Opportunities and Self Sufficiency Grant
(ROSS) Provides supportive services to public housing residents, for
example, by linking them with essential services, or providing
assistance to become economically self sufficient. Also supports
independent living for the elderly.
Department of Justice (DOJ):
Agency/office or division: Office of Justice Programs (OJP);
Funded organization: NYACA;
Fiscal year and amount (in dollars):
2005 - $138,130;
Program description: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency
Prevention Grant; Provides youth leadership training to students at
select New York City schools; forms "ACORN Youth Union" chapters; and
coordinates student campaigns to address issues such as school
funding, neighborhood safety, and school governance.
Agency/office or division: Office of Justice Programs (OJP);
Funded organization: The Tides Center;
Fiscal year and amount (in dollars):
2006 - $450,000 [A];
Program description: Trafficking Task Forces and Victim Services
Program; Provides comprehensive services to human trafficking victims
in the state of Utah.
Agency/office or division: Department of State (DOS)[K];
Fiscal year and amount (in dollars): 2007;
Program description: Federal Assistance Award.
Department of Transportation (DOT):
Agency/office or division: Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety
Administration;
Funded organization: The Tides Center;
Fiscal year and amount (in dollars):
2009 - $50,000;
Program description: Technical Assistance Grant Provides funding to
communities and non-profit groups for technical assistance in the form
of engineering or other scientific analysis of pipeline safety issues
or to help promote public participation in official proceedings
pertaining to pipeline safety.
Election Assistance Commission (EAC):
Funded organization: Project Vote[L];
Fiscal year and amount (in dollars):
2006 - $16,875;
Program description: Help America Vote College Program, College Poll
Worker Grants Develops programs that recruit and train college
students to serve as nonpartisan poll workers and poll assistants and
to encourage students to assist in the administration of elections.
Funded organization: Project Vote[L];
Fiscal year and amount (in dollars):
2006 - $16,875;
Program description: Help America Vote College Program, College Poll
Worker Grants Develops programs that recruit and train college
students to serve as nonpartisan poll workers and poll assistants and
to encourage students to assist in the administration of elections.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA):
Funded organization: The Tides Center;
Fiscal year and amount (in dollars):
2009 - $581,839[A];
Program description: Cooperative Research in Planetary Astronomy
Provides support to an educational institution for the development or
improvement of that institution's capability to contribute to the
public and to the national aeronautical and space program.
NeighborWorks:
Agency/office or division: AHC;
Fiscal year and amount (in dollars):
2008 - $25,050,939[M];
Program description: National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling
Program Provides counseling services to people facing foreclosure
through a national network of nonprofit organizations.
Direct Awards Total: $44,553,968.
Source: GAO analysis of agency data.
[A] NASA's funding and selected USDA, HUD, and DOJ funding were
awarded as cooperative agreements. The award by DOD in 2005 was a
contract. All other funding was awarded as grants.
[B] According to the Tides Center, these three awards were not to the
Tides Center, but to an affiliated organization, Tides Center (PA),
which has since terminated its existence. We include the awards here
because our analysis of potentially related organizations was based on
DUNS numbers, and the DUNS number and EIN included in the grant
documentation for Tides Center (PA) matched the DUNS number and EIN
used by the Tides Center.
[C] The Tides Center asked HHS to terminate this grant because,
according to the Tides Center, the Utah Health and Human Rights
Project, which had been a project of the Tides Center responsible for
carrying out the duties identified in the grant agreement, separated
from the Tides Center. The decision was made to change the grantee
from the Tides Center to the Utah Health and Human Rights Project. HHS
officials indicated that because Tides Center was not administering
the grant, which was being done by the Utah Health and Human Rights
Project (UHHR), and because UHHR had the financial capabilities to
properly manage the grant's resources, a decision was made to change
the grantee from the Tides Center to the Utah Health and Human Rights.
[D] DHS awarded a second Fire Prevention and Safety Program grant to
the ACORN Institute in 2008 for $997,482; however, that grant was
rescinded in November 2009 in response to section 163 of the
Continuing Resolution, which prohibited funding to ACORN or any of
ACORN's affiliates, subsidiaries, or allied organizations.
[E] The grant was closed with a balance of $461,086 not expended
before the expenditure deadline.
[F] This grant expired with an unobligated balance of $20,000.
[G] HUD reported this award was terminated due to the grantee's
failure to effectively manage and monitor the project, with $15,000 of
the total expended before termination.
[H] HUD reported this award was terminated before any activities were
completed due to inaccuracies in the grant agreement and negotiation
difficulties. Funds awarded were rescinded.
[I] This grant was closed with a balance of $594,218 remaining.
[J] This grant had a remaining balance of $63,450.
[K] DOS awarded a grant to ACORN or a potentially related
organization; however because the nature of the grant is sensitive,
details of the grant are not included in this report.
[L] EAC awarded two separate grants to Project Vote-Delaware and
Project Vote-Michigan and both of these grantees used the DUNS number
for Project Vote in Washington, D.C. in their grant documentation.
[M] Funding was from fiscal year 2008 appropriations, but the funds
were disbursed to the awardee in two rounds in 2008 and 2009.
NeighborWorks stated that $6,231,438 was recaptured or deobligated.
[End of table]
Subawards to ACORN or potentially related organizations were not
identifiable for all agencies for fiscal years 2005 through 2009
because agencies were not required to collect information on subawards
until after October 1, 2010. Congress passed the Federal Funding
Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 (Transparency Act) which,
among other things, required the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
to establish, no later than January 1, 2008, a publicly accessible Web
site containing data on direct federal awards and to include data on
subawards in the accessible Web site by January 1, 2009.[Footnote 15]
On April 6, 2010, OMB issued a memorandum directing agencies to
initiate subaward reporting as of October 1, 2010, through
USAspending.gov, pursuant to the Transparency Act.[Footnote 16]
Although it was not required at the time, officials from at least nine
agencies were able to identify subawards to ACORN or potentially
related organizations. Officials from NeighborWorks and the
Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) stated that
subaward information was collected from grantees in their grant
applications and these officials were confident that any subawards to
ACORN or potentially related organizations would have been identified.
Other agency officials indicated some confidence that subawards would
have been identified based on their search. DOE, for example,
contacted individual contracting offices and checked available
documentation to search for subawards to ACORN or potentially related
organizations. United States Geological Survey (a component of the
Department of Interior [DOI]) officials said that while they could not
track subaward funding, given their mission, they believed there was
little likelihood that the agency's grantees made any subawards to
ACORN or potentially related organizations. Officials from about half
of the 31 agencies stated that they did not collect information on
subawards, or they were not able to search for subawards using DUNS
numbers because the subawardee DUNS numbers were not available, as was
the case with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), DOI, and the
Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).[Footnote 17]
Table 2 includes information agencies were able to provide on funding
that their grantees awarded to ACORN or potentially related
organizations through subgrants or subcontracts. Given the limitations
described above, this table may not include all of the subawards that
may have been awarded to ACORN or potentially related organizations.
Table 2: Selected Subawards to ACORN and Potentially Related
Organizations, Fiscal Years 2005 through 2009:
Funding agency: DOJ[A]:
Subawardee: ACORN Institute;
Grantee: Operation Weed and Seed - St. Louis Inc.;
Fiscal year and amount:
2007 - $13,000;
Grant program description: Weed and Seed Grant Program Prevents,
controls, and reduces violent crime, drug abuse, and gang activities
in designated high-crime neighborhoods across the country, following a
strategy to "weed out" criminals and "seed" neighborhoods with human
services.
Subawardee: ACORN Institute;
Grantee: City of Phoenix;
Fiscal year and amount:
2008 - $8,539[B].
Funding agency: EPA:
Subawardee: ACORN Institute;
Grantee: Ysleta Tribe;
Fiscal year and amount:
2007 - $23,770;
Grant program description: Lead Poisoning Baseline Assessment of
Children and Education Outreach Provides grants for tribal education
on lead exposure, prevention, poisoning detection, and treatment
routes.
Subawardee: Arkansas ACORN;
Grantee: University of Arkansas;
Fiscal year and amount:
2009 - $32,651[C];
Grant program description: National Community-Based Lead Outreach and
Training Grant; Promotes efforts to prevent or reduce childhood lead
poisoning.
Funding agency: HUD:
Community Planning and Development;
Subawardee: ACORN Beverly, L.L.C[ D];
Grantee: Phoenix;
Fiscal year and amount:
2005 - $750,000;
Grant program description: HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME);
Provides grants to state and local governments to implement local
housing strategies designed to increase homeownership and affordable
housing opportunities for low-and very-low-income Americans.
Community Planning and Development;
Subawardee: Arizona AHC;
Grantee: Phoenix;
Fiscal year and amount:
2007 - $10,500[E];
Grant program description: Community Development Block Grant Program;
Supports efforts, among other things, to promote affordable housing,
provide services to the most vulnerable community members, and create
jobs through the expansion and retention of businesses. The annual
CDBG appropriation is allocated to states and local jurisdictions
using a formula comprised of several measures of community need. A
majority of the funds are for activities that benefit low-and moderate-
income persons, and each activity must meet one of the national
program objectives, such as prevention or elimination of slums or
blight.
Subawardee: AHC;
Grantee: Oakland;
Fiscal year and amount:
2005-2007 - $76,000[F];
Grant program description: Community Development Block Grant Program;
Supports efforts, among other things, to promote affordable housing,
provide services to the most vulnerable community members, and create
jobs through the expansion and retention of businesses. The annual
CDBG appropriation is allocated to states and local jurisdictions
using a formula comprised of several measures of community need. A
majority of the funds are for activities that benefit low-and moderate-
income persons, and each activity must meet one of the national
program objectives, such as prevention or elimination of slums or
blight.
Subawardee: AHC;
Grantee: Bridgeport;
Fiscal year and amount:
2006 - $20,000;
Grant program description: Community Development Block Grant Program;
Supports efforts, among other things, to promote affordable housing,
provide services to the most vulnerable community members, and create
jobs through the expansion and retention of businesses. The annual
CDBG appropriation is allocated to states and local jurisdictions
using a formula comprised of several measures of community need. A
majority of the funds are for activities that benefit low-and moderate-
income persons, and each activity must meet one of the national
program objectives, such as prevention or elimination of slums or
blight.
Subawardee: AHC;
Grantee: New Orleans;
Fiscal year and amount:
2008 - $75,000[G];
Grant program description: Community Development Block Grant Program;
Supports efforts, among other things, to promote affordable housing,
provide services to the most vulnerable community members, and create
jobs through the expansion and retention of businesses. The annual
CDBG appropriation is allocated to states and local jurisdictions
using a formula comprised of several measures of community need. A
majority of the funds are for activities that benefit low-and moderate-
income persons, and each activity must meet one of the national
program objectives, such as prevention or elimination of slums or
blight.
Subawardee: AHC;
Grantee: Baltimore;
Fiscal year and amount:
2005 - $41,900[H]
2006 - $41,900;
Grant program description: Community Development Block Grant Program;
Supports efforts, among other things, to promote affordable housing,
provide services to the most vulnerable community members, and create
jobs through the expansion and retention of businesses. The annual
CDBG appropriation is allocated to states and local jurisdictions
using a formula comprised of several measures of community need. A
majority of the funds are for activities that benefit low-and moderate-
income persons, and each activity must meet one of the national
program objectives, such as prevention or elimination of slums or
blight.
Subawardee: AHC of Pennsylvania;
Grantee: Philadelphia;
Fiscal year and amount:
2005 - $175,000
2006 - $186,250
2007 - $163,096
2008 - $140,000
2009 - $140,000;
Grant program description: Community Development Block Grant Program;
Supports efforts, among other things, to promote affordable housing,
provide services to the most vulnerable community members, and create
jobs through the expansion and retention of businesses. The annual
CDBG appropriation is allocated to states and local jurisdictions
using a formula comprised of several measures of community need. A
majority of the funds are for activities that benefit low-and moderate-
income persons, and each activity must meet one of the national
program objectives, such as prevention or elimination of slums or
blight.
Subawardee: AHC;
Grantee: Houston;
Fiscal year and amount:
2008 - $155,000;
Grant program description: Community Development Block Grant Program;
Supports efforts, among other things, to promote affordable housing,
provide services to the most vulnerable community members, and create
jobs through the expansion and retention of businesses. The annual
CDBG appropriation is allocated to states and local jurisdictions
using a formula comprised of several measures of community need. A
majority of the funds are for activities that benefit low-and moderate-
income persons, and each activity must meet one of the national
program objectives, such as prevention or elimination of slums or
blight.
Subawardee: AHC;
Grantee: Houston;
Fiscal year and amount:
2009 - $31,546;
Grant program description: Community Development Block Grant Program;
Supports efforts, among other things, to promote affordable housing,
provide services to the most vulnerable community members, and create
jobs through the expansion and retention of businesses. The annual
CDBG appropriation is allocated to states and local jurisdictions
using a formula comprised of several measures of community need. A
majority of the funds are for activities that benefit low-and moderate-
income persons, and each activity must meet one of the national
program objectives, such as prevention or elimination of slums or
blight.
Subawardee: AHC;
Grantee: Chicago;
Fiscal year and amount:
2005 - $22,500[I];
2006 - $22,500[J];
2007 - $22,000[K];
Grant program description: Community Development Block Grant Program;
Supports efforts, among other things, to promote affordable housing,
provide services to the most vulnerable community members, and create
jobs through the expansion and retention of businesses. The annual
CDBG appropriation is allocated to states and local jurisdictions
using a formula comprised of several measures of community need. A
majority of the funds are for activities that benefit low-and moderate-
income persons, and each activity must meet one of the national
program objectives, such as prevention or elimination of slums or
blight.
Funding agency: National Endowment for the Arts (NEA):
(Operating Support);
Subawardee: Arkansas Broadcasting Foundation (KABF-FM);
Grantee: Arkansas Arts Council;
Fiscal year and amount:
2009 - $5,853;
Grant program description: Partnership Agreements-State Partnership
Grant Program;
Supports the state arts agencies and regional arts organizations to
make arts available to more communities.
Funding agency: National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).
Subawardee: ACORN;
Grantee: Humanities Texas;
Fiscal year and amount:
2008 - $1,500;
Grant program description: Provides public screening and discussion of
an historical documentary.
Funding agency: NeighborWorks:
Subawardee: AHC;
Grantee: Connecticut Housing Finance Agency (HFA);
Fiscal year and amount:
2008 - $93,060;
Grant program description: National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling
Program; Provides counseling services to people facing foreclosure
using a national network of non-profit organizations.
Subawardee: AHC;
Grantee: State of New York Mortgage Agency/New York HFA (SONYMA);
Fiscal year and amount:
2008 - $110,716; Grant program description: National Foreclosure
Mitigation Counseling Program; Provides counseling services to people
facing foreclosure using a national network of non-profit
organizations.
Subawardee: MHANY Management Inc;
Grantee: SONYMA;
Fiscal year and amount:
2008 - $46,147;
Grant program description: National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling
Program; Provides counseling services to people facing foreclosure
using a national network of non-profit organizations.
Subawardee: MHANY Management Inc;
Grantee: SONYMA;
Fiscal year and amount:
2009 - $63,569;
Grant program description: National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling
Program; Provides counseling services to people facing foreclosure
using a national network of non-profit organizations.
Subawardee: AHC;
Grantee: Florida Housing Finance Corporation;
Fiscal year and amount:
2008 - $162,464;
Grant program description: National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling
Program; Provides counseling services to people facing foreclosure
using a national network of non-profit organizations.
Subawardee: AHC;
Grantee: Missouri Housing Development Commission (MHDC);
Fiscal year and amount:
2008 - $201,800[L];
Grant program description: National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling
Program; Provides counseling services to people facing foreclosure
using a national network of non-profit organizations.
Subawardee: AHC;
Grantee: Minnesota HFA;
Fiscal year and amount:
2008 - $126,225;
Grant program description: National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling
Program; Provides counseling services to people facing foreclosure
using a national network of non-profit organizations.
Subawardee: AHC;
Grantee: California Housing Finance Commission;
Fiscal year and amount:
2008 - $611,340;
Grant program description: National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling
Program; Provides counseling services to people facing foreclosure
using a national network of non-profit organizations.
Subawardee: AHC of Pennsylvania;
Grantee: Pennsylvania HFA;
Fiscal year and amount:
2008 - $120,400;
Grant program description: National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling
Program; Provides counseling services to people facing foreclosure
using a national network of non-profit organizations.
Funding agency: Treasury:
Subawardee: ACORN;
Grantee: Central New Mexico Community College;
Fiscal year and amount:
2009 - $418;
Grant program description: Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program;
Provides free tax help to low- to moderate-income people. Certified
volunteers sponsored by various organizations receive training to
assist in preparing basic tax returns in communities.
Subawardee: ACORN;
Grantee: Central New Mexico Community College;
Fiscal year and amount:
2009 - $426;
Grant program description: Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program;
Provides free tax help to low- to moderate-income people. Certified
volunteers sponsored by various organizations receive training to
assist in preparing basic tax returns in communities.
Subawardee: ACORN Maryland;
Grantee: Baltimore CASH Coalition ACORN Maryland;
Fiscal year and amount:
2009 - $17,260;
Grant program description: Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program;
Provides free tax help to low- to moderate-income people. Certified
volunteers sponsored by various organizations receive training to
assist in preparing basic tax returns in communities.
Subawardee: San Mateo ACORN;
Grantee: United Way-Bay Area;
Fiscal year and amount:
2009 - $10,000;
Grant program description: Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program;
Provides free tax help to low- to moderate-income people. Certified
volunteers sponsored by various organizations receive training to
assist in preparing basic tax returns in communities.
Subawardee: San Francisco ACORN;
Grantee: United Way-Bay Area;
Fiscal year and amount:
2009 - $15,000;
Grant program description: Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program;
Provides free tax help to low- to moderate-income people. Certified
volunteers sponsored by various organizations receive training to
assist in preparing basic tax returns in communities.
Subawardee: Contra Costa ACORN;
Grantee: United Way-Bay Area;
Fiscal year and amount:
2009 - $12,000;
Grant program description: Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program;
Provides free tax help to low- to moderate-income people. Certified
volunteers sponsored by various organizations receive training to
assist in preparing basic tax returns in communities.
Subawardee: Oakland ACORN;
Grantee: United Way-Bay Area;
Fiscal year and amount:
2009 - $10,000[M];
Grant program description: Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program;
Provides free tax help to low- to moderate-income people. Certified
volunteers sponsored by various organizations receive training to
assist in preparing basic tax returns in communities.
Subawardee: Hartford ACORN;
Grantee: Co-Opportunity Inc;
Fiscal year and amount:
2009 - $4,825;
Grant program description: Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program;
Provides free tax help to low- to moderate-income people. Certified
volunteers sponsored by various organizations receive training to
assist in preparing basic tax returns in communities.
Subawardee: ACORN Bridgeport;
Grantee: Connecticut Assoc. for Human Services;
Fiscal year and amount:
2009 - $4,500;
Grant program description: Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program;
Provides free tax help to low- to moderate-income people. Certified
volunteers sponsored by various organizations receive training to
assist in preparing basic tax returns in communities.
Total Awarded: $3,768,655.
Source: GAO analysis of agency data.
[A] The DOJ Inspector General identified a subaward to ACORN from a
DOJ grantee, Citizen Community of New York City (CCNYC) see Review of
Department of Justice Grants to the Association of Community
Organizations for Reform Now, Inc. (ACORN) and its Affiliated
Organizations, November, 2009. We included this subaward in our
preliminary report, based on the Inspector General report; however the
award is not included here because indicator information was not
available on the subawardee to establish it as an ACORN or a
potentially related organization. According to CCNYC, no funds were
ever disbursed to the subawardee.
[B] Funds were not disbursed. ACORN Institute relinquished the full
award amount based on a request from DOJ that grant funds not be used
to fund ACORN affiliates.
[C] Our preliminary report mistakenly reported the year of the award
as fiscal year 2008 instead of fiscal year 2009.
[D] This award was in the form of a home construction loan to ACORN
Beverly L.L.C, a limited liability corporation formed by Arizona ACORN
Housing Corporation, for the purposes of building a low income housing
subdivision, according to Phoenix officials and the contract document.
City officials stated that the planned subdivision was scaled back due
to economic conditions. Affordable Housing Centers of America (AHCOA)
officials stated that $200,000 of the loan was never drawn down. ACORN
Housing Corporation formally changed its name to AHCOA in December
2009.
[E] The City of Phoenix closed this grant with $3,945 remaining when
the terms of the grant ended.
[F] A total of $42,554 was disbursed before the award was canceled
because of noncompliance with reporting requirements.
[G] This award was canceled in response to section 163 of the
continuing resolution prohibiting funding to ACORN.
[H] A total of $41,473 was expended.
[I] A total of $21,925 was expended.
[J] A total of $21,675 was expended.
[K] A total of $21,470 was expended.
[L] According to NeighborWorks' internal audit and letter from MHDC,
this subaward was terminated by the Commission due to non-compliance
with the agreement by the subawardee. AHCOA has disputed this claim,
stating that the termination was mutually agreed upon.
[M] Grantee funding was reduced from $10,000 to $7,000 after being
cited for poor performance.
[End of table]
Agencies' Monitoring Was Based Primarily on Award Amount or Available
Resources; Agencies Plan to Modify Monitoring as a Result of Audit
Findings:
Agencies' selection of monitoring mechanisms--ranging from the review
of progress reports to site observations--used to monitor ACORN or
potentially related organizations' use of direct funding awards
depended primarily on risk factors such as the award amount or
available resources to carry out the monitoring. Most of the
mechanisms used by agencies did not detect issues identified through
inspector general and internal audits; however, agency officials said
they plan to use the audit findings to modify their monitoring
processes for future grants.
Agencies conduct monitoring to ensure that grantees are using funds
for the intended purposes of their grants, as described in the grant
agreements, and rely on their grantees to do the same for subawards.
OMB Circular No. A-110 contains administrative requirements for
federal grants. For monitoring program performance, the circular
provides that the federal agency awarding the grant prescribes the
frequency at which grantees should submit performance reports that
contain information on progress in meeting grant goals.[Footnote 18]
For financial reporting, Circular No. A-110 requires that recipients
provide financial information on an OMB-approved form to report
income, expenditures, and unobligated balances, among other things.
While agencies are required to adhere to OMB guidelines, they have
flexibility to develop grant monitoring protocols that are tailored to
specific grant programs. The grant monitoring protocols we reviewed
consisted of a range of monitoring mechanisms from which an agency's
grant program officials could choose, such as reviews of progress
reports or financial information, communications with grantee staff,
or site observations. As stated in our June 2010 report, grant program
officials generally considered grant amount or availability of
resources when determining which monitoring mechanisms to apply.
[Footnote 19] For example, CPB officials based their monitoring of the
two radio stations (KABF and KNON) on self-reported information
because a provision of the Communication Act of 1934, as amended,
limits CPB to using no more than 5 percent of available funds (which
equates to approximately five employees) for administrative expenses,
including conducting grant monitoring.[Footnote 20] According to CPB
officials, because CPB issues approximately 800 grants annually, it is
not feasible for these employees to conduct extensive monitoring for
many of CPB's grants. Also, FEMA officials stated that they selected
to review ACORN Institute's progress reports and workplans because the
relatively low grant amount did not call for additional monitoring
such as on-site observation.[Footnote 21] Additional details on the
monitoring activities conducted by the 13 agencies that provided
direct funding to ACORN or potentially related organizations are in
appendix II.[Footnote 22]
Of the 13 agencies that provided direct awards to ACORN or potentially
related organizations, the inspector general or internal audit unit at
5 agencies (CPB, EAC, DHS, HUD, and NeighborWorks) conducted audits of
the direct awards in addition to the routine monitoring that had
already been conducted. In addition, the DOJ Office of Inspector
General issued a report in November 2009 regarding DOJ grants to ACORN
and its affiliates, and has an ongoing audit of a direct award to an
ACORN affiliate which had not been completed as of May 31, 2011. The
audits and DOJ Inspector General collectively reviewed $31.2 million
of the $44.6 million in direct funding to ACORN or potentially related
organizations. These audits and the review were agency-initiated, or
due to congressional requests or third-party complaints. All 5
agencies that completed audits of direct awards identified problems
with the way ACORN or a potentially related organization managed
federal funds, with the lack of proper recording and accounting for
how funds were spent by the grantees being the primary problems
identified. For example, the EAC Inspector General found that Project
Vote's use of federal funds was not accounted for or properly recorded
and recommended that EAC recover all unsupported and unallowable costs
paid to Project Vote under the grant. A summary of the audit and
review findings with regard to the way in which ACORN and potentially
related organizations managed federal funds can be found in Table 3.
[Footnote 23]
Table 3: Summary of Audit and DOJ-IG Review Findings Regarding ACORN
and Potentially Related Organizations' Management of Federal Grant
Funds:
CPB:
Agency/grant program: Internet Acquisition Grant (FY05, $15,000);
Communication Service Grants (FY07, $87,388);
Grantee: KABF-FM;
Summary of audit findings:
Grantee:
* Not in compliance with grant requirements;
* Not properly accounting for receipts and expenditures;
* Questioned for $49,957 of costs;
Recommendation: CPB management should require KABF to refund the
questioned costs and establish controls to ensure future compliance
with CPB guidelines for documenting, recording, and reporting grant
funds, among others;
Findings identified by audit? Yes;
Findings identified by grant monitoring? No.
Agency/grant program: Internet Acquisition Grant (FY05, $15,000);
Communication Service Grants (FY08, $103,839);
Digital Radio Conversion Fund (FY06, $80,000);
Grantee: KNON-FM;
Summary of audit findings:
Grantee:
* Not in compliance with grant requirements;
* Not properly accounting for receipts and expenditures;
* Questioned $87,741 of costs;
Recommendation: CPB management should require KNON to refund a portion
of the questioned costs and institute controls to ensure CPB grant
funds are expended on allowable activities, among others;
Findings identified by audit? Yes;
Findings identified by grant monitoring? No.
DHS:
Agency/grant program: Fire Prevention and Safety Grant (FY07,
$450,484);
Grantee: ACORN Institute;
Summary of audit findings:
Grantee:
* Not fully implementing and evaluating the program as approved;
* Not substantiating all of its grant expenditures;
* Questioned $160,797 of costs;
Recommendation: Agency (FEMA) should incorporate key indicators such
as grantee's experience in its monitoring plan;
Findings identified by audit? Yes;
Findings identified by grant monitoring? No.
HUD:
Agency/grant program: Housing Counseling Program (FY07 and FY08,
$3,252,399);
Grantee: AHC;
Summary of audit findings:
Grantee:
* Incurring $65,548 in ineligible salary expenses;
* Salary expenses of $2.544 million were not fully supported;
* Failing to follow federal procurement standards outlined in 24
C.F.R. for free and open competition for vendor goods and services;
Recommendation: HUD should require AHC to refund unsupported costs and
provide documentation for funds used;
Findings identified by audit? Yes;
Findings identified by grant monitoring? No.
Agency/grant program: Lead Elimination Action Program (FY05,
$1,999,920);
Grantee: ACORN Associates, Inc;
Summary of audit findings:
Grantee:
* Not administering its program in accordance with the grant agreement;
* Failing to follow federal procurement standards for free and open
competition for subawards;
* Failing to maintain documentation for $217,995 in disbursed funds;
* Expending $1,199,282 for unapproved purposes including campaign
services and grant fundraising activities;
Recommendation: HUD should require ACORN Associates to provide
documentation of used funds and to reimburse for unapproved costs;
Findings identified by audit? Yes;
Findings identified by grant monitoring? Yes.
DOJ:
Agency/grant program: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency
Prevention Grant (FY05, $138,130);
Grantee: NYACA;
Summary of audit findings: The Inspector General's report summarized
all DOJ grants to ACORN or potentially related organizations. It
reported that the DOJ component that issued the direct grant--the
Office of Justice Programs--had received progress and financial status
reports, but had not conducted audits, financial reviews, or on-site
reviews of funds provided to NYACA;
Recommendation: None;
Findings identified by audit? No;
Findings identified by grant monitoring? No.
EAC:
Agency/grant program: Help America Vote College Program (FY06,
$33,750);
Grantee: Project Vote (Delaware); Project Vote (Michigan);
Summary of audit findings:
Grantee unable to:
* Maintain cost records in accordance with grant requirements;
* Document allowable costs;
Recommendation: EAC should follow policies and procedures regarding
obtaining and retaining required reporting documents and should work
with Project Vote to identify any supporting cost records and recover
any unsupported or unallowable costs;
Findings identified by audit? Yes;
Findings identified by grant monitoring? No.
NeighborWorks:
Agency/grant program: National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling
Program (FY08, $25,050,939)[A];
Grantee: AHC;
Summary of audit findings:
Grantee:
* Not in compliance with program and regulatory requirements, such as
submitting audited financial statements on time;
* Having incomplete file documentation including missing documentation
in client case files that would support their billing;
Recommendation: AHC should provide and submit audited financial
statements in a timely manner and implement control methods to improve
completeness of documentation;
Findings identified by audit? Yes;
Findings identified by grant monitoring? No.
Source: GAO analysis of agency audit findings.
[A] NeighborWorks National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling (NFMC)
management sent a letter to AHC (i.e., AHCOA) in April 2011 confirming
that AHCOA provided satisfactory responses to the programmatic issues
raised in the internal audit report.
[End of table]
Agencies' grant monitoring processes and additional audits had the
same purpose--to assess whether grantees were managing federal funds
appropriately. However, as shown in table 3, for the specific nine
grantees audited, in all but one case, the agencies' monitoring
procedures did not identify the same findings as their respective
audits. Based on our analysis and discussions with officials from the
six agencies overseeing these grants, the monitoring process that
detected the same findings as the audit was very extensive and
involved both document and receipt reviews as well as on-site
observations. On the other hand, the monitoring processes that did not
detect the same findings identified in the audits were generally less
extensive, and typically involved a review of the grantee's financial
information and progress reports, with one exception. NeighborWorks
grant officials explained that they use a risk-based approach for
including on-site reviews in the monitoring of grantees and a random
selection process for on-site reviews of subgrantees, branches, and
affiliates. ACORN Housing Corporation was selected for review the
first year of the program, officials stated, but not for the second
year because an internal audit was planned. Officials believed that
the issues found by the internal audit would also have been identified
by NeighborWorks' program monitoring process had the on-site review
been conducted.
The one instance in which the agency monitoring process did detect the
same findings identified in its respective audit was with a grant
issued by HUD's Office of Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control
(Healthy Homes). Healthy Homes' grant officials stated that their
monitoring activities were designed to and did identify the findings
reported in the audit.[Footnote 24] For example, through their review
of ACORN Associates' financial documentation, the Healthy Homes
officials identified that this grantee failed or was unable to provide
supporting documentation related to payment requests. Also, through
their on-site review of the grantee, Healthy Homes grant officials
identified deficiencies in ACORN Associates' record keeping and
subcontracting, which were confirmed by the audit findings. The lack
of documentation to justify payment requests raised questions by the
Healthy Homes grant official regarding ACORN Associates' compliance
with record keeping requirements in the grant agreement. Subsequently,
Healthy Homes determined that a referral to the Inspector General's
Audit Division for additional review was appropriate, especially to
determine whether ACORN Associates expended program funds in
accordance with HUD's requirements. Furthermore, Healthy Homes grant
officials stated that they referred ACORN Associates for
administrative sanctions with a recommendation for suspension and
debarment based on their findings.
Grant officials from agencies other than Healthy Homes stated that
their monitoring processes did not detect the audit findings because
they were not able to conduct extensive monitoring activities due to
limited resources. For example, EAC officials stated that monitoring
provided by the EAC grant program officials for grants to ACORN or
potentially related organizations was limited to a review of the
grantee's progress reports based on, among others, perceived risk of
the grant's low dollar amount and lack of resources. The officials
said the limited number of staff (four) and the large number of grants
to monitor (more than 200 each year) did not allow them to conduct
more in-depth monitoring, such as verification of receipts and
invoices. The EAC Inspector General may also conduct a more in-depth
review of grantees' financial information as part of an audit rather
than in a general monitoring role, such as the monitoring of the use
of funds, which is the EAC program's responsibility. Similarly, FEMA
grant program officials said that they have about 50 staff who could
reasonably monitor about 5,000 grants a year; however, FEMA issues
about 14,000 grants every year, in which case it has decided to use a
risk-based approach to determine which grants it will monitor more
extensively. HUD-Federal Housing Administration (HUD-FHA) grant
officials stated that their monitoring process did not explicitly
cover the issue of recording and documenting expenses, which was the
finding identified by HUD Inspector General's audit of ACORN Housing
Corporation. In addition, they stated that their monitoring officials
did not have the resources to travel and conduct the extensive
monitoring that the Inspector General conducted. Lastly, in the case
of CPB, officials stated that the agency's administrative costs (which
include monitoring activities) are capped at 5 percent of their total
budget by law, thus limiting more extensive monitoring activities,
such as on-site monitoring. CPB officials stated that because of this
statutory cap, they rely on the audits conducted by the Inspector
General to supplement CPB's own program monitoring efforts.
Based on the results of the audits, most agency officials stated that
they have improved, or plan to improve, their monitoring processes
consistent with their resource levels.[Footnote 25] For example,
NeighborWorks grant officials stated that in response to their
internal audit unit's findings, NeighborWorks improved its monitoring
process by increasing the number of grantees (from 179 to 275
grantees) that were randomly selected for more extensive reviews by a
third party. EAC grant officials stated that they developed a grantee
tracking sheet and are conducting site visits of newly awarded
grantees. Also, EAC officials stated that they have developed
materials to help grantees better understand documentation and
reporting, including a grant handbook as well as holding webinars
training sessions.[Footnote 26] The FEMA grant director said that in
response to the DHS Inspector General's report, FEMA has revised the
way in which it assesses the perceived risk of potential grantees by
requiring additional application information regarding their prior
experience using federal funds. Subsequently, FEMA officials reported
that they plan to use this risk assessment to determine the extent of
monitoring required for that particular grantee. Lastly, HUD-FHA grant
officials stated that they have revised their existing monitoring
review form and guidance to better assess compliance with proper
recording and documenting expenses. For example, under the HUD-FHA
performance review checklist that guides the monitoring review, HUD
grant officials stated that they added questions related to having
source documentation on file to support all expenditures of HUD
Housing Counseling Grant funding as well as demonstrating that
activities billed under the HUD Housing Counseling Grant were not
billed under any other funding sources. Also, HUD-FHA officials stated
that they have added a segment to the grantee requirement section of
the performance review guide related to properly recording and
documenting expenses to help guide and standardize the performance
review analysis. HUD-FHA officials also said that they are requiring
annual on-site financial and administrative reviews to be conducted by
a third party on all of HUD-approved housing counseling organizations.
Twenty-two Federal Investigations of Wage Violations and Voter
Registration and Election Fraud Resulted in Guilty Pleas in One Case
and One Civil Penalty:
Distinct from routine grant monitoring efforts, which are intended to
assess whether grantees are meeting the purposes of the grant program
and spending funds appropriately, federal agencies may also conduct
investigations of an organization or an employee of an organization to
determine whether the organization or employee violated federal law.
We received information about such investigations from EOUSA, FBI,
FEC, and DOL.[Footnote 27] From fiscal years 2005 to 2009, ACORN and
potentially related organizations or their employees were identified
as being involved to varying degrees in the 22 matters detailed in the
tables below. The allegations involved were generally related to voter
registration fraud, election fraud, and wage violations, and while
most were closed without prosecution, eight defendants were convicted
of various federal criminal violations and one FEC matter resulted in
a civil penalty. Only information on closed investigations and cases
was provided. The offices of inspector general can also conduct
investigations related to agency programs. However, each of the 31
inspectors general that we contacted stated that they had no closed
investigations of ACORN or potentially related organizations from
fiscal years 2005 through 2009.[Footnote 28]
The case that resulted in guilty pleas involved allegations of voter
registration fraud by eight employees of ACORN, but did not allege
wrongdoing by ACORN or any potentially related organizations.[Footnote
28] This case resulted in guilty pleas by the defendants, and
penalties included probation and imprisonment. EOUSA and the FBI also
identified seven closed investigations, most concerning allegations of
voter registration fraud on the part of employees of ACORN. Of the
seven investigations, all were closed without federal prosecution for
reasons such as lack of, or insufficiency of, evidence. These
investigations are summarized in table 4.
Table 4: U.S. Attorney's Office and FBI Closed Case and Investigations
Involving ACORN or Potentially Related Organizations or Their
Employees; Fiscal Years 2005 through 2009:
Case name: United States v. Bland; No. 07-0763 (E.D. Mo.);
Case summary: Eight defendants were changed in an indictment filed on
December 20, 2007 with two counts each of voter registration fraud in
violation of 42 U.S.C. §§ 1973i(c), 1973gg-10 and 18 U.S.C. § 2. The
indictment alleged that ACORN[A] recruited workers to obtain voter
registrations in the City of St. Louis and St. Louis County and
trained them in how to properly obtain registration applications. It
further alleged that the defendants were employed by ACORN to obtain
voter registrations and that defendants knowingly submitted voter
registration applications with false information;
Outcome: All defendants entered guilty pleas. Defendants received a
variety of sentences ranging from, for example, a term of probation
for 1 year and an assessment of $100.00 and imprisonment for a term of
6 months with a term of probation for 2 years and a term of supervised
release of 12 months.
Date when the investigation was closed: 2005;
Allegations: The FBI investigated allegations that employees of
ACORN/Project Vote submitted fraudulent voter registration cards;
Outcome: The USAO closed the investigation due to lack of conclusive
evidence.
Date when the investigation was closed: 2006;
Allegations: The FBI investigated allegations that a person identified
as being affiliated with ACORN procured or submitted false voter
registration applications;
Outcome: The FBI referred the case to the USAO, which declined to
proceed with federal criminal prosecution due to insufficient evidence.
Date when the investigation was closed: 2007;
Allegations: The FBI investigated allegations that employees of ACORN
were registering non-U.S. citizens to vote;
Outcome: The FBI referred the case to the USAO, which declined to
proceed with a federal criminal prosecution due to insufficient
evidence.
Date when the investigation was closed: 2008;
Allegations: The FBI investigated allegations that subjects affiliated
with ACORN provided false information regarding a voter registration
drive;
Outcome: The FBI referred the case to the USAO which declined to
proceed with federal criminal prosecution due to pending criminal
charges in a state jurisdiction.
Date when the investigation was closed: 2008;
Allegations: The FBI investigation involving ACORN/Project Vote and
false voter registration documents;
Outcome: The matter was referred to the USAO which declined to proceed
with federal criminal prosecution due to insufficient evidence.
Date when the investigation was closed: 2009;
Allegations: The FBI investigated allegations of voter registration
fraud by employees of ACORN;
Outcome: The FBI closed the investigation without action due to lack
of evidence of a violation of state or federal election laws.
Date when the investigation was closed: 2009;
Allegations: The FBI investigation involving ACORN and allegations of
possible violation of section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. §
1973[B];
Outcome: The matter was referred to the USAO which declined to proceed
with federal criminal prosecution and referred the matter to local
district attorney.
Source: GAO analysis of FBI information.
[A] Our preliminary report identified an additional organization
involved in this case; we excluded the name of this organization
because we did not have indicator information to link it with ACORN.
[B] Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act prohibits voting practices or
procedures that discriminate on the basis of race, color, or
membership in a language minority group.
[End of table]
The FEC identified five closed matters of alleged or submitted
violations of the Federal Election Campaign Act, such as violations of
political committee registration requirements and campaign
contributions, involving ACORN and potentially related organizations.
[Footnote 30] In three of the matters, the FEC determined that there
was no reason to believe that the alleged violations occurred and the
FEC dismissed one matter. In the remaining matter, an organization
potentially related to ACORN filed a submission to the FEC that one of
its employees improperly solicited donations for the organization. FEC
accepted a conciliation agreement, which required the organization to
pay a penalty and disgorge the donations it received.[Footnote 31]
These matters are summarized in table 5.
Table 5: FEC Matters Opened from Fiscal Years 2005 to 2009 That
Involve ACORN or Potentially Related Organizations:
Matter number: MUR no. 5820;
ACORN or potentially related organization: ACORN; Project Vote;
Matter summary: A complaint was filed with the FEC alleging that ACORN
and Project Vote violated the registration requirements for political
committees under the Federal Election Campaign Act and FEC
regulations. The complaint stated that based upon publicly available
information found on ACORN's web site, depositions and exhibits filed
in the federal case Mac Stuart v. Acorn, and press coverage of ACORN
and affiliated organizations, there was reason to believe that ACORN
and Project Vote failed to file the independent expenditure reports
required by 2 U.S.C. § 434(c). The complaint further alleged that
ACORN and Project Vote received contributions or made expenditures for
which the aggregate value was in excess of $1,000 during a calendar
year without registering as political committees under the act;
Outcome: The FEC found no reason to believe that ACORN or Project Vote
failed to register as a political committee and failed to file
disclosure reports, in violation of 2 U.S.C. §§ 433 and 434(a).
Matter number: MUR no. 5843;
ACORN or potentially related organization: ACORN;
Matter summary: A complaint was filed with the FEC alleging that ACORN
violated the registration requirements for political committees under
the Federal Election Campaign Act and FEC regulations. The complaint
stated that based upon publicly available information (including
documentary video footage of ACORN employees) and press reports, there
was reason to believe that ACORN, and its affiliated entity "Give
Missourians a Raise, Inc.," failed to file the independent expenditure
reports required by 2 U.S.C. § 434(c). The complaint further alleged
that ACORN and Give Missourians a Raise, Inc. received contributions
or made expenditures aggregating in excess of $1,000 during a calendar
year without registering as political committees under the act;
Outcome: The FEC voted to dismiss the allegations that ACORN failed to
register as a political committee and failed to file disclosure
reports, in violation of 2 U.S.C. §§ 433 and 434(a).
Matter number: MUR no. 5859;
ACORN or potentially related organization: ACORN;
Matter summary: A complaint was filed with the FEC alleging that ACORN
illegally coordinated with the campaign committee of Lois Murphy. The
complaint alleged this activity was in violation of FEC regulations
regarding endorsements of organizations;
Outcome: The FEC found no reason to believe that ACORN violated 2
U.S.C § 441(b).
Matter number: MUR no. 5970;
ACORN or potentially related organization: ACORN; Citizens Consulting
Inc.; SEIU Local 100;
Matter summary: A complaint was filed with the FEC alleging that the
Donna Edwards for Congress Committee received substantial monetary
assistance by way of unreported contributions from organizations that
professed to have operated independently of the Edwards campaign;
Outcome: The FEC found no reason to believe that the respondents
violated the Federal Election Campaign Act.
Matter number: MUR no. 6290;
ACORN or potentially related organization: Project Vote;
Matter summary: Project Vote and one of its former directors filed a
submission to the FEC that the director solicited donations from
individuals whose names and addresses appeared on a political
committee disclosure report obtained from the FEC's Web site in
violation of 2 U.S.C.§ 438(a)(4) and 11 C.F.R. § 104.15(a). Project
Vote received $4,415 in donations from individuals whose names and
addresses were from the FEC's Web site; Project Vote had not refunded
these donations when the matter was initiated;
Outcome: The FEC accepted a conciliation agreement, which required
Project Vote to pay a civil penalty of $2,200 to the FEC and disgorge
to the U.S. Treasury the $4,415 in donations it received from improper
solicitations.
Source: GAO analysis of information provided by the FEC.
[End of table]
DOL reported nine cases and investigations of ACORN and potentially
related organizations--one delinquent reporting case for failure to
file required documentation and eight conciliation cases and
investigations involving alleged wage violations.[Footnote 31] For all
of these cases and investigations, ACORN or a potentially related
organization has either complied with or has agreed to take corrective
measures to comply with applicable requirements. The cases and
investigations are summarized in table 6.
Table 6: DOL Cases and Investigations Opened from Fiscal Years 2005
through 2009 that Involve ACORN or Potentially Related Organizations:
ACORN or potentially related organization: ACORN (Tucson);
Case number: 1458871;
Summary: The Phoenix Office of the Wage and Hour Division opened a
conciliation case in response to a complaint that ACORN failed to pay
two employees for all back wages owed, which totaled $211;
Outcome: ACORN agreed to comply; the complainant verified receipt of
$211 received in back wages.
ACORN or potentially related organization: ACORN Housing Corporation
(AHC) (Oakland);
Case number: 1470652;
Summary: The San Francisco Office of the Wage and Hour Division opened
a conciliation case in response to a complaint that AHC did not pay an
employee for 109 overtime hours. The complainant was not able to
document this allegation and AHC could only verify 51.61 hours of
overtime worked;
Outcome: ACORN Housing Corporation agreed to pay the complainant $835
for 51.61 hours of overtime; the Office is awaiting proof of payment.
ACORN or potentially related organization: ACORN Associates;
Case number: 1564327;
Summary: The New Orleans Office of the Wage and Hour Division opened a
conciliation case in response to a complaint that ACORN Associates
failed to pay an employee for 222 hours worked;
Outcome: ACORN Associates initially refused to pay but then agreed to
pay $4,884 for the 222 hours worked; the employer provided
documentation to substantiate the payment.
ACORN or potentially related organization: ACORN Housing (Kansas City);
Case number: 1547810;
Summary: The Kansas City Office of the Wage and Hour Division opened a
conciliation case in response to a complaint alleging non payment of
$1000 for two weeks of salary;
Outcome: ACORN Housing notified the Kansas City District Office that
the complainant had received the back wages. The Office confirmed that
the complainant received payment of $524.
ACORN or potentially related organization: ACORN (Newark);
Case number: 1547981;
Summary: The Northern New Jersey Office of the Wage and Hour Division
opened a limited investigation over alleged minimum wage and overtime
violations;
Outcome: ACORN agreed to pay all of the owed back wages;
the complainant verified that all the wages were paid in full totaling
$3,805.
ACORN or potentially related organization: ACORN Housing Corporation
(Houston);
Case number: 1508221;
Summary: The Houston Office of the Wage and Hour Division opened a
limited investigation over alleged overtime violations;
Outcome: ACORN Housing agreed to comply and pay all back wages due of
$2,499 to seven employees; the employer provided proof of payment to
the District Office for four employees and payment to DOL for the
three other employees because ACORN Housing Corporation could not
locate them.
ACORN or potentially related organization: ACORN (Columbus);
Case number: 1513410;
Summary: The Columbus, Ohio Office of the Wage and Hour Division
opened a full investigation over alleged overtime violations;
Outcome: ACORN agreed to comply and pay the $87 owed in back wages for
two employees.
ACORN or potentially related organization: ACORN (Miami);
Case number: 1477594;
Summary: The Miami Office of the Wage and Hour Division opened a
conciliation case in response to a complaint that ACORN failed to pay
an employee for 11.5 hours, which totaled $59 in back wages;
Outcome: ACORN agreed to comply and pay the $59 owed in back wages;
ACORN stated that the employee could pick up his check.
ACORN or potentially related organization: SEIU Local 100 (renamed
United Labor Union Local 100);
Case number: 93065;
Summary: The Office of Labor Management Standards opened a delinquent
reporting case of SEIU Local 100;
Outcome: The Office of Labor Management Standards closed the case.
SEIU Local 100 complied with the reporting requirements.
Source: GAO analysis of information provided by DOL.
[End of table]
All 27 Agencies Subject to Fiscal Year 2010 ACORN Appropriations
Restrictions Have Taken Action to Implement Those Restrictions, Some
in Response to Our Inquiries:
Twenty-seven agencies took action to comply with applicable fiscal
year 2010 appropriations restrictions prohibiting funding for ACORN
and certain related organizations, while four agencies did not have an
ACORN restriction provision in their appropriations acts.[Footnote 32]
According to federal law and OMB guidance, agencies are required to
establish and maintain a system of accounting and internal controls
that reasonably ensure that their obligations and costs comply with
applicable law.[Footnote 33] However, for statutory provisions that
affect multiple federal agencies, OMB may also provide guidance to
help ensure agency compliance. Further, agencies are required by the
Antideficiency Act to establish, subject to OMB approval, a system of
administrative control (also known as funds control) designed to,
among other things, restrict obligations or expenditures from each
appropriation to the amounts appropriated.[Footnote 34] With regard to
the ACORN funding restrictions, OMB issued a memorandum in October
2009 which included guidance to help agencies comply with funding
restrictions related to ACORN or its affiliates, subsidiaries, or
allied organizations that appeared in continuing resolutions (CR)
preceding the enactment of the fiscal year 2010 appropriations
acts.[Footnote 35] OMB's CR guidance directed agencies to take all
appropriate and necessary steps to comply with the restriction,
including notifying all federal grant and contract recipients of the
restriction for sub-award purposes. OMB did not provide similar
guidance on how agencies should comply with subsequent restrictions
contained in their fiscal year 2010 appropriations acts, which were
more narrow than the CR restrictions for 24 of the 27 agencies and
applied only to ACORN and its subsidiaries. However, OMB did provide
updates on whether the restrictions were still in effect per ongoing
litigation--including a March 2010 memorandum stating that the
restrictions were not in effect based on a federal district court
order, and a May 2010 update note added to this memorandum stating
that the restrictions were again in effect based on an appellate court
order.[Footnote 36] Additional information on each agency's funding
restriction and the related litigation can be found in appendix III.
The actions that agencies most commonly reported taking to implement
the applicable funding restrictions were communicating with internal
staff and notifying grantees about the restrictions. Twenty-six
agencies communicated internally about the restrictions through e-
mails, memorandums, or oral communication to alert agency personnel of
the applicable restriction. For example, a Senior Procurement
Executive in the DOL issued a memorandum on the restriction to all
agency heads directing them to add language from the restriction to
their award documentation and to advise grant and contract recipients
of the restriction. In addition, 10 agencies alerted their awardees of
the restriction in award documentation or written notices. The "terms
and conditions" section of Education's grant award notification, for
example, requires award recipients to consult with Education regarding
the appropriateness of subawards to ACORN or its subsidiaries. Five
agencies disseminated information to staff regarding the legal status
of the appropriations restrictions, based on OMB's May 2010 update
note that the restrictions were again in effect. Two agencies--HUD and
the National Science Foundation (NSF)--provided guidance on which
organizations may fall within the scope of their respective funding
restrictions. Specifically, in a memo to its awardees, HUD described
its determination that AHCOA is not an ACORN subsidiary, affiliate, or
allied organization to illustrate the process that grantees should use
to make determinations regarding their subaward recipients.[Footnote
37] NSF provided internal guidance specifying that "ACORN
subsidiaries" appear to include the name "ACORN" in the title. As an
additional implementation action, NeighborWorks requested that GAO
issue a decision as to the availability of its appropriation for
grants to AHCOA, one of its potential awardees.[Footnote 38] When
determining what actions to take to implement the funding
restrictions, agencies considered the likelihood that they would fund
an organization such as ACORN. EAC, National Archives and Records
Administration (NARA), NEH, and IMLS volunteered that they considered
themselves at a low-risk for funding the organizations within their
restriction. For example, IMLS officials stated that their eligibility
requirements, which limit funding to the furtherance of museum and
library services, would prevent them from funding ACORN or its
subsidiaries, even in the absence of the funding restriction.
Not all agencies had taken action to implement the funding restriction
provisions prior to when we began our review in August 2010.
Specifically, 11 agencies--CNCS, DOD, DOS, DOT, HHS, NASA, NEH, NARA,
NSF, the Small Business Administration (SBA), and Social Security
Administration (SSA)--indicated that they took action to implement the
restriction, at least in part, as a result of our inquiries and
subsequent conversations. Agencies' implementation actions are
categorized below in table 8.
Table 7: Actions Agencies Have Taken to Implement Applicable Funding
Restrictions[A]:
Agency: CNCS[B];
Advised staff of the restrictions: [Check];
Provided staff information from OMB‘s update note: [Check];
Notified grantees of the restriction in grant documentation or
otherwise: [Empty];
Provided guidance on which ACORN organizations are subject to
restriction: [Empty];
Requested determination on whether a specific organization is subject
to restriction: [Empty].
Agency: CPB;
Advised staff of the restrictions: [Check];
Provided staff information from OMB‘s update note: [Empty];
Notified grantees of the restriction in grant documentation or
otherwise: [Empty];
Provided guidance on which ACORN organizations are subject to
restriction: [Empty];
Requested determination on whether a specific organization is subject
to restriction: [Empty].
Agency: Department of Commerce (DOC);
Advised staff of the restrictions: [Check];
Provided staff information from OMB‘s update note: [Check];
Notified grantees of the restriction in grant documentation or
otherwise: [Empty];
Provided guidance on which ACORN organizations are subject to
restriction: [Empty];
Requested determination on whether a specific organization is subject
to restriction: [Empty].
Agency: Department of Veterans Affairs (VA);
Advised staff of the restrictions: [Check];
Provided staff information from OMB‘s update note: [Empty];
Notified grantees of the restriction in grant documentation or
otherwise: [Empty];
Provided guidance on which ACORN organizations are subject to
restriction: [Empty];
Requested determination on whether a specific organization is subject
to restriction: [Empty].
Agency: DOD[C, D];
Advised staff of the restrictions: [Check];
Provided staff information from OMB‘s update note: [Empty];
Notified grantees of the restriction in grant documentation or
otherwise: [Empty];
Provided guidance on which ACORN organizations are subject to
restriction: [Empty];
Requested determination on whether a specific organization is subject
to restriction: [Empty].
Agency: DOI;
Advised staff of the restrictions: [Check];
Provided staff information from OMB‘s update note: [Check];
Notified grantees of the restriction in grant documentation or
otherwise: [Empty];
Provided guidance on which ACORN organizations are subject to
restriction: [Empty];
Requested determination on whether a specific organization is subject
to restriction: [Empty].
Agency: DOJ;
Advised staff of the restrictions: [Check];
Provided staff information from OMB‘s update note: [Check];
Notified grantees of the restriction in grant documentation or
otherwise: [Check];
Provided guidance on which ACORN organizations are subject to
restriction: [Empty];
Requested determination on whether a specific organization is subject
to restriction: [Empty].
Agency: DOL;
Advised staff of the restrictions: [Check];
Provided staff information from OMB‘s update note: [Empty];
Notified grantees of the restriction in grant documentation or
otherwise: [Check];
Provided guidance on which ACORN organizations are subject to
restriction: [Empty];
Requested determination on whether a specific organization is subject
to restriction: [Empty].
Agency: DOS;
Advised staff of the restrictions: [Check];
Provided staff information from OMB‘s update note: [Empty];
Notified grantees of the restriction in grant documentation or
otherwise: [Empty];
Provided guidance on which ACORN organizations are subject to
restriction: [Empty];
Requested determination on whether a specific organization is subject
to restriction: [Empty].
Agency: DOT;
Advised staff of the restrictions: [Check];
Provided staff information from OMB‘s update note: [Empty];
Notified grantees of the restriction in grant documentation or
otherwise: [Empty];
Provided guidance on which ACORN organizations are subject to
restriction: [Empty];
Requested determination on whether a specific organization is subject
to restriction: [Empty].
Agency: EAC;
Advised staff of the restrictions: [Check];
Provided staff information from OMB‘s update note: [Empty];
Notified grantees of the restriction in grant documentation or
otherwise: [Empty];
Provided guidance on which ACORN organizations are subject to
restriction: [Empty];
Requested determination on whether a specific organization is subject
to restriction: [Empty].
Agency: Education;
Advised staff of the restrictions: [Check];
Provided staff information from OMB‘s update note: [Empty];
Notified grantees of the restriction in grant documentation or
otherwise: [Check];
Provided guidance on which ACORN organizations are subject to
restriction: [Empty];
Requested determination on whether a specific organization is subject
to restriction: [Empty].
Agency: EPA;
Advised staff of the restrictions: [Check];
Provided staff information from OMB‘s update note: [Empty];
Notified grantees of the restriction in grant documentation or
otherwise: [Check];
Provided guidance on which ACORN organizations are subject to
restriction: [Empty];
Requested determination on whether a specific organization is subject
to restriction: [Empty].
Agency: FEC;
Advised staff of the restrictions: [Check];
Provided staff information from OMB‘s update note: [Empty];
Notified grantees of the restriction in grant documentation or
otherwise: [Empty];
Provided guidance on which ACORN organizations are subject to
restriction: [Empty];
Requested determination on whether a specific organization is subject
to restriction: [Empty].
Agency: HHS;
Advised staff of the restrictions: [Check];
Provided staff information from OMB‘s update note: [Check];
Notified grantees of the restriction in grant documentation or
otherwise: [Check];
Provided guidance on which ACORN organizations are subject to
restriction: [Empty];
Requested determination on whether a specific organization is subject
to restriction: [Empty].
Agency: HUD;
Advised staff of the restrictions: [Check];
Provided staff information from OMB‘s update note: [Empty];
Notified grantees of the restriction in grant documentation or
otherwise: [Check];
Provided guidance on which ACORN organizations are subject to
restriction: [Check];
Requested determination on whether a specific organization is subject
to restriction: [Empty].
Agency: IMLS;
Advised staff of the restrictions: [Check];
Provided staff information from OMB‘s update note: [Check];
Notified grantees of the restriction in grant documentation or
otherwise: [Empty];
Provided guidance on which ACORN organizations are subject to
restriction: [Empty];
Requested determination on whether a specific organization is subject
to restriction: [Empty].
Agency: NARA;
Advised staff of the restrictions: [Check];
Provided staff information from OMB‘s update note: [Empty];
Notified grantees of the restriction in grant documentation or
otherwise: [Empty];
Provided guidance on which ACORN organizations are subject to
restriction: [Empty];
Requested determination on whether a specific organization is subject
to restriction: [Empty].
Agency: NASA;
Advised staff of the restrictions: [Check];
Provided staff information from OMB‘s update note: [Empty];
Notified grantees of the restriction in grant documentation or
otherwise: [Empty];
Provided guidance on which ACORN organizations are subject to
restriction: [Empty];
Requested determination on whether a specific organization is subject
to restriction: [Empty].
Agency: NEA;
Advised staff of the restrictions: [Check];
Provided staff information from OMB‘s update note: [Empty];
Notified grantees of the restriction in grant documentation or
otherwise: [Check];
Provided guidance on which ACORN organizations are subject to
restriction: [Empty];
Requested determination on whether a specific organization is subject
to restriction: [Empty].
Agency: NEH;
Advised staff of the restrictions: [Check];
Provided staff information from OMB‘s update note: [Empty];
Notified grantees of the restriction in grant documentation or
otherwise: [Check];
Provided guidance on which ACORN organizations are subject to
restriction: [Empty];
Requested determination on whether a specific organization is subject
to restriction: [Empty].
Agency: NeighborWorks;
Advised staff of the restrictions: [Check];
Provided staff information from OMB‘s update note: [Empty];
Notified grantees of the restriction in grant documentation or
otherwise: [Check];
Provided guidance on which ACORN organizations are subject to
restriction: [Empty];
Requested determination on whether a specific organization is subject
to restriction: [Check].
Agency: NSF;
Advised staff of the restrictions: [Check];
Provided staff information from OMB‘s update note: [Empty];
Notified grantees of the restriction in grant documentation or
otherwise: [Empty];
Provided guidance on which ACORN organizations are subject to
restriction: [Check];
Requested determination on whether a specific organization is subject
to restriction: [Empty].
Agency: SBA;
Advised staff of the restrictions: [Check];
Provided staff information from OMB‘s update note: [Empty];
Notified grantees of the restriction in grant documentation or
otherwise: [Check];
Provided guidance on which ACORN organizations are subject to
restriction: [Empty];
Requested determination on whether a specific organization is subject
to restriction: [Empty].
Agency: SSA;
Advised staff of the restrictions: [Check];
Provided staff information from OMB‘s update note: [Empty];
Notified grantees of the restriction in grant documentation or
otherwise: [Empty];
Provided guidance on which ACORN organizations are subject to
restriction: [Empty];
Requested determination on whether a specific organization is subject
to restriction: [Empty].
Agency: Treasury;
Advised staff of the restrictions: [Check];
Provided staff information from OMB‘s update note: [Empty];
Notified grantees of the restriction in grant documentation or
otherwise: [Check][E];
Provided guidance on which ACORN organizations are subject to
restriction: [Empty];
Requested determination on whether a specific organization is subject
to restriction: [Empty].
Agency: United States Agency for International Development (USAID);
Advised staff of the restrictions: [Check];
Provided staff information from OMB‘s update note: [Empty];
Notified grantees of the restriction in grant documentation or
otherwise: [Empty];
Provided guidance on which ACORN organizations are subject to
restriction: [Empty];
Requested determination on whether a specific organization is subject
to restriction: [Empty].
Total;
Advised staff of the restrictions: 27;
Provided staff information from OMB‘s update note: 6;
Notified grantees of the restriction in grant documentation or
otherwise: 11;
Provided guidance on which ACORN organizations are subject to
restriction: 2;
Requested determination on whether a specific organization is subject
to restriction: 1.
Source: GAO analysis of information provided by agency.
[A] Our table does not include actions taken to implement the ACORN
funding restrictions contained in the continuing resolutions that
preceded the fiscal year 2010 appropriations acts because the CR
restrictions were not the same as the appropriations act restrictions
for 24 of the 27 covered agencies. This is true for the 14 agencies
that reported disseminating OMB's CR guidance to staff: CNCS, NASA,
DOJ, SBA, SSA, DOS, Education, EPA, DOD, DOI, NEA, DOL, Treasury, and
USAID.
[B] CNCS provided a link to OMB's May 2010 update, stating that the
appropriations restrictions remain in effect, however the newsletter
containing the OMB link stated that the CNCS restriction applies to
ACORN, its affiliates, its subsidiaries, or allied organizations.
CNCS's restriction, however, applies to only ACORN and its
subsidiaries.
[C] In addition to internally communicating about the restriction, DOD
distributed a memorandum on April 12, 2011, stating that under
continuing resolution appropriations, the provisions of DOD's
appropriations act for 2010--which contained an ACORN-related funding
prohibition--continue in effect. The memo incorrectly described the
prohibition as restricting funds provided to ACORN, its affiliates,
subsidiaries, or allied organizations, but the restriction applies to
only funds provided to ACORN and its subsidiaries. However, as of 3
days later, on April 15, 2011, when DOD's fiscal year 2011
appropriations bill became law, DOD is not subject to an ACORN-related
appropriations restriction. See Department of Defense and Full-Year
Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011, Pub. L. No. 112-10 Div.A.
[D] Upon becoming aware of the possibility that one grantee was
potentially related to ACORN, NSA--which is an agency of DOD under the
authority, direction, and control of the Secretary of Defense--took an
additional action to implement the restriction. Specifically, NSA
created a Representation and Certification in October 2010 requiring
any prospective grantee to represent and certify that the prospective
grantee is not related to ACORN with a continuing obligation to notify
NSA within 15 days of the establishment of any future relationship.
[E] This action was not taken by the entire Department of the
Treasury, but only IRS-VITA.
[End of table]
We were not able to assess how effective agencies' actions were at
preventing agencies from awarding funding to the organizations
included in their funding restrictions because there is no definitive
list of organizations that agencies are prohibited from funding.
However, we searched USAspending.gov to determine if, during fiscal
year 2010 and the first two quarters of 2011, the organizations
included in this report that are potentially related to ACORN received
any federal funding[Footnote 40]. Based on our search, we found that
none of the organizations included in this report that continue to
have indicators of affiliation with ACORN received federal funding
during fiscal years 2010 and the first two quarters of 2011.[Footnote
41] For fiscal year 2010, four agencies initially made nine awards to
organizations included in this report--specifically, Tides Center (six
awards), ACORN Albuquerque (also known as ACORN Associates) (one
award), ACORN Community Land Association of Louisiana (one award), and
New York Agency for Community Affairs (one award), but the awards to
the latter three organizations were retracted, and we determined that
after 2009, Tides Center no longer had any indicators of affiliation
with ACORN.[Footnote 42] For the first two quarters of fiscal year
2011, one agency made two awards to ACORN Housing Corporation (New
Orleans)--currently Affordable Housing Centers of America (AHCOA). One
of these awards was retracted, and in September 2010, we found that
AHCOA did not have any indicators of affiliation with ACORN.[Footnote
43]
Agency Comments, Third-Party Views and Our Evaluation:
We provided a draft of this report for review and comment to 29 of the
31 agencies included in this review; the inspectors general for CPB,
DHS, DOJ, EAC, and HUD; internal audit officials at NeighborWorks; and
OMB.[Footnote 44] We also sent a draft of this report to the nine
organizations identified in this report as being part of ACORN or
potentially related to ACORN for which contact information was
available.[Footnote 45] We received technical comments from Education,
DOT, DOL, HHS, NeighborWorks, VA, and the DOJ Inspector General, which
were incorporated into our report. Education and HHS provided
additional documentation to support actions taken to implement their
funding restrictions, which we incorporated as appropriate. OMB
identified additional steps it took to inform agencies about the ACORN
litigation, which we added to the relevant section of appendix III.
Thirteen agencies and the HUD and EAC Inspectors General replied that
they had no comments on the draft report.[Footnote 46] The remaining
agencies and inspectors general did not reply within the time
requested; however, we had already incorporated comments they provided
on an earlier draft of the report. Of the nine third-parties, AHCOA
responded with one technical comment, which we incorporated. The Tides
Center provided a letter response with no comments for incorporation.
The remaining seven third parties did not reply to our request for
comment.
We are sending copies of this report to the appropriate congressional
committees. We are also sending copies to 29 of the 31 agencies
included in this review (two agencies, the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission and Department of Energy, did not identify funding and had
no funding restrictions in their appropriations acts) and to other
interested parties. In addition, this report will be available at no
charge on the GAO Web site at [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov].
If you or your staffs have any questions about this report, please
contact me at 202-512-6510 or LarenceE@gao.gov. Contact points for our
Offices of Congressional Relations and Public Affairs may be found on
the last page of this report. Key contributors to this report are
listed in appendix IV.
Signed by:
Eileen R. Larence:
Director, Homeland Security and Justice Issues:
List of Requesters:
The Honorable Daniel K. Inouye:
Chairman:
The Honorable Thad Cochran:
Vice Chairman:
Committee on Appropriations:
United States Senate:
The Honorable Charles E. Grassley:
Ranking Member:
Committee on the Judiciary:
United States Senate:
The Honorable Barbara A. Mikulski:
Chairwoman:
The Honorable Kay Bailey Hutchison:
Ranking Member:
Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies:
Committee on Appropriations:
United States Senate:
The Honorable Harold Rogers:
Chairman:
The Honorable Norman D. Dicks:
Ranking Member:
Committee on Appropriations:
House of Representatives:
The Honorable Lamar S. Smith:
Chairman:
Committee on the Judiciary:
House of Representatives:
The Honorable Frank R. Wolf:
Chairman:
The Honorable Chaka Fattah:
Ranking Member:
Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies:
Committee on Appropriations:
House of Representatives:
The Honorable Darrell E. Issa:
Chairman:
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform:
House of Representatives:
The Honorable Lamar Alexander:
The Honorable John A. Barrasso:
The Honorable Saxby Chambliss:
The Honorable Thomas A. Coburn:
The Honorable Susan M. Collins:
The Honorable Michael D. Crapo:
The Honorable Richard J. Durbin:
The Honorable Lindsey O. Graham:
The Honorable Orrin G. Hatch:
The Honorable Kay Bailey Hutchison:
The Honorable James M. Inhofe:
The Honorable John H. Isakson:
The Honorable Mike O. Johanns:
The Honorable Richard G. Lugar:
The Honorable Pat Roberts:
The Honorable John R. Thune:
The Honorable Roger F. Wicker:
United States Senate:
The Honorable Rush D. Holt:
House of Representatives:
[End of section]
Appendix I: Objectives, Scope and Methodology:
We addressed the following questions as part of our review:
1. From fiscal years 2005 through 2009, how much funding did federal
agencies award to Association of Community Organizations for Reform
Now (ACORN) or any potentially related organizations, and what was the
purpose of the funding?
2. To what extent did federal agencies' monitoring of ACORN or
potentially related organizations' use of federal funding detect
issues identified by inspectors general and internal audits?[Footnote
47]
3. What federal investigations or prosecutions were conducted of ACORN
or potentially related organizations from fiscal years 2005 through
2009, and what were the nature and results of these investigations and
prosecutions?
4. How have federal agencies subject to fiscal year 2010 provisions
barring the distribution of appropriated funds to ACORN or its
affiliates, subsidiaries, or allied organizations implemented those
provisions?
Our scope for this report includes 31 federal agencies we determined
might have awarded funding to ACORN or potentially related
organizations from fiscal years 2005 through 2009 based on one or more
of the following factors.[Footnote 48] (1) An audit was conducted by
the agency's inspector general or internal audit unit of funding
awarded to ACORN or potentially related organizations; (2) the agency
participates in grants.gov, the primary Web site portal for
organizations to apply for federal grants; or (3) the agency or its
inspector general or internal audit unit received a congressional
request to review ACORN or potentially related organizations.
Table 8 identifies the federal agencies included in our report and the
basis for inclusion.
Table 8: Agency Characteristics That Indicate They Could Have Funded
ACORN or Potentially Related Organizations:
Federal agency: Agriculture;
Agency inspector general or internal audit unit review conducted:
[Empty];
Included in grants.gov: [Check];
Congressional review requested: [Empty].
Federal agency: Commerce;
Agency inspector general or internal audit unit review conducted:
[Empty];
Included in grants.gov: [Check];
Congressional review requested: [Empty].
Federal agency: Corporation for National and Community Service;
Agency inspector general or internal audit unit review conducted:
[Empty];
Included in grants.gov: [Check];
Congressional review requested: [Check].
Federal agency: Corporation for Public Broadcasting;
Agency inspector general or internal audit unit review conducted:
[Check];
Included in grants.gov: [Empty];
Congressional review requested: [Empty].
Federal agency: Defense;
Agency inspector general or internal audit unit review conducted:
[Empty];
Included in grants.gov: [Check];
Congressional review requested: [Empty].
Federal agency: Education;
Agency inspector general or internal audit unit review conducted:
Included in grants.gov: [Check];
Congressional review requested: [Empty].
Federal agency: Election Assistance Commission;
Agency inspector general or internal audit unit review conducted:
[Check];
Included in grants.gov: [Check];
Congressional review requested: [Check].
Federal agency: Energy;
Agency inspector general or internal audit unit review conducted:
[Empty];
Included in grants.gov: [Check];
Congressional review requested: [Empty].
Federal agency: Environmental Protection Agency;
Agency inspector general or internal audit unit review conducted:
[Empty];
Included in grants.gov: [Check];
Congressional review requested: [Empty].
Federal agency: Federal Election Commission;
Agency inspector general or internal audit unit review conducted:
[Empty];
Included in grants.gov: [Empty];
Congressional review requested: [Check].
Federal agency: Homeland Security;
Agency inspector general or internal audit unit review conducted:
[Check];
Included in grants.gov: [Check];
Congressional review requested: [Check].
Federal agency: Health and Human Services;
Agency inspector general or internal audit unit review conducted:
[Check];
Included in grants.gov: [Check];
Congressional review requested: [Empty].
Federal agency: Housing and Urban Development;
Agency inspector general or internal audit unit review conducted:
[Check];
Included in grants.gov: [Check];
Congressional review requested: [Check].
Federal agency: Institute of Museum and Library Service;
Agency inspector general or internal audit unit review conducted:
[Empty];
Included in grants.gov: [Check];
Congressional review requested: [Empty].
Federal agency: Interior;
Agency inspector general or internal audit unit review conducted:
[Empty];
Included in grants.gov: [Check];
Congressional review requested: [Empty].
Federal agency: Justice;
Agency inspector general or internal audit unit review conducted:
[Check];
Included in grants.gov: [Check];
Congressional review requested: [Check].
Federal agency: Labor;
Agency inspector general or internal audit unit review conducted:
[Empty];
Included in grants.gov: [Check];
Congressional review requested: [Check].
Federal agency: National Aeronautics and Space Administration;
Agency inspector general or internal audit unit review conducted:
[Empty];
Included in grants.gov: [Check];
Congressional review requested: [Empty].
Federal agency: National Archives and Records Administration;
Agency inspector general or internal audit unit review conducted:
[Empty];
Included in grants.gov: [Check];
Congressional review requested: [Empty].
Federal agency: National Endowment for the Arts;
Agency inspector general or internal audit unit review conducted:
[Empty];
Included in grants.gov: [Check];
Congressional review requested: [Empty].
Federal agency: National Endowment for the Humanities;
Agency inspector general or internal audit unit review conducted:
[Empty];
Included in grants.gov: [Check];
Congressional review requested: [Empty].
Federal agency: National Science Foundation;
Agency inspector general or internal audit unit review conducted:
[Empty];
Included in grants.gov: [Check];
Congressional review requested: [Empty].
Federal agency: NeighborWorks;
Agency inspector general or internal audit unit review conducted:
[Check];
Included in grants.gov: [Empty];
Congressional review requested: [Check].
Federal agency: Nuclear Regulatory Commission;
Agency inspector general or internal audit unit review conducted:
[Empty];
Included in grants.gov: [Check];
Congressional review requested: [Empty].
Federal agency: Small Business Administration;
Agency inspector general or internal audit unit review conducted:
[Empty];
Included in grants.gov: [Check];
Congressional review requested: [Check].
Federal agency: Social Security Administration;
Agency inspector general or internal audit unit review conducted:
[Empty];
Included in grants.gov: [Check];
Congressional review requested: [Empty].
Federal agency: State;
Agency inspector general or internal audit unit review conducted:
[Empty];
Included in grants.gov: [Check];
Congressional review requested: [Empty].
Federal agency: Department of Transportation;
Agency inspector general or internal audit unit review conducted:
[Empty];
Included in grants.gov: [Check];
Congressional review requested: [Empty].
Federal agency: Department of Treasury;
Agency inspector general or internal audit unit review conducted:
[Empty];
Included in grants.gov: [Check];
Congressional review requested: [Check].
Federal agency: United States Agency for International Development;
Agency inspector general or internal audit unit review conducted:
[Empty];
Included in grants.gov: [Check];
Congressional review requested: [Empty].
Federal agency: Department of Veterans Affairs;
Agency inspector general or internal audit unit review conducted:
[Empty];
Included in grants.gov: [Check];
Congressional review requested: [Empty].
Total:
Agency inspector general or internal audit unit review conducted: 6;
Included in grants.gov: 28;
Congressional review requested: 10.
Source: GAO analysis based on agency information.
[End of table]
Identifying Organizations Potentially Related to ACORN:
We determined, as part of this review, whether an organization was
potentially related to ACORN based on the organization's inclusion on
various lists of organizations that may be related to ACORN and on our
analysis of whether the organization shared any indicators of
affiliation, which are described below. We did not determine whether
an organization was actually related to ACORN due to several
limitations--including lack of complete information--which are also
discussed below.
We began by conducting a literature review to identify existing lists
of ACORN or potentially related organizations, and asked agencies and
their inspectors general, and the Federal Audit Executive Council
whether they had developed or were aware of any other lists.[Footnote
49] We identified a total of nine lists of organizations that could be
part of ACORN or potentially related to ACORN from different sources:
the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform,[Footnote 50] the
Congressional Research Service,[Footnote 51] a Department of Justice
(DOJ) Inspector General report,[Footnote 52] ACORN legal counsel, the
Department of Labor (DOL) Inspector General, Senator Grassley's
staff,[Footnote 53] the Small Business Administration (SBA) (which was
provided to the SBA by the Committee on Oversight and Government
Reform), and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
Inspector General.[Footnote 54] We then included all the lists in one
file, and provided the file--which contained names for 2,319
organizations--to Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) for further analysis. We
selected D&B because it has the most comprehensive information on
business entities of any source that we identified, and D&B maintains
data on all DUNS numbers, which are required for federal contracts and
grants, as specified by the Federal Acquisition Regulation and OMB
guidance.[Footnote 55]
Specifically, we asked D&B to (1) consolidate duplicate records into
one unique record and (2) remove organizations that, with the
information available, could not be confidently matched with a
specific DUNS number (a nine-digit universal identifier assigned by
D&B and used to apply for federal contracts, grants, cooperative
agreements and other financial assistance). D&B also identified
organizations potentially related to ACORN that had DUNS numbers based
on research it independently conducted to identify organizations that
were branches and subsidiaries of ACORN, which are considered by D&B
to be part of the ACORN "family tree."[Footnote 56]
As a result of D&B's analysis, a reduced list of 276 DUNS numbers
associated with the unduplicated list of organization was identified.
We validated the list D&B provided us by conducting our own search of
D&B's Global Reference Solutions database (GRS) to determine if there
were any additional DUNS numbers associated with these organizations
that D&B did not include based on its analysis. Our validation
resulted in an additional 37 DUNS numbers--a total of 313.[Footnote
57] One organization can be associated with several DUNS numbers,
primarily when a branch of an organization has its own DUNS number.
We asked each of the 31 agencies to search their grant and procurement
files to determine if, from fiscal years 2005 through 2009, the agency
awarded federal funding (or any of the agency's grantees provided
subawards)--in the form of grants, contracts, or cooperative
agreements--to any organizations linked with the 313 DUNS numbers.
[Footnote 58] We also asked agencies and their inspectors general to
search their investigative--and additionally for the Department of
Justice their prosecutorial--case management systems to determine
whether they conducted any investigations or prosecutions from fiscal
years 2005 through 2009 of organizations linked with the 313 DUNS
numbers.
Using a set of indicators, which are described below, we compared
organizations on the list that agencies identified as having funded,
investigated, or prosecuted to organizations that were part of ACORN
(including ACORN headquarters, branches in the D&B-generated ACORN
family tree, and the ACORN organizations listed in the ACORN
bankruptcy proceedings)[Footnote 59]. Table 9 includes the list of
ACORN organizations that we used for comparison.
Table 9: ACORN--Family Tree and ACORN Bankruptcy Identified
Organizations:
ACORN family tree:
ACORN (Brooklyn);
ACORN (Bronx);
ACORN (Chicago);
ACORN (Dallas);
ACORN (Detroit);
ACORN (Dorchester);
ACORN (Flagstaff);
ACORN (Houston);
ACORN (Little Rock);
ACORN (New Orleans);
ACORN (Oakland);
ACORN (Phoenix);
ACORN (Pine Bluff);
ACORN (San Diego);
ACORN (Washington);
Albuquerque ACORN;
Alleghany County ACORN;
Atlanta ACORN;
Aurora ACORN;
Baton Rouge ACORN;
Boise ACORN;
Bridgeport ACORN;
Broward County ACORN;
Charlotte ACORN;
Chula Vista ACORN;
Cincinnati ACORN;
Cleveland ACORN;
Columbus ACORN;
Contra Costa ACORN;
Denver ACORN;
El Paso ACORN;
Fresno ACORN;
Glendale ACORN;
Grand Rapids ACORN;
Hartford ACORN;
Irving ACORN;
Kansas City ACORN;
Lake Charles ACORN;
Lake Worth ACORN;
Long Island ACORN;
Los Angeles ACORN;
Maryland ACORN;
Miami ACORN;
Milwaukee ACORN;
Minnesota ACORN;
Mississippi ACORN;
NW Indiana ACORN;
Orange County ACORN;
Orlando ACORN;
Patterson ACORN;
Philadelphia ACORN;
Prince George's County ACORN;
Raleigh ACORN;
Rhode Island ACORN;
Sacramento ACORN;
San Antonio ACORN;
San Bernardino ACORN;
San Fernando Valley ACORN;
San Francisco ACORN;
San Jose ACORN;
San Mateo County ACORN;
St Louis ACORN;
Suffolk ACORN;
Topeka ACORN;
Tucson ACORN;
Wilmington ACORN;
Washington ACORN.
ACORN bankruptcy-identified organizations:
Akron ACORN;
Alabama ACORN;
Allegheny Count ACORN;
Arizona ACORN;
Arkansas ACORN;
Aurora ACORN;
Baton Rouge ACORN;
Bridgeport ACORN;
Bronx/Manhattan ACORN;
Broward County ACORN;
Cincinnati ACORN;
Colorado ACORN;
Columbus ACORN;
Connecticut ACORN;
Contra Costa ACORN;
Dallas ACORN;
Dayton ACORN;
DC ACORN;
Delaware ACORN;
Durham ACORN;
El Paso ACORN;
Everett ACORN;
Flint ACORN;
Florida ACORN;
Fresno ACORN;
Ft Worth ACORN;
Georgia ACORN;
Glendale ACORN;
Grand Rapids ACORN;
Harrisburg ACORN;
Hawaii ACORN;
Illinois ACORN;
Indiana ACORN;
Indianapolis ACORN;
Iowa ACORN;
Kansas City ACORN;
Kentucky ACORN;
Lake Charles ACORN;
Lansing ACORN;
Las Cruces ACORN;
Lehigh Valley ACORN;
Long Beach ACORN;
Long Island ACORN;
Los Angeles ACORN;
Louisiana ACORN;
Maryland ACORN;
Massachusetts ACORN;
Mesa ACORN;
Michigan ACORN;
Minnesota ACORN;
Mississippi ACORN;
Missouri ACORN;
National ACORN;
Nebraska ACORN;
Nevada ACORN;
New Jersey ACORN;
New Mexico ACORN;
New York ACORN;
Newark ACORN;
North Carolina ACORN;
NY ACORN;
Oakland ACORN;
Ohio ACORN;
Orange County ACORN;
Oregon ACORN;
Orlando ACORN;
Palm Beach County ACORN;
Patterson ACORN;
Pennsylvania ACORN;
Pine Bluff ACORN;
Prince Georges County ACORN;
Raleigh ACORN;
Rhode Island ACORN;
Rio Grand ACORN;
Sacramento ACORN;
San Antonio ACORN;
San Bernardino ACORN;
San Francisco ACORN;
San Jose ACORN;
San Diego ACORN;
San Mateo County ACORN;
South Bay San Diego ACORN;
South Carolina ACORN;
Springfield ACORN;
Tacoma ACORN;
Tennessee ACORN;
Texas ACORN;
Toledo ACORN;
Tucson ACORN;
Tulsa ACORN;
Utah ACORN;
Washington ACORN;
Wisconsin ACORN.
Source: GAO summary of ACORN organizations.
[End of table]
We used five indicators (where available) to determine for purposes of
our report whether an organization was potentially related with a
member of the ACORN family tree from fiscal years 2005 through 2009--
shared address, shared phone number, at least one executive or member
of a board of directors in common, shared employer identification
number (EIN), and shared bank accounts.[Footnote 60] These five
indicators are data points that relate to various tests for
determining whether a control relationship exists between entities,
a control relationship is the basis for statutory and regulatory
definitions of a "subsidiary" or "affiliate." Specifically, a
"subsidiary" is a company in which half of its stock or a controlling
interest is owned by another company or parent company. An "affiliate"
is a person or entity that controls, is controlled by, or is under
common control with another person or entity. Several of the
definitions of "affiliate" we identified provided tests for
determining control relationships between entities; whether an entity
meets one or more of these tests does not necessarily mean there is a
control relationship, but may suggest one, and there may be other
factors that are relevant to determining whether control and thus,
affiliation, exists. These tests include:
*One entity controls at least a specific percentage of voting shares
of the other entity;
*An entity controls the election of a majority of the other entity's
board of directors;
*There is an overlap between a majority of the entities' board members;
*An employment relationship exists between an entity and an individual;
*An individual's business is operated by a debtor under a lease or
operating agreement;
*One entity has contributed more than twenty percent of the capital of
the other;
*Interlocking management or ownership;
*Identity of interests among family members;
*Shared facilities and equipment;
*Common use of employees; or:
*A business entity that has the same or similar management, ownership,
or employees as a contractor that was previously debarred, suspended,
or proposed for debarment.
Our five indicators of affiliation reflect data available that relate
to these tests. The presence of any one or more of the indicators does
not necessarily mean there is a control relationship or affiliation.
For example, if we identified data showing that a member of the ACORN
board of directors was an executive of another company, we would
identify that company as potentially related for purposes of this
report. However, such a finding would not constitute a determination
on our part that the company is an ACORN affiliate. We did not
determine whether an organization was actually affiliated with ACORN
during this time period because sufficient information was not
available to make that determination for the various organizations
within the scope of our review. For example, a full list of executives
for fiscal years 2005 through 2009 for all ACORN branches was not
available (particularly since some entities no longer exist). In this
report, we only include organizations as potentially related that were
funded, investigated, or prosecuted, and for which we found at least
one indicator of potential affiliation.
The information sources we used to obtain indicator information
largely depended on whether the agency was able to confirm the DUNS
number of the organization that it funded, investigated, or
prosecuted.[Footnote 61] For funded organizations that agencies could
link with a DUNS number--primarily direct awards--we collected
indicator information from a range of sources, including D&B's
databases (GRS and credit reports/business information reports),
Recovery Act Accountability and Transparency Board, Guidestar, and D&B
Duns Market Identifiers (Global) on Lexis-Nexis.[Footnote 62] We
selected these information sources because they were the most
comprehensive sources for indicator information we identified. Second,
for funded organizations that agencies could not link with a DUNS
number--primarily subawards--we contacted the direct grantees to ask
if they could provide a DUNS number or any indicator information for
the subawardee (The Office of Management and Budget [OMB] directed
agencies to report subaward information, including DUNS numbers,
starting in October 2010.)[Footnote 63] For the direct grantees that
could provide indicator information, they generally provided the
organization's address, phone number, or the name of an executive. We
were not able to obtain indicator information on all subgrantees;
consequently, limited information was available for those
organizations to establish potential affiliation with ACORN. For
organizations that were investigated or prosecuted, agencies reported
no DUNS numbers. To obtain indicator information on these
organizations, we searched the investigation or case materials and
requested indicator information from the agency reporting the
investigation or prosecution. As with subaward recipients, we matched
the organizations involved in investigations to organizations with the
same name to the extent possible where they had at least the same name
and shared at least one indicator of affiliation.
Tables 10 and 11, respectively, document the indicator analysis we
conducted for funded organizations for which agencies could identify a
DUNS number, and funded organizations for which agencies could not
identify a DUNS number (but information was available from the grant
document or direct grantee to identify an indicator). Our tables
distinguish between instances where there was not information
available to compare with ACORN indicators (signified with "-") and
instances where there was information available to make the
comparison, but no match was found (the cell is blank). Of the
organizations that agencies identified as having funded, we found at
least one indicator of affiliation for all but four organizations.
[Footnote 64]
Table 10: Indicators of Potential Affiliation with ACORN:
Organizations Identified by DUNS Number that Received Federal Funding
from Fiscal Years 2005 through 2009:
Organization: ACORN Associates, Inc. (also referred to as ACORN
Albuquerque);
Shared address: Yes;
Shared phone number: shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005
through 2009;
Executive(s) or director(s) in Common: shared indicator with ACORN
fiscal years 2005 through 2009;
Shared EIN: shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005 through 2009;
Shared bank account: shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005
through 2009.
Organization: ACORN Community Land Association of Louisiana, Inc.;
Shared address: Yes;
Shared phone number: shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005
through 2009;
Executive(s) or director(s) in Common: shared indicator with ACORN
fiscal years 2005 through 2009;
Shared EIN: shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005 through 2009;
Shared bank account: [Empty].
Organization: ACORN Housing Corporation (AHC) (Baltimore);
Shared address: [Empty];
Shared phone number: [Empty];
Executive(s) or director(s) in Common: shared indicator with ACORN
fiscal years 2005 through 2009;
Shared EIN: no information available to support indicator analysis;
Shared bank account: no information available to support indicator
analysis.
Organization: ACORN Institute (Columbus, OH);
Shared address: Yes;
Shared phone number: [Empty];
Executive(s) or director(s) in Common: [Empty];
Shared EIN: [Empty];
Shared bank account: no information available to support indicator
analysis.
Organization: ACORN Institute (Washington, D.C.);
Shared address: Yes;
Shared phone number: [Empty];
Executive(s) or director(s) in Common: shared indicator with ACORN
fiscal years 2005 through 2009;
Shared EIN: [Empty];
Shared bank account:
Organization: Agape Broadcasting Foundation (KNON-FM);
Shared address: Yes;
Shared phone number: [Empty];
Executive(s) or director(s) in Common: [Empty];
Shared EIN: [Empty];
Shared bank account: no information available to support indicator
analysis.
Organization: AHC (Chicago);
Shared address: Yes;
Shared phone number: [Empty];
Executive(s) or director(s) in Common: shared indicator with ACORN
fiscal years 2005 through 2009;
Shared EIN: shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005 through 2009;
Shared bank account: [Empty].
Organization: American Environmental Justice Project, Inc.;
Shared address: Yes;
Shared phone number: [Empty];
Executive(s) or director(s) in Common: shared indicator with ACORN
fiscal years 2005 through 2009;
Shared EIN: no information available to support indicator analysis;
Shared bank account: no information available to support indicator
analysis.
Organization: Arkansas Broadcasting Foundation (KABF-FM);
Shared address: Yes;
Shared phone number: shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005
through 2009;
Executive(s) or director(s) in Common: shared indicator with ACORN
fiscal years 2005 through 2009;
Shared EIN: [Empty];
Shared bank account: [Empty].
Organization: Arkansas Community Housing Corporation;
Shared address: Yes;
Shared phone number: [Empty];
Executive(s) or director(s) in Common: [Empty];
Shared EIN: [Empty];
Shared bank account: no information available to support indicator
analysis.
Organization: Missouri Tax Justice Research Project;
Shared address: Yes;
Shared phone number: shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005
through 2009;
Executive(s) or director(s) in Common: shared indicator with ACORN
fiscal years 2005 through 2009;
Shared EIN: [Empty];
Shared bank account: [Empty].
Organization: New Mexico ACORN Fair Housing Corporation;
Shared address: Yes;
Shared phone number: shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005
through 2009;
Executive(s) or director(s) in Common: shared indicator with ACORN
fiscal years 2005 through 2009;
Shared EIN: shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005 through 2009;
Shared bank account: [Empty].
Organization: New York Agency for Community Affairs;
Shared address: Yes;
Shared phone number: [Empty];
Executive(s) or director(s) in Common: shared indicator with ACORN
fiscal years 2005 through 2009;
Shared EIN: [Empty];
Shared bank account: [Empty].
Organization: Project Vote;
Shared address: Yes;
Shared phone number: [Empty];
Executive(s) or director(s) in Common: shared indicator with ACORN
fiscal years 2005 through 2009;
Shared EIN: [Empty];
Shared bank account: no information available to support indicator
analysis.
Organization: Tides Center[A];
Shared address: [Empty];
Shared phone number: [Empty];
Executive(s) or director(s) in Common: shared indicator with ACORN
fiscal years 2005 through 2009;
Shared EIN: [Empty];
Shared bank account: [Empty].
Source: GAO analysis of indicator data.
Legend:
[Empty] = no shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005 through
2009;
[A] One executive for ACORN was also one of multiple board members of
the Tides Center until 2009. According to Tides Center
representatives, this board member recused himself from voting on
issues related to ACORN and did not have managerial responsibilities
at the Tides Center. The former attorney for ACORN stated that
although the Tides Foundation (which Tides Center was once a part of)
may have acted as a fiscal agent on some grants to ACORN, it had no
affiliation with ACORN and was entirely separate.
[End of table]
Table 11: Indicators of Potential Affiliation with ACORN:
Organizations Identified other than by DUNS Number that Received
Federal Funding from Fiscal Years 2005 through 2009:
Organization: ACORN Albuquerque;
Shared address: no information available to support indicator analysis;
Shared phone number: no information available to support indicator
analysis;
Executive(s) or director(s) in common: shared indicator with ACORN
fiscal years 2005 through 2009;
Shared EIN: no information available to support indicator analysis;
Shared bank account: no information available to support indicator
analysis.
Organization: ACORN Beverly, LLC;
Shared address: shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005 through
2009;
Shared phone number: [Empty];
Executive(s) or director(s) in common: shared indicator with ACORN
fiscal years 2005 through 2009;
Shared EIN: no information available to support indicator analysis;
Shared bank account: no information available to support indicator
analysis.
Organization: ACORN Bridgeport;
Shared address: shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005 through
2009;
Shared phone number: [Empty];
Executive(s) or director(s) in common: [Empty];
Shared EIN: no information available to support indicator analysis;
Shared bank account: no information available to support indicator
analysis.
Organization: ACORN Contra Costa;
Shared address: shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005 through
2009;
Shared phone number: no information available to support indicator
analysis;
Executive(s) or director(s) in common: no information available to
support indicator analysis;
Shared EIN: shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005 through 2009;
Shared bank account: no information available to support indicator
analysis.
Organization: ACORN (El Paso);
Shared address: shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005 through
2009;
Shared phone number: [Empty];
Executive(s) or director(s) in common: [Empty];
Shared EIN: no information available to support indicator analysis;
Shared bank account: no information available to support indicator
analysis.
Organization: ACORN Hartford;
Shared address: shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005 through
2009;
Shared phone number: shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005
through 2009;
Executive(s) or director(s) in common: [Empty];
Shared EIN: no information available to support indicator analysis;
Shared bank account: no information available to support indicator
analysis.
Organization: ACORN Institute (New Orleans);
Shared address: shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005 through
2009;
Shared phone number: [Empty];
Executive(s) or director(s) in common: shared indicator with ACORN
fiscal years 2005 through 2009;
Shared EIN: no information available to support indicator analysis;
Shared bank account: no information available to support indicator
analysis.
Organization: ACORN Institute (St. Louis);
Shared address: shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005 through
2009;
Shared phone number: shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005
through 2009;
Executive(s) or director(s) in common: [Empty];
Shared EIN: no information available to support indicator analysis;
Shared bank account: no information available to support indicator
analysis.
Organization: ACORN Las Cruces;
Shared address:
Shared phone number: no information available to support indicator
analysis;
Executive(s) or director(s) in common: shared indicator with ACORN
fiscal years 2005 through 2009;
Shared EIN: no information available to support indicator analysis;
Shared bank account: no information available to support indicator
analysis.
Organization: ACORN Maryland;
Shared address: shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005 through
2009;
Shared phone number: shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005
through 2009;
Executive(s) or director(s) in common: [Empty];
Shared EIN: no information available to support indicator analysis;
Shared bank account: no information available to support indicator
analysis.
Organization: ACORN Oakland;
Shared address: shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005 through
2009;
Shared phone number: no information available to support indicator
analysis;
Executive(s) or director(s) in common: no information available to
support indicator analysis;
Shared EIN: no information available to support indicator analysis;
Shared bank account: no information available to support indicator
analysis.
Organization: ACORN San Francisco;
Shared address: shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005 through
2009;
Shared phone number: no information available to support indicator
analysis;
Executive(s) or director(s) in common: no information available to
support indicator analysis;
Shared EIN: [Empty];
Shared bank account: no information available to support indicator
analysis.
Organization: ACORN San Mateo;
Shared address: shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005 through
2009;
Shared phone number: no information available to support indicator
analysis;
Executive(s) or director(s) in common: no information available to
support indicator analysis;
Shared EIN: shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005 through 2009;
Shared bank account: no information available to support indicator
analysis.
Organization: AHC (Baltimore);
Shared address: shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005 through
2009;
Shared phone number: no information available to support indicator
analysis;
Executive(s) or director(s) in common: [Empty];
Shared EIN: no information available to support indicator analysis;
Shared bank account: no information available to support indicator
analysis.
Organization: AHC (Bridgeport);
Shared address: shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005 through
2009;
Shared phone number: shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005
through 2009;
Executive(s) or director(s) in common: shared indicator with ACORN
fiscal years 2005 through 2009;
Shared EIN: no information available to support indicator analysis;
Shared bank account: no information available to support indicator
analysis.
Organization: AHC (Chicago);
Shared address: shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005 through
2009;
Shared phone number: [Empty];
Executive(s) or director(s) in common: shared indicator with ACORN
fiscal years 2005 through 2009;
Shared EIN: shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005 through 2009;
Shared bank account: no information available to support indicator
analysis.
Organization: AHC (Houston)[A];
Shared address: shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005 through
2009;
Shared phone number: no information available to support indicator
analysis;
Executive(s) or director(s) in common: [Empty];
Shared EIN: no information available to support indicator analysis;
Shared bank account: no information available to support indicator
analysis.
Organization: AHC (Kansas City);
Shared address: shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005 through
2009;
Shared phone number: [Empty];
Executive(s) or director(s) in common: [Empty];
Shared EIN: no information available to support indicator analysis;
Shared bank account: no information available to support indicator
analysis.
Organization: AHC (Miami);
Shared address: shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005 through
2009;
Shared phone number: shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005
through 2009;
Executive(s) or director(s) in common: no information available to
support indicator analysis;
Shared EIN: no information available to support indicator analysis;
Shared bank account: no information available to support indicator
analysis.
Organization: AHC (New Orleans);
Shared address: shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005 through
2009;
Shared phone number: no information available to support indicator
analysis;
Executive(s) or director(s) in common: [Empty];
Shared EIN: no information available to support indicator analysis;
Shared bank account: no information available to support indicator
analysis.
Organization: AHC New York;
Shared address: shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005 through
2009;
Shared phone number: [Empty];
Executive(s) or director(s) in common: [Empty];
Shared EIN: no information available to support indicator analysis;
Shared bank account: no information available to support indicator
analysis.
Organization: AHC (Oakland);
Shared address: shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005 through
2009;
Shared phone number: no information available to support indicator
analysis;
Executive(s) or director(s) in common: shared indicator with ACORN
fiscal years 2005 through 2009;
Shared EIN: no information available to support indicator analysis;
Shared bank account: no information available to support indicator
analysis.
Organization: AHC of Pennsylvania;
Shared address: shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005 through
2009;
Shared phone number: [Empty];
Executive(s) or director(s) in common: shared indicator with ACORN
fiscal years 2005 through 2009;
Shared EIN: no information available to support indicator analysis;
Shared bank account: no information available to support indicator
analysis.
Organization: AHC (St. Louis);
Shared address: shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005 through
2009;
Shared phone number: [Empty];
Executive(s) or director(s) in common: [Empty];
Shared EIN: no information available to support indicator analysis;
Shared bank account: no information available to support indicator
analysis.
Organization: AHC (St. Paul);
Shared address: shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005 through
2009;
Shared phone number: [Empty];
Executive(s) or director(s) in common: shared indicator with ACORN
fiscal years 2005 through 2009;
Shared EIN: no information available to support indicator analysis;
Shared bank account: no information available to support indicator
analysis.
Organization: American Institute for Social Justice (Denver);
Shared address: shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005 through
2009;
Shared phone number: no information available to support indicator
analysis;
Executive(s) or director(s) in common: shared indicator with ACORN
fiscal years 2005 through 2009;
Shared EIN: no information available to support indicator analysis;
Shared bank account: no information available to support indicator
analysis.
Organization: American Institute for Social Justice (Washington, D.C.);
Shared address: shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005 through
2009;
Shared phone number: no information available to support indicator
analysis;
Executive(s) or director(s) in common: shared indicator with ACORN
fiscal years 2005 through 2009;
Shared EIN: no information available to support indicator analysis;
Shared bank account: no information available to support indicator
analysis.
Organization: Arizona AHC;
Shared address: shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005 through
2009;
Shared phone number: [Empty];
Executive(s) or director(s) in common: shared indicator with ACORN
fiscal years 2005 through 2009;
Shared EIN: no information available to support indicator analysis;
Shared bank account: no information available to support indicator
analysis.
Organization: Arkansas ACORN;
Shared address: shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005 through
2009;
Shared phone number: shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005
through 2009;
Executive(s) or director(s) in common: shared indicator with ACORN
fiscal years 2005 through 2009;
Shared EIN: shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005 through 2009;
Shared bank account: no information available to support indicator
analysis.
Organization: Arkansas Broadcasting Foundation (KABF-FM);
Shared address: shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005 through
2009;
Shared phone number: [Empty];
Executive(s) or director(s) in common: [Empty];
Shared EIN: no information available to support indicator analysis;
Shared bank account: no information available to support indicator
analysis.
Organization: MHANY Management, Inc;
Shared address: shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005 through
2009;
Shared phone number: [Empty];
Executive(s) or director(s) in common: [Empty];
Shared EIN: no information available to support indicator analysis;
Shared bank account: no information available to support indicator
analysis.
Source: GAO analysis of indicator data.
Legend:
[Empty] = no shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005 through
FY2009:
[A] The indicator information available in the grant documentation for
AHC (Houston) does not match with ACORN. We included this organization
because the databases we consulted as part of our indicator analysis
reflect that it is the same organization as "ACORN Housing (Houston),"
which was involved in a DOL investigation and shares an indicator of
affiliation with ACORN.
[End of table]
Table 12 documents the indicator analysis we conducted for the
organizations involved in investigations, prosecutions, cases, and
matters identified by DOJ, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and
DOL for which the agencies did not have DUNS numbers available for
these organizations. Similar to tables 10 and 11, table 12
distinguishes between instances where there was not information
available to compare with ACORN indicators (signified with "-") and
instances where there was information available to make the
comparison, but no match was found (the cell is blank). We did not
identify any indicators of affiliation for the organizations involved
in 22 of the 44 investigations or cases identified by agencies.
[Footnote 66]
Table 12: Indicators of Potential Affiliation with ACORN:
Organizations or Their Employees Investigated or Prosecuted by DOJ,
FBI, FEC or DOL, Fiscal Years 2005 through 2009:
Organization: ACORN[A];
Shared address: Yes;
Shared phone number: shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005
through 2009;
Executive(s) or director(s) in common: shared indicator with ACORN
fiscal years 2005 through 2009;
Shared EIN: no information available to support indicator analysis;
Shared bank account: no information available to support indicator
analysis.
Organization: ACORN[A];
Shared address: Yes;
Shared phone number: shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005
through 2009;
Executive(s) or director(s) in common: no information available to
support indicator analysis;
Shared EIN: no information available to support indicator analysis;
Shared bank account: no information available to support indicator
analysis.
Organization: ACORN[A];
Shared address: Yes;
Shared phone number: [Empty];
Executive(s) or director(s) in common: no information available to
support indicator analysis;
Shared EIN: no information available to support indicator analysis;
Shared bank account: no information available to support indicator
analysis.
Organization: ACORN, Inc.[A];
Shared address: Yes;
Shared phone number: shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005
through 2009;
Executive(s) or director(s) in common: no information available to
support indicator analysis;
Shared EIN: no information available to support indicator analysis;
Shared bank account: no information available to support indicator
analysis.
Organization: ACORN[A];
Shared address: Yes;
Shared phone number: shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005
through 2009;
Executive(s) or director(s) in common:
Shared EIN:
Shared bank account:
Organization: ACORN[A];
Shared address: Yes;
Shared phone number: shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005
through 2009;
Executive(s) or director(s) in common: no information available to
support indicator analysis;
Shared EIN: no information available to support indicator analysis;
Shared bank account: no information available to support indicator
analysis.
Organization: ACORN Associates;
Shared address: Yes;
Shared phone number:
Executive(s) or director(s) in common: no information available to
support indicator analysis;
Shared EIN: no information available to support indicator analysis;
Shared bank account: no information available to support indicator
analysis.
Organization: ACORN (Columbus);
Shared address: Yes;
Shared phone number: [Empty];
Executive(s) or director(s) in common: no information available to
support indicator analysis;
Shared EIN: shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005 through 2009;
Shared bank account:
Organization: ACORN (Dorchester);
Shared address:
Shared phone number: shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005
through 2009;
Executive(s) or director(s) in common: shared indicator with ACORN
fiscal years 2005 through 2009; no information available to support
indicator analysis;
Shared EIN:
Shared bank account: no information available to support indicator
analysis.
Organization: ACORN Housing (Houston);
Shared address: Yes;
Shared phone number: [Empty];
Executive(s) or director(s) in common: [Empty];
Shared EIN: shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005 through 2009;
Shared bank account: no information available to support indicator
analysis.
Organization: ACORN Housing (Kansas City);
Shared address: Yes;
Shared phone number: no information available to support indicator
analysis;
Executive(s) or director(s) in common: no information available to
support indicator analysis;
Shared EIN: no information available to support indicator analysis;
Shared bank account: no information available to support indicator
analysis.
Organization: ACORN (Miami);
Shared address: Yes;
Shared phone number: no information available to support indicator
analysis;
Executive(s) or director(s) in common: no information available to
support indicator analysis;
Shared EIN: shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005 through 2009;
Shared bank account: no information available to support indicator
analysis.
Organization: ACORN (Newark);
Shared address: Yes;
Shared phone number: [Empty];
Executive(s) or director(s) in common: no information available to
support indicator analysis;
Shared EIN: shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005 through 2009;
Shared bank account:
Organization: ACORN (New Orleans);
Shared address: Yes;
Shared phone number: shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005
through 2009;
Executive(s) or director(s) in common: shared indicator with ACORN
fiscal years 2005 through 2009; no information available to support
indicator analysis;
Shared EIN:
Shared bank account: no information available to support indicator
analysis.
Organization: ACORN (St. Louis)[B];
Shared address: Yes;
Shared phone number: no information available to support indicator
analysis;
Executive(s) or director(s) in common: no information available to
support indicator analysis;
Shared EIN: no information available to support indicator analysis;
Shared bank account: no information available to support indicator
analysis.
Organization: ACORN (St. Louis)[B];
Shared address:
Shared phone number: shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005
through 2009;
Executive(s) or director(s) in common: shared indicator with ACORN
fiscal years 2005 through 2009;
Shared EIN: no information available to support indicator analysis;
Shared bank account: no information available to support indicator
analysis.
Organization: ACORN (Tucson);
Shared address: Yes;
Shared phone number: no information available to support indicator
analysis;
Executive(s) or director(s) in common: no information available to
support indicator analysis;
Shared EIN: no information available to support indicator analysis;
Shared bank account: no information available to support indicator
analysis.
Organization: AHC (Oakland);
Shared address: Yes;
Shared phone number: [Empty];
Executive(s) or director(s) in common: no information available to
support indicator analysis;
Shared EIN: no information available to support indicator analysis;
Shared bank account: no information available to support indicator
analysis.
Organization: Citizens Consulting, Inc.;
Shared address: Yes;
Shared phone number: shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005
through 2009;
Executive(s) or director(s) in common: shared indicator with ACORN
fiscal years 2005 through 2009;
Shared EIN: no information available to support indicator analysis;
Shared bank account: no information available to support indicator
analysis.
Organization: Project Vote[C];
Shared address: Yes;
Shared phone number: [Empty];
Executive(s) or director(s) in common: no information available to
support indicator analysis;
Shared EIN: no information available to support indicator analysis;
Shared bank account: no information available to support indicator
analysis.
Organization: SEIU;
Shared address:
Shared phone number:
Executive(s) or director(s) in common: shared indicator with ACORN
fiscal years 2005 through 2009;
Shared EIN: no information available to support indicator analysis;
Shared bank account: no information available to support indicator
analysis.
Organization: SEIU Local 100 (New Orleans);
Shared address: Yes;
Shared phone number: [Empty];
Executive(s) or director(s) in common: shared indicator with ACORN
fiscal years 2005 through 2009;
Shared EIN: no information available to support indicator analysis;
Shared bank account: no information available to support indicator
analysis.
Source: GAO analysis of indicator data.
Legend:
[Empty] = no shared indicator with ACORN fiscal years 2005 through
2009:
[A] For the "ACORN" organizations listed without a city, the agency
that provided these investigations requested that we not name the
cities in our report.
[B] ACORN (St. Louis) is involved in separate investigations or cases.
It is listed twice because we could not verify that this is the same
organization based on the indicator information available.
[C] The indicator information available in the case and investigation
materials for "Project Vote" do not match with ACORN. We included this
organization because the information available indicates that this
organization is the same as the funded organization named "Project
Vote," which shares an indicator of affiliation with ACORN.
[End of table]
Objectives Methodology:
To identify funding awarded to ACORN or potentially related
organizations and the purpose of this funding, we asked 31 federal
agencies to identify grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements
awarded as a direct award, or to the extent possible, subawards, to a
list of ACORN or potentially related organizations for fiscal years
2005 through 2009.[Footnote 67] We requested information on federal
funding that was awarded to ACORN or potentially related
organizations, without regard to how much of the total award amount
was actually disbursed to the organizations. We requested and reviewed
documentation from selected agency grantees regarding funding that was
provided as subawards (grants or contracts awarded by the direct
recipient of federal funds to another organization) to ACORN or
potentially related organizations.
For those agencies that relied on databases to identify any ACORN
funding, we requested information that would enable us to determine
whether the databases were reliable for our purposes. We assessed the
reliability of agency databases used to search for funding by
reviewing agencies' annual financial statements and agency responses
to questions regarding the integrity of those databases. We determined
that the databases were reliable for our purposes.
To determine the extent to which agencies' monitoring processes
captured issues identified by audits, we obtained and reviewed
relevant inspector general and internal audit reports from the six
agencies--CPB, DHS, HUD, DOJ, EAC, and NeighborWorks--that provided
direct funding to ACORN or potentially related organizations from
fiscal years 2005 through 2009 and whose Inspectors General or
internal audit units had conducted evaluations of these organizations
for the same time period.[Footnote 68] We also reviewed these reports
and found the conclusions and recommendations drawn in each report to
be appropriate based on methodologies used. In addition, we obtained
and reviewed information from these six, as well as the other seven
agencies that reported providing direct awards, on their protocols for
monitoring how ACORN or potentially related organizations used federal
funds and whether these organizations complied with the terms of their
grant agreements. We interviewed agency officials regarding their
monitoring activities and the extent to which their monitoring
processes were designed to capture the issues identified in the
audits, when relevant. We asked grant program and financial managers
and staff to identify any changes made to their monitoring processes
due to the audit findings. We reviewed the extent to which agencies'
applied their monitoring processes to funding awarded to ACORN or
potentially related organizations, whether these processes captured
findings from the audits, and identified any changes made by the
agency as a result of the review findings.
To identify investigations of ACORN or potentially related
organizations, we asked DOJ--including the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI) and DOJ litigating divisions[Footnote 69]--as well
as the 31 agencies and the investigative components of the Inspectors
General for those 31 agencies to identify any investigations or
prosecutions they have conducted related to the organizations on our
search list from fiscal years 2005 through 2009.[Footnote 70]
[Footnote 71] The Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys (EOUSA)[Footnote
72] searched its case management system, the Legal Information Office
Network System (LIONS) to determine if any of the organizations
identified on our search list had been the subject of an investigation
or case handled by any of DOJ's 94 U.S. Attorneys Offices (USAO).
[Footnote 73] Cases in which the prosecuted party was an individual
(rather than an organization) were identified by EOUSA from responses
it received pursuant to a request made to all USAOs to identify all
cases related to ACORN. In addition to investigations or cases
identified by DOJ, the FEC identified matters involving federal
election law and DOL identified wage and hour disputes that they have
jurisdiction to investigate. We assessed the reliability of the data
that EOUSA, FBI, DOL, and FEC used to search for the investigations
and prosecutions they reported to us by reviewing information provided
about their systems, and found the data to be reliable for our
purposes. Agencies used name searches to identify cases in their
systems, which is not as precise a method of searching as by number,
so there is a potential that some cases may have been missed using
this method.
To address objective 4, we asked officials representing 27 out of the
31 agencies within our scope that are subject to 2010 appropriations
provisions that prohibit funding to ACORN or related organizations to
describe and provide documentation of the actions agencies took to
implement the applicable provisions. Various appropriations acts for
fiscal year 2010 restricted 27 of the 31 federal agencies in our
review from providing funding to ACORN and certain related entities;
these provisions are listed in appendix IV. Four agencies in our
scope--DHS, Department of Energy (DOE), the United States Department
of Agriculture (USDA), and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)--
were not subject to 2010 appropriations provisions that restrict
funding to ACORN and related organizations. Executive agencies are
required to establish and maintain systems of accounting and internal
controls that reasonably ensure compliance with applicable law, with
the control activities established by management of the audited
agency.[Footnote 74] An analyst and legal counsel reviewed the actions
described and agreed on categories that encompassed the actions. Also,
since we are only identifying organizations in this report that are
potentially related, but which may not be actually related to ACORN,
we are not making a determination that any organization named in this
report falls within the scope of any ACORN funding restriction.
Agencies are responsible for ensuring that they are implementing their
applicable appropriations statutes properly.[Footnote 75]
We conducted this performance audit from August 2010 through June 2011
in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards.
Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain
sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for our
findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. We believe
that the evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for our
findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives.
[End of section]
Appendix II: Monitoring Activities of Direct Grant Programs Conducted
by Agencies, Fiscal Years 2005 through 2009:
Table 13 shows the monitoring activities reported by the 13 agencies
that provided direct funding to the Association of Community
Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) or potentially related
organizations from fiscal years 2005 through 2009.[Footnote 76]
Table 13: Monitoring Activities of Direct Awards Conducted by Agencies,
Fiscal Years 2005 through 2009:
Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB):
Award program: Community Service Grant;
Awarded organization: KABF-FM;
Monitoring activities[A]:
Review of progress report: [Empty];
Review of financial information: [Check];
Review of work plans or other audit reports:
Communication with grantee staff: [Empty];
Review of expenditures: [Empty];
Site observation: [Empty].
Award program: Community Service Grant;
Awarded organization: KNON-FM;
Monitoring activities[A]:
Review of progress report: [Empty];
Review of financial information: [Check];
Review of work plans or other audit reports: [Empty];
Communication with grantee staff: [Empty];
Review of expenditures: [Empty];
Site observation: [Empty].
Award program: Internet Acquisition Grant;
Awarded organization: KABF-FM;
Monitoring activities[A]:
Review of progress report: [Empty];
Review of financial information: [Check];
Review of work plans or other audit reports: [Empty];
Communication with grantee staff: [Empty];
Review of expenditures: [Empty];
Site observation: [Empty].
Award program: Internet Acquisition Grant;
Awarded organization: KNON-FM;
Monitoring activities[A]:
Review of progress report: [Empty];
Review of financial information: [Check];
Review of work plans or other audit reports: [Empty];
Communication with grantee staff: [Empty];
Review of expenditures: [Empty];
Site observation: [Empty].
Award program: Direct Radio Conversion Fund;
Awarded organization: KNON-FM;
Monitoring activities[A]:
Review of progress report: [Empty];
Review of financial information: [Check];
Review of work plans or other audit reports: [Empty];
Communication with grantee staff: [Empty];
Review of expenditures: [Empty];
Site observation: [Empty].
Department of Agriculture (USDA):
Funding agency/office or division: Risk Management Agency;
Award program: Community Outreach and Assistance Partnership
Program;
Awarded organization: The Tides Center;
Monitoring activities[A]:
Review of progress report: [Check];
Review of financial information: [Check];
Review of work plans or other audit reports: [Check];
Communication with grantee staff: [Check];
Review of expenditures: [Empty];
Site observation: [Empty].
Funding agency/office or division: Agricultural Marketing Service;
Award program: Farmers Market Promotion Program;
Awarded organization: The Tides Center;
Monitoring activities[A]:
Review of progress report: [Check];
Review of financial information: [Check];
Review of work plans or other audit reports: [Empty];
Communication with grantee staff: [Empty];
Review of expenditures: [Empty];
Site observation: [Empty].
Department of Defense (DOD)[B]:
Funding agency/office or division: National Security Agency[C];
Award program: OneWorld Now! Summer Language Camp and After School
Classes;
Awarded organization: The Tides Center;
Monitoring activities[A]:
Review of progress report: [Check];
Review of financial information: [Check];
Review of work plans or other audit reports: [Check];
Communication with grantee staff: [Check];
Review of expenditures: [Check];
Site observation: [Check].
Department of Education (Education):
Award program: Fund for the Improvement of Education;
Awarded organization: The Tides Center;
Monitoring activities[A]:
Review of progress report: [Check];
Review of financial information: [Empty];
Review of work plans or other audit reports: [Check];
Communication with grantee staff: [Check];
Review of expenditures: [Empty];
Site observation: [Empty].
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS):
Funding agency/office or division: Office of Refugee Settlement;
Award program: Comprehensive Torture Treatment Services
and Capacity Building Project;
Awarded organization: The Tides Center;
Monitoring activities[A]:
Review of progress report: [Check];
Review of financial information: [Check];
Review of work plans or other audit reports: [Check];
Communication with grantee staff: [Check];
Review of expenditures: [Empty];
Site observation: [Empty].
Department of Homeland Security (DHS):
Funding agency/office or division: Federal Emergency Management Agency;
Award program: Fire Prevention and Safety Grant;
Awarded organization: ACORN Institute;
Monitoring activities[A]:
Review of progress report: [Check];
Review of financial information: [Empty];
Review of work plans or other audit reports: [Check];
Communication with grantee staff: [Empty];
Review of expenditures: [Empty];
Site observation: [Empty].
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD):
Funding agency/office or division: Office of Community Planning and
Development;
Award program: Self-Help Homeownership Opportunity Program;
Awarded organization: AHC;
Monitoring activities[A]:
Review of progress report: [Check];
Review of financial information: [Check];
Review of work plans or other audit reports: [Check];
Communication with grantee staff: [Empty];
Review of expenditures: [Empty];
Site observation: [Empty].
Funding agency/office or division: Federal Housing Administration;
Award program: Housing Counseling Grant;
Awarded organization: AHC;
Monitoring activities[A]:
Review of progress report: [Check];
Review of financial information: [Check];
Review of work plans or other audit reports: [Check];
Communication with grantee staff: [Check];
Review of expenditures: [Empty];
Site observation: [Check].
Funding agency/office or division: Office of Fair Housing and Equal
Opportunity;
Award program: Fair Housing Initiatives Program;
Awarded organization: AHC;
Monitoring activities[A]:
Review of progress report: [Check];
Review of financial information: [Check];
Review of work plans or other audit reports: [Empty];
Communication with grantee staff: [Empty];
Review of expenditures: [Empty];
Site observation: [Empty].
Funding agency/office or division: Office of Fair Housing and Equal
Opportunity;
Award program: Fair Housing Initiatives Program;
Awarded organization: Arkansas Community Housing;
Monitoring activities[A]:
Review of progress report: [Check];
Review of financial information: [Check];
Review of work plans or other audit reports: [Empty];
Communication with grantee staff: [Empty];
Review of expenditures: [Empty];
Site observation: [Empty].
Funding agency/office or division: Office of Fair Housing and Equal
Opportunity;
Award program: Fair Housing Initiatives Program;
Awarded organization: New York Agency for Community Affairs (NYACA);
Monitoring activities[A]:
Review of progress report: [Check];
Review of financial information: [Check];
Review of work plans or other audit reports: [Empty];
Communication with grantee staff: [Check];
Review of expenditures: [Empty];
Site observation: [Check].
Funding agency/office or division: Office of Fair Housing and Equal
Opportunity;
Award program: Fair Housing Initiatives Program;
Awarded organization: ACORN Community Land Association of LA, Inc.;
[Empty];
Monitoring activities[A]:
Review of progress report: [Check];
Review of financial information: [Check];
Review of work plans or other audit reports: [Empty];
Communication with grantee staff: [Empty];
Review of expenditures: [Empty];
Site observation: [Empty].
Funding agency/office or division: Office of Fair Housing and Equal
Opportunity;
Award program: Fair Housing Initiatives Program;
Awarded organization: New Mexico ACORN Fair Housing;
Monitoring activities[A]:
Review of progress report: [Check];
Review of financial information: [Empty];
Review of work plans or other audit reports: [Empty];
Communication with grantee staff: [Empty];
Review of expenditures: [Empty];
Site observation: [Check].
Funding agency/office or division: Office of Fair Housing and Equal
Opportunity;
Award program: Fair Housing Initiatives Program;
Awarded organization: ACORN Associates, Inc;
Monitoring activities[A]:
Review of progress report: [Check];
Review of financial information: [Check];
Review of work plans or other audit reports: [Check];
Communication with grantee staff: [Empty];
Review of expenditures: [Empty];
Site observation: [Check].
Funding agency/office or division: Office of Fair Housing and Equal
Opportunity;
Award program: Fair Housing Initiatives Program;
Awarded organization: American Institute for Social Justice;
Monitoring activities[A]:
Review of progress report: [Check];
Review of financial information: [Check];
Review of work plans or other audit reports: [Empty];
Communication with grantee staff: [Empty];
Review of expenditures: [Empty];
Site observation: [Empty].
Funding agency/office or division: Office of Fair Housing and Equal
Opportunity;
Award program: Fair Housing Initiatives Program;
Awarded organization: American Environmental Justice Project;
Monitoring activities[A]:
Review of progress report: [Empty];
Review of financial information: [Empty];
Review of work plans or other audit reports: [Check];
Communication with grantee staff: [Empty];
Review of expenditures: [Empty];
Site observation: [Empty].
Funding agency/office or division: Office of Fair Housing and Equal
Opportunity;
Award program: Fair Housing Initiatives Program;
Awarded organization: Missouri Tax Justice Research Project;
Monitoring activities[A]:
Review of progress report: [Check];
Review of financial information: [Check];
Review of work plans or other audit reports: [Empty];
Communication with grantee staff: [Empty];
Review of expenditures: [Empty];
Site observation: [Empty].
Funding agency/office or division: Office of Fair Housing and Equal
Opportunity;
Award program: Fair Housing Initiatives Program;
Awarded organization: ACORN Institute;
Monitoring activities[A]:
Review of progress report: [Check];
Review of financial information: [Check];
Review of work plans or other audit reports: [Empty];
Communication with grantee staff: [Empty];
Review of expenditures: [Empty];
Site observation: [Empty].
Funding agency/office or division: Office of Healthy Homes and Lead
Hazard Control;
Award program: Lead Elimination Action Program;
Awarded organization: ACORN Associates, Inc.;
Monitoring activities[A]:
Review of progress report: [Check];
Review of financial information: [Check];
Review of work plans or other audit reports: [Check];
Communication with grantee staff: [Check];
Review of expenditures: [Check];
Site observation: [Check].
Funding agency/office or division: Office of Public and Indian Housing;
Award program: Resident Opportunities and Self Sufficiency;
Awarded organization: NYACA;
Monitoring activities[A]:
Review of progress report: [Check];
Review of financial information: [Check];
Review of work plans or other audit reports: [Empty];
Communication with grantee staff: [Empty];
Review of expenditures: [Empty];
Site observation: [Empty].
Funding agency/office or division: Office of Public and Indian Housing;
Award program: Resident Opportunities and Self Sufficiency;
Awarded organization: ACORN Institute;
Monitoring activities[A]:
Review of progress report: [Check];
Review of financial information: [Check];
Review of work plans or other audit reports: [Empty];
Communication with grantee staff: [Empty];
Review of expenditures: [Empty];
Site observation: [Empty].
Department of Justice (DOJ):
Funding agency/office or division: Office of Justice Programs;
Award program: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
Grant;
Awarded organization: NYACA;
Monitoring activities[A]:
Review of progress report: [Check];
Review of financial information: [Check];
Review of work plans or other audit reports: [Empty];
Communication with grantee staff: [Empty];
Review of expenditures: [Empty];
Site observation: [Empty].
Funding agency/office or division: Office of Justice Programs;
Award program: Trafficking Task Forces and Victim Services Program;
Awarded organization: The Tides Center;
Monitoring activities[A]:
Review of progress report: [Check];
Review of financial information: [Check];
Review of work plans or other audit reports: [Check];
Communication with grantee staff: [Check];
Review of expenditures: [Check];
Site observation: [Check].
Department of State (DOS)[D]:
Department of Transportation (DOT):
Funding agency/office or division: Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration;
Award program: Technical Assistance Grant;
Awarded organization: The Tides Center;
Monitoring activities[A]:
Review of progress report: [Check];
Review of financial information: [Check];
Review of work plans or other audit reports: [Check];
Communication with grantee staff: [Check];
Review of expenditures: [Check];
Site observation: [Empty].
Election Assistance Commission (EAC):
Award program: Help America Vote College Program, College Poll Worker
Grants;
Awarded organization: Project Vote (Delaware);
Monitoring activities[A]:
Review of progress report: [Check];
Review of financial information: [Empty];
Review of work plans or other audit reports: [Empty];
Communication with grantee staff: [Empty];
Review of expenditures: [Empty];
Site observation: [Empty].
Award program: Help America Vote College Program, College Poll Worker
Grants;
Awarded organization: Project Vote (Michigan);
Monitoring activities[A]:
Review of progress report: [Check];
Review of financial information: [Empty];
Review of work plans or other audit reports: [Empty];
Communication with grantee staff: [Empty];
Review of expenditures: [Empty];
Site observation: [Empty].
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA):
Award program: Cooperative Research in Planetary Astronomy;
Awarded organization: The Tides Center;
Monitoring activities[A]:
Review of progress report: [Check];
Review of financial information: [Check];
Review of work plans or other audit reports: [Empty];
Communication with grantee staff: [Empty];
Review of expenditures: [Empty];
Site observation: [Empty].
NeighborWorks (NW):
Award program: National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling Program;
Awarded organization: AHC;
Monitoring activities[A]:
Review of progress report: [Check];
Review of financial information: [Check];
Review of work plans or other audit reports: [Check];
Communication with grantee staff: [Check];
Review of expenditures: [Check];
Site observation: [Check].
Source: GAO analysis of agency data.
[A] As part of the monitoring activities, a review of progress report
could include a quarterly, biannually, or final report, with agency
officials reviewing the grantee-provided progress report. Review of
financial information includes reviewing the financial report. Review
of workplans or other audit reports consists of agency officials
reviewing the scope of grantee's work or other audit reports (such as
inspector general or Single Audit reports) related to the grantee.
Communication with grantee staff includes both in person interview,
telephone, e-mail, and mail communication. Review of expenditures
includes receipts or invoices of funds used. Site observation includes
on-site program and financial observations by agency grant mangers and
staff.
[B] DOD Army Corps of Engineers contracted with the Tides Center for a
feasibility study of selected near-shore marine areas of Puget in
fiscal year 2005 for the amount of $132,785. An Army of Corps of
Engineers official stated that the contract has been closed and file
documents with information on monitoring have been destroyed per
records retention policy and thus, are not available. However, the
official stated that there were no apparent problems as evidenced by
full payment and no evidence of contract termination.
[C] DOD NSA official indicated that the Office of Naval Research
received delegation authority to review and certify invoices for NSA
grants and NSA grant office receives a copy of each certified invoice
and maintains it in the grant file.
[D] DOS awarded a direct grant to ACORN or a potentially related
organization; however, because the nature of the grant is sensitive,
details of the grant are not included in this report.
[End of table]
[End of section]
Appendix III: Federal Provisions Restricting Funding to ACORN and
Related Organizations and Related Court Case:
Congress passed provisions restricting the funding of ACORN or any of
its affiliates, subsidiaries, or allied organizations in the fiscal
year 2010 continuing resolutions (CR).[Footnote 77] In order to direct
agencies implementation of this restriction, OMB issued guidance that
called for agencies to take steps to comply with the restriction, such
as suspending existing grants and contracts with ACORN or related
organizations and notifying all federal grant and contract recipients
of the restrictions, among other actions.[Footnote 78] Subsequently,
Congress passed several fiscal year 2010 appropriations acts that
prohibited 27 agencies in our review from providing appropriated funds
to ACORN or various ACORN-related organizations.[Footnote 79] For 3 of
these agencies, the restrictions contained in their fiscal year 2010
appropriations acts covered the same organizations as the 2010 CRs,
i.e., ACORN or its subsidiaries, affiliates, or allied organizations.
For the other 24 agencies, the restrictions contained in the fiscal
year 2010 appropriations acts applied only to ACORN or its subsidiaries
Table 14 identifies the restriction provisions for the 27 agencies
within the scope of our review that are subject to ACORN-related
restrictions.
Table 14: Fiscal Year 2010 Appropriations Act Restrictions on Funding
ACORN and Other Entities for 27 of the 31 Agencies Reviewed:
Name of Federal Agency: Department of Commerce (Commerce);
Restriction: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010, Pub. L. No. 111-
117, div. B., § 534, 123 Stat. 3034, 3157 (2009);
Entities within Scope of Restriction: ACORN or its subsidiaries.
Name of Federal Agency: Department of Education (Education);
Restriction: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010, Pub. L. No. 111-
117, div. E., § 511, 123 Stat. 3034, 3311 (2009);
Entities within Scope of Restriction: ACORN or its subsidiaries.
Name of Federal Agency: Department of Health and Human Services (HHS);
Restriction: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010, Pub. L. No. 111-
117, div. E., § 511, 123 Stat. 3034, 3311 (2009);
Entities within Scope of Restriction: ACORN or its subsidiaries.
Name of Federal Agency: Department of Defense (DOD);
Restriction: Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2010, Pub. L.
No. 111-118, § 8123, 123 Stat. 3409, 3458 (2009);
Entities within Scope of Restriction: ACORN or its subsidiaries.
Name of Federal Agency: Department of Interior (DOI);
Restriction: Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related
Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010, Pub. L. No. 111-88, Div. A, § 427,
123 Stat. 2904, 2962 (2009);
Entities within Scope of Restriction: ACORN or its subsidiaries.
Name of Federal Agency: Department of Transportation (DOT);
Restriction: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010, Pub. L. No. 111-
117, div. A., § 418, 123 Stat. 3034, 3112 (2009);
Entities within Scope of Restriction: ACORN or any of its affiliates,
subsidiaries, allied organizations.
Name of Federal Agency: Department of State (STATE);
Restriction: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010, Pub. L. No. 111-
117, div. E., § 511, 123 Stat. 3034, 3311 (2009);
Entities within Scope of Restriction: ACORN or its subsidiaries.
Name of Federal Agency: Department of Veterans Affairs (VA);
Restriction: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010, Pub. L. No. 111-
117, div. E., § 511, 123 Stat. 3034, 3311 (2009);
Entities within Scope of Restriction: ACORN or its subsidiaries.
Name of Federal Agency: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA);
Restriction: Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related
Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010, Pub. L. No. 111-88, div. A, § 427,
123 Stat. 2904, 2962 (2009);
Entities within Scope of Restriction: ACORN or its subsidiaries.
Name of Federal Agency: Federal Election Commission (FEC);
Restriction: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010, Pub. L. No. 111-
117, div. E., § 511, 123 Stat. 3034, 3311 (2009);
Entities within Scope of Restriction: ACORN or its subsidiaries.
Name of Federal Agency: Department of Justice (DOJ);
Restriction: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010, Pub. L. No. 111-
117, div. B., § 534, 123 Stat. 3034, 3157 (2009);
Entities within Scope of Restriction: ACORN or its subsidiaries.
Name of Federal Agency: Department of Labor (DOL);
Restriction: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010, Pub. L. No. 111-
117, div. E., § 511, 123 Stat. 3034, 3311 (2009);
Entities within Scope of Restriction: ACORN or its subsidiaries.
Name of Federal Agency: Department of Treasury (Treasury) (including
the IRS);
Restriction: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010, Pub. L. No. 111-
117, div. E., § 511, 123 Stat. 3034, 3311 (2009);
Entities within Scope of Restriction: ACORN or its subsidiaries.
Name of Federal Agency: Election Assistance Commission (EAC);
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010, Pub. L. No. 111-117, div. E., §
511, 123 Stat. 3034, 3311 (2009);
Entities within Scope of Restriction: ACORN or its subsidiaries.
Name of Federal Agency: Department of Housing and Urban Development
(HUD);
Restriction: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010, Pub. L. No. 111-
117, div. A., § 418, 123 Stat. 3034, 3112 (2009);
Entities within Scope of Restriction: ACORN or any of its affiliates,
subsidiaries, allied organizations.
Name of Federal Agency: Corporation for National and Community Service
(CNCS);
Restriction: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010, Pub. L. No. 111-
117, div. E., § 511, 123 Stat. 3034, 3311 (2009);
Entities within Scope of Restriction: ACORN or its subsidiaries.
Name of Federal Agency: Small Business Administration (SBA);
Restriction: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010, Pub. L. No. 111-
117, div. E., § 511, 123 Stat. 3034, 3311 (2009);
Entities within Scope of Restriction: ACORN or its subsidiaries.
Name of Federal Agency: NeighborWorks;
Restriction: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010, Pub. L. No. 111-
117, div. A., § 418, 123 Stat. 3034, 3112 (2009);
Entities within Scope of Restriction: ACORN or any of its affiliates,
subsidiaries, allied organizations.
Name of Federal Agency: Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB);
Restriction: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010, Pub. L. No. 111-
117, div. E., § 511, 123 Stat. 3034, 3311 (2009)[A];
Entities within Scope of Restriction: ACORN or its subsidiaries.
Name of Federal Agency: National Science Foundation (NSF);
Restriction: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010, Pub. L. No. 111-
117, div. B., § 534, 123 Stat. 3034, 3157 (2009);
Entities within Scope of Restriction: ACORN or its subsidiaries.
Name of Federal Agency: Institute of Museum and Library Service (IMLS);
Restriction: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010, Pub. L. No. 111-
117, div. E., § 511, 123 Stat. 3034, 3311 (2009);
Entities within Scope of Restriction: ACORN or its subsidiaries.
Name of Federal Agency: National Endowment for the Arts (NEA);
Restriction: Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related
Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010, Pub. L. No. 111-88, Div. A, § 427,
123 Stat. 2904, 2962 (2009);
Entities within Scope of Restriction: ACORN or its subsidiaries.
Name of Federal Agency: National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH);
Restriction: Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related
Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010, Pub. L. No. 111-88, Div. A, § 427,
123 Stat. 2904, 2962 (2009);
Entities within Scope of Restriction: ACORN or its subsidiaries.
Name of Federal Agency: National Archives and Records Administration
(NARA);
Restriction: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010, Pub. L. No. 111-
117, div. E., § 511, 123 Stat. 3034, 3311 (2009);
Entities within Scope of Restriction: ACORN or its subsidiaries.
Name of Federal Agency: National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA);
Restriction: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010, Pub. L. No. 111-
117, div. B., § 534, 123 Stat. 3034, 3157 (2009);
Entities within Scope of Restriction: ACORN or its subsidiaries.
Name of Federal Agency: Social Security Administration (SSA);
Restriction: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010, Pub. L. No. 111-
117, div. E., § 511, 123 Stat. 3034, 3311 (2009);
Entities within Scope of Restriction: ACORN or its subsidiaries.
Name of Federal Agency: United States Agency for International
Development (USAID);
Restriction: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010, Pub. L. No. 111-
117, div. E., § 511, 123 Stat. 3034, 3311 (2009);
Entities within Scope of Restriction: ACORN or its subsidiaries.
Source: GAO Analysis of agency appropriations acts. Note: Our review
disclosed that DHS, Department of Energy, Department of Agriculture,
and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission were not subject to FY2010
appropriations provisions that restrict funding to ACORN and related
organizations.
[A] The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010, provided funds to CPB
for fiscal year 2012, as well as additional funds for specified
purposes for 2010, for example, for public radio and television fiscal
stabilization grants. Pub. L. No. 111-117, 123 Stat. 3034, 3274 (2009).
[End of table]
ACORN and other plaintiffs filed suit against the United States
claiming that the restrictions in the 2010CR were unconstitutional.
[Footnote 80] The federal district court preliminarily enjoined the
ACORN appropriations restriction contained in the fiscal year 2010
CRs; the CRs also then expired.[Footnote 81] The ACORN plaintiffs
amended their complaint to added the additional appropriations
restrictions in the fiscal year 2010 appropriations acts that
prohibited any appropriated funds from being awarded to ACORN and
other related organizations. The court ruled that these restrictions
were unconstitutional and enjoined their enforcement on March 10,
2010;[Footnote 82] the court also ordered OMB to rescind its guidance
to agencies for implementing the 2010CR as well as inform agencies of
the court's ruling, which OMB did.[Footnote 83] The Department of
Justice filed an appeal to the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
and was granted a stay of the lower court's decision on April 2, 2010,
which meant the restrictions would remain in effect while the appeal
was being considered.[Footnote 84] The Second Circuit then reversed the
district court such that the restrictions have continued to remain in
effect.[Footnote 85] Accordingly, the appropriations restrictions have
been in effect since April 2, 2010.[Footnote 86] OMB did not issue
additional guidance to agencies on the implementation of the
restrictions contained in the fiscal year 2010 appropriations acts;
however, OMB added a note to the guidance it issued after the district
court found the restrictions unconstitutional stating the Second
Circuit had issued a stay and that restrictions remained in force.
Figure 1 shows the timeline of actions related to ACORN v. United
States.
Figure 1: Timeline of Actions Related to ACORN v. United States:
[Refer to PDF for image: timeline]
Acorn litigation:
October 1, 2009: Continuing (CR) resolution enacted.
November 12, 2009: ACORN and other plaintiffs file suit.
December 11, 2009: Federal district court temporarily blocks the
restriction in the CR.
March 10, 2010: Federal district court permanently blocks the
restrictions in the CR and regular appropriations acts.
April 2, 2010: Second Circuit grants an administrative stay of the
district court‘s ruling.
April 21, 2010: Second Circuit grants a stay of the district court‘s
ruling pending appeal.
August 13, 2010: Second Circuit reverses district court.
February 22, 2011: Plaintiffs file a petition for a writ of certiorari
with the United States Supreme Court.
OMB:
October 7, 2009: OMB issues guidance to agencies.
December 14, 2009: OMB notifies the Offices of the General Counsel at
Federal agencies of the Federal district court‘s order.
March 16, 2010: OMB rescinds guidance and informs agencies of the
court‘s ruling.
April 2, 2010: OMB notifies the Offices of the General Counsel at
Federal agencies that the Second Circuit has granted an administrative
stay.
April 23, 2010: OMB notifies the Offices of the General Counsel at
Federal agencies that the Second Circuit has issued the stay pending
appeal.
May 19, 2010: OMB notifies interagency members of the Budget Officers
Advisory Committee at a meeting about the April 21, 2010 stay (and on
May 26th by email).
May 21, 2010: OMB adds a note to its guidance regarding the stay and
noting that restrictions are in effect.
Source: GAO analysis of court and OMB documents.
[End of figure]
[End of section]
Appendix IV: GAO Contact and Acknowledgments:
GAO Contact:
Eileen R. Larence, (202) 512-8777 or larencee@gao.gov.
Acknowledgments:
In addition to the contact named above, Kristy Brown, Assistant
Director, and Monica Kelly, Analyst-In-Charge, managed this
assignment. Leyla Kazaz, Julian King, Kimberly McGatlin, Lara
Miklozek, Amanda Miller, Diane Morris, Janet Temko, Robert Wilson, and
Su Jin Yon made significant contributions to this report. Sylvia
Bascope, Sunny Chang, Colleen Candrl, Christine Davis, Francis Dymond,
Richard Eiserman, Cheron Green, Barbara Guffy, Brandon Jones, Daniel
Klabunde, Susanna Kuebler, Mathew Scire, and Thomas Short also
provided valuable assistance.
[End of section]
Footnotes:
[1] The term "potentially related organizations" is used in this
report to encompass organizations where there is at least one
indicator, such as a shared address with ACORN, that the organization
may be related to ACORN.
[2] NeighborWorks is the trade name used by the Neighborhood
Reinvestment Corporation, which was established in 1978 by federal law
as a nonprofit corporation. See 42 U.S.C. § 8102. To streamline the
discussion in this report we use the term "audits" to encompass the
work of the five Inspectors General and NeighborWorks' internal audit
unit, which performs a similar function for that agency. In addition,
while both CPB and NeighborWorks are federally chartered, private
nonprofit organizations, for purposes of this report we refer to both
as "agencies." See 42 U.S.C. § 8102, 47 U.S.C. § 396.
[3] The restrictions contained in most fiscal year 2010 annual
appropriations acts continue to be in effect for fiscal year 2011
under the terms of the continuing resolutions enacted. Pub. L. No. 111-
242, § 101, 124 Stat. 2607 (2010); Department of Defense and Full-Year
Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011, Pub. L. No. 112-10, Div. B, §§
1101, 1105.
[4] In re ACORN, No. 10-50380 (Bankr. E.D.N.Y. Nov. 2, 2010). We
continued our work for this final ACORN report because the time frame
for our work on funding and monitoring--fiscal years 2005-2009, was
prior to ACORN's bankruptcy filing. Further, objective 4 looks at
agency processes for restricting funding to ACORN and related
organizations, organizations which may or may not be included as part
of the bankruptcy proceedings.
[5] Pub. L. No. 111-117, Div. B, § 535, 123 Stat. 3034, 3157.
[6] GAO, Preliminary Observations on Funding, Oversight, and
Investigations and Prosecutions of ACORN or Potentially Related
Organizations, [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-10-648R]
(Washington, D.C.: June 14, 2010).
[7] A DUNS number, which is assigned by D&B, is a unique identifier
for a business location. Federal agencies require that an organization
obtain a DUNS number to be eligible to receive direct federal funding.
[8] Related organizations could also include affiliates or allied
organizations. However, D&B's ACORN family tree--which includes
organizations that are considered to be part of ACORN--only consists
of branches and subsidiaries. ACORN's attorney provided information on
organizations that are ACORN chapters or share a mission with ACORN,
information that was incorporated into our analysis; however, a list
of affiliates was not provided, and ACORN has since declared
bankruptcy.
[9] Our comparison to ACORN included a comparison with ACORN
headquarters, ACORN branches, as identified by the D&B-generated ACORN
family tree, and the ACORN organizations listed in the ACORN
bankruptcy proceedings.
[10] Specifically, a "subsidiary" is a company in which half of its
stock or a controlling interest is owned by another company or parent
company. An "affiliate" is a person or entity that controls, is
controlled by, or is under common control with another person or
entity. Several of the definitions of "affiliate" we identified
provided tests for determining control relationships between entities;
whether an entity meets one or more of these tests does not
necessarily mean there is a control relationship, but may suggest one,
and there may be other factors that are relevant to determining
whether control, and thus affiliation, exists.
[11] The DOJ litigating divisions we queried included Civil,
Environment and Natural Resources, Antitrust, Civil Rights, Criminal,
Tax, National Security, and the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys.
The default rule is that DOJ is responsible for all litigation on
behalf of the United States and its administrative agencies;
accordingly, in general, agencies must refer investigations to DOJ for
prosecution. 28 U.S.C. §§ 516, 519; 5 U.S.C. § 3106. However, there
are certain exceptions where agencies have civil litigation authority;
for example, the Federal Election Commission has the authority to
bring enforcement actions for violations of the Federal Election
Campaign Act of 1971, as amended. 2 U.S.C. §§ 437c, 437d.
[12] 31 U.S.C. § 3512(c), commonly referred to as the Federal
Managers' Financial Integrity Act of 1982. Agencies' systems of
internal control must be consistent with the Standards for Internal
Control in the Federal Government, [hyperlink,
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO/AIMD-00-21.3.1] (Washington, D.C.:
Nov. 1999).
[13] See GAO, Principles of Federal Appropriations Law, vol. 1, 3rd
ed., [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-04-261SP]
(Washington, D.C.: January 2004), 1-35. "Every federal department or
agency has the initial and fundamental responsibility to ensure that
its application of public funds adheres to the terms of the pertinent
authorization and appropriation acts, as well as any other relevant
statutory provisions."
[14] In our prior report, we identified approximately $40 million that
was awarded to ACORN and potentially related organizations, as
identified by the Congressional Research Service (CRS). However, for
this report, we did not rely exclusively on the CRS list, but instead
conducted our own analysis to identify organizations that are part of
or potentially related to ACORN. As a result, we identified additional
organizations that received federal funding and had at least one
indicator of possible affiliation with ACORN. Further, agencies
included in our review provided information on additional awards that
they had not provided to us for our prior report.
[15] Pub. L. No. 109-282, 120 Stat. 1186.
[16] Subawards are to be reported for awards over $25,000 beginning
October 1, 2010, with a goal of 100 percent complete and accurate
reporting by the end of the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2011. Our
data collection period preceded the goal for full reporting, so we
chose to ask agencies directly for this information, and also to
capture funding below the reporting threshold.
[17] DUNS numbers are required for reporting subaward information to
USAspending.gov starting October 1, 2010.
[18] OMB Circular No. A-110, Uniform Administrative Requirements for
Grants and Agreements with Institutions of Higher Education,
Hospitals, and Other Non-Profit Organizations.
[19] [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-10-648R].
[20] 47 U.S.C. § 396(k)(3)(A)(i)(I).
[21] FEMA officials stated that for the Fire Prevention and Safety
grant, high dollar amount was about $1 million.
[22] Seventeen of the 31agencies in our scope identified funding to
ACORN or a potentially related organization; 13 agencies awarded
funding directly (3 also provided subawards), and an additional 4
agencies identified only subawards (EPA, NEA, NEH, and Treasury).
[23] The inspector general offices at DHS, HUD, and DOJ received an
additional congressional request in August 2010 to conduct a review of
ACORN or potentially related organizations. According to a DHS
Inspector General official, the office was already conducting an audit
of ACORN Institute when it received the additional request; therefore,
the office incorporated the results from the additional request into
the ACORN Institute report. See Department of Homeland Security,
Office of Inspector General, DHS Financial Assistance to the
Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) and Its
Affiliates (Washington, D.C., 2010). A HUD Inspector General official
stated that the office did not have adequate information to conduct an
audit in response to the additional request. The DOJ Inspector
General's audit was not issued as of May 31, 2011.
[24] HUD refers to five division offices that conduct different
monitoring processes based on the programs for which they are
responsible. These five division offices consist of: Community
Planning and Development (CPD), Federal Housing Administration (FHA),
Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO), Public and Indian Housing
(PIH), and Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control (Healthy Homes).
[25] CPB officials did not identify changes in monitoring processes,
as they continue to be subject to a cap on administrative costs.
[26] Webinars refer to technical assistance seminars transmitted over
the Internet.
[27] These agencies provided us with information on cases, matters,
and investigations. The term "case" refers to an investigation that
has resulted in the filing of some legal action in court such as an
activity that has been assigned an identification number that has
resulted in the filing of a complaint, an indictment, or information
in court. The terms "matter" or "investigation" are used to identify
investigations which are activities that have been assigned
identification numbers, but which, for a variety of reasons--typically
lack of sufficient evidence--have been closed without resulting in the
filing of a complaint, an indictment, or information in court--for
example, the investigation of a complaint or an allegation of
discrimination referred by another federal agency. The agencies did
not provide information on "open" investigations.
[28] The IG for the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)
responded for its agency and for the IMLS, as it is responsible for
both agencies. Also, the U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax
Administration (TIGTA) identified 11 tax-preparer investigations, but
could not provide us indicator information to establish potential
affiliation for the investigated organizations because § 6103 of the
Internal Revenue Code precludes them from providing such data. These
investigations generally concerned loss or theft of information
technology assets, fraud, theft, or embezzlement of refunds. TIGTA did
not search its other agency records because § 6103 of the Internal
Revenue Code prohibits the disclosure of taxpayer information by the
Internal Revenue Service, except in specifically enumerated
circumstances.
[29] An additional 5 closed cases were identified by EOUSA and
included in our preliminary report; however, they are not included in
this report because indicators for the organizations involved,
including address, phone number, and executives as provided by EOUSA,
did not match with indicators for ACORN. We identified an additional
case for which the original indictment indicated that the defendant
was employed by ACORN; however, superseding information stated that
the defendant was employed by another not-for profit organization.
Therefore, we did not include this case in our report.
[30] Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, Pub. L No. 92-255, 86
Stat. 3 (1972), as amended. FEC included only matters in which ACORN
or a related entity (as identified in a congressional request to the
FEC dated August 11, 2009) were respondents. Because pending FEC
matters are confidential, the FEC's response was also limited to
matters that were closed and publicly available.
[31] Disgorgement refers to the act of giving up something (such as
profits illegally obtained) on demand or by legal compulsion.
[32] A conciliation, as defined by DOL, is a compliance action limited
to the correction of minor violations involving last paychecks, or a
single issue affecting one or a few employees, in which Wage and Hour
division staff seeks resolution between the employer and the
complainant with a minimal expenditure of enforcement time. As noted
in the table, DOL reported limited and full investigations. A limited
investigation, as defined by DOL, is a comprehensive compliance action
that includes all of the elements found in a full investigation, but
is narrowed in scope to a specific department, employment practice,
time frame, classification of employees, individual government
contract or section of an act. A full investigation, as defined by
DOL, is a comprehensive compliance action that examines all aspects of
an employer's compliance with a particular Wage and Hour Act(s) for
the full 2-year or other applicable maximum period.
[33] DHS, NRC, DOE, and USDA were not subject to ACORN funding
restrictions in their respective annual appropriations acts.
[34] 31 U.S.C. § 3512(c)(1): OMB Circular A-123.
[35] 31 U.S.C. § 1514(a)(1). Because both CPB and NeighborWorks are
private, nonprofit corporations, they are not subject to the same
restrictions and controls on their expenditures as are government
agencies. See B-131935, Mar. 18, 1986; see also B-308037, Sept. 17,
2006. However, appropriations made available to those agencies are
subject to restrictions in appropriations acts. B-131935; B-320329.
[36] Guidance on section 163 of the Continuing Resolution regarding
the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), OMB
Memorandum M-10-02.
[37] In December 2009, Congress passed fiscal year 2010 appropriations
acts with ACORN-related appropriations restrictions. The United States
District Court for the Eastern District of New York ruled on March 10,
2010 that funding restrictions regarding ACORN and related entities
are unconstitutional and prevented them from going into effect. ACORN
v. United States, 692 F. Supp. 2nd 260 (E.D.N.Y. 2010). On March 16,
2010, OMB issued M-10-12 informing agencies of the Federal District
Court's decision. The Department of Justice filed an appeal to the
Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and was granted an
administrative stay of the lower court's decision on April 2, 2010,
and then a stay pending the appeal. ACORN v. United States, Nos. 09-
5172, 10-992, slip op. (2nd Cir. Apr. 21, 2010). In response, OMB
added a note on May 21, 2010, stating that per the stay granted by the
Second Circuit Court of Appeals, the FY 2010 appropriations acts
remain in force during the pendency of the stay (OMB M-10-12,
Washington, D.C.: March 16, 2010). On August 13, 2010, the Second
Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the Federal District Court's
decision and remanded the case for further proceedings on First
Amendment and due process claims. On February 22, 20l1, plaintiffs
filed a petition for a writ of certiorari with the United States
Supreme Court seeking to have the case heard, and on May 9, 2011, the
District Court stayed the proceedings until the Supreme Court has
ruled on plaintiffs' petition.
[38] HUD based its determination that AHCOA is not subject to its
restriction on a review of the legal definitions for "subsidiary,"
"affiliate," and "allied organization," and a review of documents
provided by AHCOA regarding its business structure as of the time of
the restriction.
[39] B-320329, Sept. 29, 2010. NeighborWorks America--Availability of
Appropriations for Grants to Affordable Housing Centers of America.
GAO concluded that AHCOA, as constituted September 2010, is not an
affiliate, subsidiary, or allied organization of ACORN because the two
entities are not currently financially or organizationally related;
accordingly, AHCOA does not currently fall within the scope of section
418 of the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related
Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010. Id. GAO's Office of the General
Counsel is responsible for providing decisions on the use and
obligation of appropriated funds, separate from GAO's statutory
authority to investigate matters related to the use of public money
and evaluate the results of programs and activities carried out by the
government. See 31 U.S.C. §§ 712, 717, 3529. GAO may issue decisions
when requested by disbursing officers, certifying officers, or the
heads of federal agencies and agency components, who may be uncertain
whether they have authority to make, or authorize the making of,
particular payments.
[40] USASpending.gov is a free, publicly accessible Web site
established by the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act
of 2006 that contains data on awards from federal agencies (e.g.,
contracts, loans, grants, and subawards beginning October 2010).
Funding restrictions contained in appropriations acts for fiscal year
2010 continued to be in place for fiscal year 2011 for agencies
operating under continuing resolutions. As we have previously
discussed, the presence of any one or more indicators may be
suggestive of a control relationship, and thus, affiliation, but does
not mean that an entity is affiliated with ACORN. In addition, some
agencies are prohibited from providing funds to ACORN and its
affiliates, subsidiaries, and allied organizations, while other
agencies are prohibited from providing funds to ACORN or its
subsidiaries only.
[41] See GAO, Electronic Government: Implementation of the Federal
Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006, [hyperlink,
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-10-365] (Washington, D.C.: March 12,
2010). GAO identified some data inconsistencies with USAspending.gov
and agency records in a random sample of 100 awards, most commonly in
the purpose of the award and city where the work was performed. As
subaward information was not required to be reported until after this
report was issued, the completeness of subaward reporting was not
reviewed.
[42] An executive of ACORN who served on the board of directors of the
Tides Center from 1995 through 2008 left the Tides Center Board in
2009. No other indicators of affiliation with ACORN were identified.
[43] GAO, B-320329, GAO determined that as of September 2010, AHCOA
was not an affiliate, subsidiary, or allied organization of ACORN and
does not fall within the scope of section 418 of the Transportation,
Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations
Act, 2010. Pub. L. No. 111-117.
[44] A draft was sent to CNCS, CPB, DOC, DOD, DHS, DOI, DOJ, DOL, DOS,
DOT, EAC, Education, EPA, FEC, HHS, HUD, IMLS, NARA, NASA, NEA, NEH,
NeighborWorks, NSF, SBA, SSA, Treasury, USAID, USDA, and VA. We did
not request comment from two agencies, the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission and Department of Energy, because they did not identify any
funding to ACORN and potentially related organizations during our time
frame and had no related funding restrictions in their appropriations
acts.
[45] A copy of the draft report was sent to: the attorney formerly
representing ACORN; the Tides Center; AHCOA; Project Vote; the Agape
Broadcasting Foundation; the Arkansas Broadcasting Foundation; ACORN
Community Land Association of Louisiana, Inc.; MHANY Management, Inc.;
and the New York Agency for Community Affairs. Contact information was
not available to send the draft report to the remaining third parties.
[46] Agencies that reviewed the draft and had no comment included DOC,
DOS, DOJ, DHS, Treasury, EAC, HUD, NSF, NEA, NEH, NASA, SSA, and USDA.
[47] We use the term "audit" to encompass the work of the five
inspectors general and NeighborWorks' internal audit unit, which
performs a similar function for that agency.
[48] For the purposes of this report, we use the term federal "agency"
to encompass federal entities that include selected federal executive
departments, independent agencies, and nonprofit entities created by
law, such as NeighborWorks and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
(CPB).
[49] The Federal Audit Executive Council was created by the Council of
Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency to aid in the
discussion and coordination of issues affecting the federal audit
community.
[50] Is ACORN Intentionally Structured As a Criminal Enterprise? Staff
Report, July 23, 2009, U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on
Oversight and Government Reform.
[51] Federal Funding to the Association of Community Organizations for
Reform Now (ACORN) and Related Organizations, Congressional Research
Service, November 4, 2009, Memorandum.
[52] Review of the Department of Justice Grants to the Association of
Community Organizations for Reform Now Inc. (ACORN) and its Affiliated
Organizations, Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General,
November, 2009.
[53] Senator Grassley's staff provided us with a list of ACORN and
potentially related organizations.
[54] The HUD Inspector General provided us with two lists of ACORN and
potentially related organizations--one that it generated on its own
and another that it obtained from a bank with which a number of these
organizations held accounts.
[55] FAR § 4.607(a); 68 Fed. Reg. 38402.
[56] D&B uses the term family tree to identify linkages between
organizations, including a parent organization and its subsidiaries (a
corporation whose capital stock is more than 50 percent owned by
another corporation) and branches (a secondary location of its
headquarters). Linkages are based on D&B's global database of entity
information and D&B's proprietary linkage criteria, which included
electronic and manual matching components for ACORN's family tree.
According to D&B, linkage for nonprofit entities (which by definition
do not issue capital stock) is not readily apparent; therefore,
alternate methodologies were incorporated by D&B to establish family
relationships.
[57] D&B officials said that there were various reasons the additional
37 DUNS numbers were not included in the list they provided us,
including potential duplicate information, updates that changed the
information, and errors. We included the 37 DUNS numbers as part of
the 313 DUNS sent to agencies.
[58] DUNS numbers were not required for subawards, so matching was
generally by organization name for subawards.
[59] ACORN filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy on November 2, 2010. In re
ACORN, No. 10-50380 (Bankr. E.D.N.Y. Nov. 2, 2010).The bankruptcy
filing contained a list of prior addresses for the debtor (ACORN)
including the name used for the organization at various locations. The
ACORN family tree included two subsidiaries, Wal-Mart Worker's
Association, Inc., and Wal-Mart Alliance for Reform Now, Inc.; we did
not include these two organizations as part of ACORN but included them
in our list of potentially related organizations because our mandate
directed us to review funds received by ACORN, or any subsidiary or
affiliate or subsidiary of ACORN
[60] EINs provide unique tax identification for recording or tracking
tax activities.
[61] A DUNS number is a unique identifier for an entity, and is
associated with information that can then be compared to the ACORN
organizations.
[62] The Recovery Act Accountability and Transparency Board (Board)
was created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to
coordinate and conduct oversight of Recovery Act funds to prevent
fraud, waste, and abuse. Pub. L. No. 111-5, § 1521, 123 Stat. 115,
289. Board officials used various databases--including Central
Contractor Registration (CCR), Excluded Parties List System (EPLS),
and the Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS)--which they were able
to search simultaneously to access information pertinent to our
indicator analysis. Guidestar's database of 1.8 million IRS-recognized
organizations includes information such as the IRS Letter of
Determination, Form 990s (annual form exempt organizations must file
with the IRS each year regarding assets, officers, and other
information) financial statements, and annual reports. D&B Duns Market
Identifiers (Global) on LEXIS-NEXIS is a global offering of Dun &
Bradstreet's Market Identifier documents that includes U.S. and non-
U.S. records, as well as public and private companies in over 220
countries. Information includes: company name, address, DUNS and phone
numbers.
[63] The Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006
(FFATA), among other things, required the OMB to establish, no later
than January 1, 2008, a publicly accessible Web site containing data
on direct federal awards. OMB was to include data on subawards in the
accessible Website by January 2009 Pub. L. No. 109-282, §2(d), 120
Stat. 1186, 1188. OMB issued a memorandum to agencies directing
agencies to initiate subaward reporting on October 1, 2010 through
USASpending.gov, pursuant to FFATA.
[64] Agencies provided a DUNS number for two of these four
organizations: we had address, phone number, executive, EIN, and bank
account information for one organization; address, phone number, and
executive information for the second organization; and neither the
agency nor the primary grantee could provide a DUNS number or other
indicator information for the third or fourth organization.
[65] Our analysis of organizations potentially related to ACORN that
were funded fiscal years 2005 through 2009 included the ACORN Housing
Corporation, which shared executives and addresses in common with
ACORN during that period. ACORN Housing Corporation formally changed
its name to Affordable Housing Centers of America (AHCOA) in December
2009. HUD determined that for purposes of its 2010 agency‘s
appropriations restrictions that ACHOA was not a subsidiary,
affiliate, or allied organization of ACORN, and a GAO appropriations
decision concluded that as of September 2010, ACHOA was not a
subsidiary, affiliate, or allied organization of ACORN for purposes of
NeighborWorks‘ appropriations restrictions. B-320329, Sept. 29, 2010.
Our indicator analysis is for organizations funded in fiscal years
2005 through 2009 only and not for purposes of determining whether an
organization falls within the scope of any appropriations restriction.
[66] We did not include 11 investigations reported by the U.S.
Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA). TIGTA
officials stated that they could not provide us indicator information
for these organizations because § 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code
precludes them from providing such data. We excluded five cases
identified by Executive Office for United States Attorneys (EOUSA) and
one investigation identified by the Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI) because the address, phone number, and executive information
provided by EOUSA and the address provided by FBI did not match the
indicator information for ACORN. For the organizations involved in the
remaining five investigations, we had address and executive
information for one, address information for three, and executive
information for one, none of which matched indicators for ACORN.
[67] For the purposes of this report, we use the term federal "agency"
to encompass federal entities that include selected federal executive
departments, independent agencies, and nonprofit entities created by
law such as the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and NeighborWorks.
[68] The audit reports from the six agencies' Inspectors General and
internal audit unit consist of: Corporation for Public Broadcasting,
Office of Inspector General, Examination of Agape Broadcasting
Foundation, Inc., Licensee of KNON-FM, Dallas, Texas for Selected
Grant Periods and Fiscal Year 2008 (Washington, D.C., 2010);
Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Office of Inspector General,
Examination of Arkansas Broadcasting Foundation, Inc., Licensee of
KABF-FM, Little Rock, Arkansas for Fiscal Year 2007 (Washington, D.C.,
2010); Department of Homeland Security, Office of Inspector General,
DHS Financial Assistance to the Association of Community Organizations
for Reform Now (ACORN) and Its Affiliates (Washington, D.C., 2010);
Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector
General for Audit, ACORN Associates, Inc., New Orleans, LA, Materially
Failed to Use Its Lead Elimination Action Program Grant Funds
Appropriately (Washington, D.C., 2010); Department of Housing and
Urban Development, Office of Inspector General for Investigation,
Inspection, and Evaluations Division, ACORN Housing Corporation, Inc.,
Evaluation of HUD Housing Counseling Grant Expenditures (Washington,
D.C., 2010); Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General,
Review of Department of Justice Grants to the Association of Community
Organizations for Reform Now, Inc. (ACORN) and its Affiliated
Organizations (Washington, D.C., 2009); U.S. Election Assistance
Commission, Office of Inspector General, Administration of Grant Funds
Received Under the Help America Vote College Program by Project Vote
(Washington, D.C., 2010); and NeighborWorks, Office of Internal Audit,
Special Audit on the Use of National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling
Program Grant Funds by ACORN Housing Corporation, Inc. (Washington,
D.C., 2010). The inspectors general for the remaining 7agencies that
provided direct funding to ACORN or potentially related organizations
did not conduct evaluations of these organizations.
[69] The DOJ litigating divisions we queried included Civil,
Environment and Natural Resources, Antitrust, Civil Rights, Criminal,
Tax, National Security, and EOUSA. The default rule is that DOJ is
responsible for all litigation on behalf of the United States and its
administrative agencies; accordingly, in general, agencies must refer
investigations to DOJ for prosecution. 28 U.S.C. §§ 516, 519; 5 U.S.C.
§ 3106. However, there are certain exceptions where agencies have
civil litigation authority; for example, the Federal Election
Commission has the authority to bring enforcement actions for
violations of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as amended. 2
U.S.C. §§ 437c, 437d.
[70] FEC searched a list of 12 organizations included on a
congressional request, nine of which appeared on the list of DUNS
numbers we sent to agencies. Based on guidance from FEC, we searched
the remaining entities on their Enforcement Query System, which is
FEC's publicly available case management system.
[71] The IG for the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)
responded for its agency and for the Institute of Museum and Library
Services (IMLS), as it is responsible for both agencies.
[72] EOUSA provides administrative and operational support to the
USAOs, among other things.
[73] The term "case" refers to an investigation that has resulted in
the filing of some legal action in court such as an activity that has
been assigned an identification number that has resulted in the filing
of a complaint, an indictment, or information in court. The terms
"matter" or "investigation" are used to identify investigations which
are activities that have been assigned identification numbers, but
which, for a variety of reasons--e.g., lack of sufficient evidence--
have been closed without resulting in the filing of a complaint, an
indictment, or information in court--for example, the investigation of
a complaint or an allegation of discrimination referred by another
federal agency. The agencies did not provide information on "open"
investigations...
[74] 31 U.S.C. § 3512(c), commonly referred to as the Federal
Managers' Financial Integrity Act of 1982. Agencies' systems of
internal control must be consistent with the Standards for Internal
Control in the Federal Government, GAO/AIMD-00-21.3.1 (Washington,
D.C.: Nov. 1999).
[75] See GAO, Principles of Federal Appropriations Law, vol. 1, 3rd
ed., [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-04-261SP]
(Washington, D.C.: January 2004), 1-35. "Every federal department or
agency has the initial and fundamental responsibility to ensure that
its application of public funds adheres to the terms of the pertinent
authorization and appropriation acts, as well as any other relevant
statutory provisions."
[76] For the purpose of this report, direct awards (awards made by the
agency directly to an award-requesting recipient) include direct
grants, cooperative agreements, and contracts.
[77] Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2010, Pub. L. No. 111-68,
Div. B, § 163, 123 Stat. 2043, 2053 (2009); Further Continuing
Appropriations Resolution, 2010, Pub. L. No. 111-88, Div. B, § 101, 123
Stat. 2904, 2972 (2009).
[78] OMB M-10-02.
[79] Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies
Appropriations Act, 2010, Pub. L. No. 111-88, Div. A, § 427, 123 Stat.
2904, 2962 (2009) (prohibiting funds made available under the act from
being distributed to ACORN or its subsidiaries); Consolidated
Appropriations Act, 2010, Div. A, § 418, 123 Stat. 3034, 3112 (2009)
(prohibiting funds made available under Division A--the Transportation,
Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act,
2010--as well as prior acts, from being provided to ACORN, or any of
its affiliates, subsidiaries, or allied organizations); Div. B, § 534,
123 Stat. at 3157 (prohibiting funds made available under Division B--
the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations
Act, 2010--from being distributed to ACORN or its subsidiaries); Div.
E, § 511, 123 Stat. at 3311 (prohibiting funds made available under
Division E--the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs and Related
Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010--as well as any other division of the
Consolidated Appropriations Act, from being distributed to ACORN or any
of its subsidiaries); Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2010,
Pub. L. No. 111-118, § 8123, 123 Stat. 3409, 3458 (2009) (prohibiting
funds made available under the act from being distributed to ACORN or
its subsidiaries).
[80] Plaintiffs claimed that the restrictions constituted a bill of
attainder and violated the First Amendment and due process.
[81] ACORN v. United States, 662 F. Supp. 2d 285 (E.D.N.Y. 2009).
[82] ACORN v. United States, 692 F.Supp.2d 260 (E.D.N.Y. 2010).
[83] OMB M-10-12.
[84] ACORN v. United States, Nos. 09-5172, 10-992, slip op. (2nd Cir.
Apr. 21, 2010). The Second Circuit granted an administrative stay on
April 2, 2010, and a stay pending appeal on April 21, 2010.
[85] ACORN v. United States, 618 F.3d 125 (2nd Cir. 2010). Plaintiffs
subsequently filed for re hearing en banc, which was denied on November
23, 2010. On February 22, 2011, plaintiffs filed a petition for writ
of certiorari seeking to have their case heard by the Supreme Court,
and on May 9, 2011, the District Court stayed the proceedings until
the Supreme Court has ruled on plaintiffs' petition.
[86] The restrictions contained in the fiscal year 2010 annual
appropriations acts continue to be in effect for fiscal year 2011 under
the terms of the continuing resolutions enacted. Pub. L. No. 111-242, §
101, 124 Stat. 2607 (2010). Department of Defense and Full-Year
Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011, Pub. L. No. 112-10, Div. B, §§
1101, 1105. However, as of April 15, 2011, when DOD's fiscal year 2011
appropriations bill became law, DOD is not subject to an ACORN-related
appropriations restriction. See id. at div. A.
[End of section]
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