National Service Trust

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Program level Payment Integrity results

Sponsoring agency: Corporation for National and Community Service

PROGRAM METRICS

$106 M

in FY 2024 outlays, with a

96.8%

payment accuracy rate

  • Improper payment estimates over time
    View as:

    Chart toggle amounts:
    Proper payments
    Overpayment
    Underpayment
    Technically improper
    Unknown

Payment Integrity results

  • FY 2024 improper payment estimates

    Chart legend and breakdown

    Payment accuracy rate

    Improper payment rate

    Unknown payment rate


    Sampling & estimation methodology details

    Sampling timeframe:

    01/2023 - 12/2024


    Confidence interval:

    95% to <100%


    Margin of error:

    +/-1.76

  • Actions taken & planned to mitigate improper payments

    Mitigation strategy Description of the corrective action Completion date Status
    Training
    • AmeriCorps had previously established a Payment Integrity Corrective Action Plan working group to address improper payment rates. This group identified the root cause drivers behind the improper and unknown payments. Based on this information, the group has created resources and delivered trainings focused on the identified improper payment root cause drivers. Those trainings are and have been available to grantees. The agency also provided resolution packets to grantees at the conclusion of the FY 2024 assessment linking specific root cause drivers of improper payments to the corresponding applicable statute, regulation, and available trainings.
    FY2024 Q4
    Completed
    Training
    • AmeriCorps had previously established a Payment Integrity Corrective Action Plan working group. This group will be revived in FY 2025 analyzing the latest payment integrity results and determining the best actions to reduce rates. Additionally, AmeriCorps has developed an internal control for grantees trainings that will be required in the FY 2025 terms and conditions.
    FY2025
    Planned

Overpayments

Overpayment root cause Overpayment amount
Amount of overpayments within the agency's control $0.0 M

Overpayment root cause Overpayment amount
Amount of overpayments outside the agency's control $0.0 M

Underpayments

Underpayment root cause Underpayment amount
Amount of underpayments $0.0 M

Technically improper payments

The amount of improper payments that were paid to the right recipient for the correct amount but were considered technically improper because of failure to follow statute or regulation $0.0 M

Additional information

$0 M

Unknown Payment Details

For disbursements related to grantee-managed members: Grantees are required by statute to certify when a member’s service is complete and that they are eligible to receive an education award. AmeriCorps must rely upon this certification to disburse education awards from the NST. Post payment reviews of full member files may result in the discovery of incomplete or non-complaint files that may be identified as improper or unknown disbursement. The results of the testing revealed situations where the grantee was unable to provide the required documentation to support the payment and/or the documentation provided was insufficient. In these situations, had the grantee been able to provide the missing documentation or adequately documented information a determination regarding the payment as either proper or improper could have been made.

For disbursements related to agency-managed members: There was one payment in with NST where the documentation at the agency level was unavailable, and a determination as to whether the payment was proper or improper was not able to be made.

The amount of payments that could either be proper or improper but the agency is unable to determine whether they were proper or improper as a result of insufficient or lack of documentation is $3.35 M


Cause of insufficient or lack of documentation & why the documentation is needed for determination of payment type
Payment cause Amount Description of the documentation that was not provided and explanation of why the program is unable to conclude whether the payment is proper or improper without that documentation
Other $3.35 M The AmeriCorps Payment Integrity Assessment uses documentation submitted by grantees and agency-maintained documentation to support the National Service Trust disbursement of education awards. There are situations where the grantee is unable to provide the required documentation to support the payment or the documentation provided is insufficient. In these situations, had the grantee been able to provide the missing documentation or adequately documented information a determination regarding the payment as either proper or improper could have been made. The specific documentation that was lacking pertained to missing/incomplete National Service Criminal History Check information for all improper payments within the control of grantees. One payment in with NST where the documentation at the agency level was unavailable related to a drug screening, and a determination as to whether the payment was proper or improper was not able to be made.

Mitigation strategies taken Mitigation strategies planned
Training Training

Evaluation of corrective actions

The agency is committed to the compliance with PIIA as demonstrated by the agency elevating the reduction of improper payments to be a key performance indicator in its strategic plan.

The improper payments reported in ASN and FGP are made that the grantee level. The improper payments in ASN and FGP are not made at the agency level and largely do not represent monetary loss to the government. The majority are unknown payments for which the agency’s grantees are unable to provide sufficient support documentation to determine if the payment was proper or improper. Since the agency does not have direct control over the payments, it has implemented updated trainings to ensure the grantees have the requisite knowledge to appropriately support their payments.

The NST rate is under the statutory threshold and will not report a rate in FY2025. However the improper payments identified are almost entirely related to National Service Criminal History Checks and retaining adequate documentation by grantee. Corrective actions to address these same root causes for ASN will also apply to the NST.

It is essential that grantees have access to training and resources that provide information on financial grants management. Having effective and readily available resources to guide grantees in program implementation promotes effective stewardship of federal funds and reduce non-compliance. The created resources build upon the agency’s currently available tools and focus specifically on areas of non-compliance.

The internal control training will target root causes in both unknown and overpayment categories to address adequate record keeping and controls to ensure payments are correct and correctly recorded.

Regarding the provision of training as a corrective action, AmeriCorps will reestablish the Payment Integrity Corrective Action Plan working group to identify corrective actions the agency could take to address its improper payment rate. Utilizing improper and unknown payments information from AmeriCorps’ annual Payment Integrity Assessment, the working group will identify the root cause drivers behind the improper and unknown payments. Based on this information, the group will implement additional action steps aimed at reducing these areas of non-compliance. The training and resources focus on the identified improper payment root cause drivers.

• As part of its strategic plan, AmeriCorps is prioritizing effective stewardship of federal resources. This goal includes the objective of reducing the agency’s improper payments via an agency-wide corrective action plan. The prior establishment of the working group represents a coordinated effort by the agency to develop and implement corrective actions aimed at reducing improper payments. The agency performs root cause analysis to determine why improper payments are occurring at the grantee level. This allows for more targeted actions.

Future payment integrity outlook

National Service Trust has established a baseline.

A reduction target was not set, as NST will not report in FY 2025.

Out-Year improper payment and unknown payment projections and target
Current year +1 estimated future outlays $106.31 M
Current year +1 estimated future improper payments $0 M
Current year +1 estimated future unknown payments $3.35 M
Current year +1 estimated future improper payment and unknown payment rate 3.15 %
Current year +1 estimated future improper payment and unknown payment reduction target 0 %

The program's current year improper payment and unknown payment rate of 3.15 % has been achieved with a balance of payment integrity risk and controls and represents the lowest rate that can be achieved without disproportionally increasing another risk, therefore it is the tolerable rate.

AmeriCorps previously set a tolerable rate of under 10% and under $10M for its susceptible programs. NST is well under that rate.

As part of its strategic plan, AmeriCorps is prioritizing effective stewardship of federal resources. This goal includes the objective of reducing the agency’s improper payments via five-pronged approach. Via the strategic plan that agency is committing resources – human capital, internal controls, and information systems, to reduce improper payments.

No resources were requested. The agency did not request resources because the payments are generally not made at the agency level and are made by individual grantees. Corrective actions to target grantees, such as trainings, can be developed and performed with resources available.

Additional programmatic information

Accountability for detecting, preventing, and recovering improper payments

The agency implemented an improper payment reduction corrective action plan group to develop actions to reduce the improper payments and this group will be reinstated in FY 2025. This group consisted of representatives from offices across the agency. Through root cause analysis and corrective action plan development, the agency is assessing where additional controls may be necessary to reduce improper payments. The improper payments reported for the agency are made at the grantee level, therefore the agency is developing an internal control training to strengthen the control environment at the grantee level. Executive managers, programs, and other staff contribute to improper payment corrective action planning. Reduction in improper payments may be included in performance conversations for those accountable for the reduction.