Today, the Office of the Legislative Auditor (OLA) released a report highlighting poor grants management at the Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED). The report examined DEED’s management of state-funded grants for adult workforce programs and broadband development.

“The reports from the OLA on grant management are beginning to sound like a broken record,” said Senator Rich Draheim (R-Madison Lake). “Time and time again, our state agencies are more focused on supporting grant recipients than on accountability and oversight of taxpayers’ dollars. This change needs to come from the top, and that would require the Governor to actively manage his administration rather than traveling the country and chatting on podcasts.”

While the broadband development grants were largely without issue, the OLA summary identified concerns with workforce programs, stating, “DEED has not complied with the statutory requirement to analyze the impact of its workforce programs” and “the metrics that state law requires DEED to report for its workforce programs are not useful for measuring program success.”

The OLA identified several areas for improvement, including ensuring that nonprofits submit progress reports on schedule, withholding payments from nonprofits with past-due reports, completing grant closeout evaluations with all required information, and updating compliance policies and procedures to align with the Office of Grants Management requirements.

Last year, DEED spent approximately $354 million on state-funded grants, yet the report only covered a handful of programs.