Each award by the Program shall contain procedures regarding technical, business, and financial reporting and auditing requirements to ensure that awards are being used in accordance with the Program's objectives and applicable Federal cost principles. The purpose of the technical reporting is to monitor “best effort” progress toward overall project goals. The purpose of the business reporting system is to monitor project performance against the Program's mission as required by the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) mandate for program evaluation. The audit standards to be applied to ATP awards are the “Government Auditing Standards” (GAS) issued by the Comptroller General of the United States (also known as yellow book standards) and the ATP program-specified audit guidelines. The ATP program-specific audit guidelines include guidance on the number of audits required under an award. In the interest of efficiency, the recipients are encouraged to retain their own independent CPA firm to perform these audits. The Department of Commerce's Office of Inspector General (OIG) reserves the right to conduct audits as deemed necessary and appropriate.

[62 FR 64686, Dec. 9, 1997. Redesignated at 63 FR 64415, Nov. 20, 1998]