Report 2021-118 Recommendation 13 Responses

Report 2021-118: State Water Resources Control Board: It Lacks the Urgency Necessary to Ensure That Failing Water Systems Receive Needed Assistance in a Timely Manner (Release Date: July 2022)

Recommendation #13 To: Water Resources Control Board

To increase transparency in the funding process and make its online search tool more useful to water systems applying for funding, by January 2023 the State Water Board should update its online search tool for funding applications to include the date the State Water Board expects to complete its reviews and award funding to the water system.

1-Year Agency Response

DFA staff completed the implementation of new data elements in LGTS and modifications to the mobile app status tool in April 2023. DFA staff will continue to provide timely updates to the new milestone status data elements in LGTS and will be highlighted in an upcoming LGTS training sessions. DFA staff will update data reported in the mobile app status tool on at least a monthly basis. The tool is available online here: https://public.waterboards.ca.gov/dfaAppSTAT/

California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Fully Implemented

The State Water Board updated its online search tool to include general timeframes for phases of the review and approval process, and the actual dates of the timeframes. These milestones include that applicants are typically issued a funding agreement for signature within 2.5 months form the date date the supervising engineer approves the project.

6-Month Agency Response

DFA staff are working with contractors to include new data fields in our Loans and Grants Tracking (LGTS) database to better track the status of each of the four application packages. These new data fields will provide additional details on what is missing or not yet complete, and where the application package is in the review process. DFA staff are also working with our Division of Information Technology to make the necessary modifications to the online Application Status Report to accept and report the new status fields, as well as additional information to help applicants and other stakeholders follow the process and understand anticipated process timelines. Due to resource limitations, staff plan to complete this work by March 2023.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Pending

We look forward to reviewing the State Water Board's progress in implementing this recommendation.

60-Day Agency Response

Division of Financial Assistance is looking at existing database information, such as key milestone dates in the contract development process, to determine which would be applicable to report in the online tool. Modifications to existing reports will be needed. Submit request to database contractor in September 2022.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Pending

All Recommendations in 2021-118

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.