by Mindy Aguon

Guam - GovGuam may have been awarded $98 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding, but it only received $82 million for the last fiscal year. Of that amount an audit found that only $22.2 million has been expended raising concerns that the island's public sector may lose out if the money isn't spent and soon.

Audit staffer Joy Bulatao says the audit also revealed that some GovGuam agencies haven't been spending federal money appropriately. "In December 2010 the Department of Administration transferred $3 million from the Edward Byrne Memorial Assistance Grant, even though they returned it in January 2011 they weren't supposed to use that money for GovGuam operations," she said.

Auditors also noted that the government must comply with procurement laws to prevent questioned costs with grantor agencies and ensure there is proper documentation. We should note however that the audit only shows the ARRA funding that was encumbered until the end of the last fiscal year.