State biotech center corrected its problem promptly

The state’s biotech center hit a small road bump when state auditors found that it hadn’t provided adequate oversight for some of its grant recipients. But the center’s quick, cooperative response should put it back on track.

The North Carolina Biotechnology Center is a nonprofit organization financed by the legislature (which reduced its funding in the last session) that wants to build a future in the burgeoning field of biotechnology research. It promotes jobs, education and strategic policy efforts. Based in Research Triangle Park in Raleigh, it has regional offices in several cities, including Winston-Salem.

The center broke no laws and did nothing underhanded, but apparently it didn’t keep thorough enough documentation on how grant recipients used their grant money to satisfy state auditors. The auditors reviewed 21 payments representing $662,233 and found that four payments – that totaled $277,563 -- did not include items, such as invoices and payroll registers, to determine whether “the sub-recipient actually incurred the expenditures reported,” the Journal’s Richard Craver reported last week.

The center readily acknowledged the shortcoming, explaining that it traditionally monitored grant expenditures by federal audits and informal communication between scientific and financial teams. But it recognized the need to be more thorough.

“In accordance with the auditor’s recommendations, we will begin directly inspecting receipts for a random sample of large institutions that receive our grants,” the center reported. “We will also formalize the communication between our program and financial staff.”

We expect that to satisfy the auditors’ concerns and fulfill the center’s obligations.

The center needs to be held accountable for how its public money is spent. But its leaders seem to understand their obligations and are quick to cooperate with the state. This is how it should be.

Biotechnology is a growing field with vast potential for the future of our state and our city, whose reputation as a biotech hub is growing. Any major endeavor like this will hit a few bumps, but we hope for mostly smooth sailing from here on. And we hope the legislature will restore adequate funding to this crucial program.