Our Work | Vander Weele Group

What We've Done

Featured Project:
New Jersey Department
of Community Affairs,
Division of Disaster Recovery and Mitigation

In 2022, the federal government released $350 billion to state, local, territorial, and Tribal governments in the form of Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery (SLFR) grants to support the communities hit hardest by the pandemic.

As part of the State of New Jersey's plan to develop a model integrity oversight program, the Vander Weele Group and partner Deluca Advisory Services were charged with developing a comprehensive Subrecipient Monitoring Plan. The plan's objectives included ensuring compliance with applicable law, implementing federal and state regulations regarding SLFR funding, and assisting subrecipients in identifying metrics to guide and evaluate program success.

Drawing on twenty years of experience in compliance, programmatic monitoring, and fraud prevention, the Vander Weele Group has provided the state with ongoing risk assessments and the means to evaluate and improve project performance, internal controls, cash management, acquisition and property management, and records management. Additionally, we've provided training to detect and prevent fraud, waste, and abuse, and in conducting subrecipient monitoring.

24,000

children and families served by the Early Intervention and Technical Assistance Monitoring Program.

23

states in which the Vander Weele Group has monitored federal grant money.

50,000

school employees' payroll records analyzed on behalf of a metropolitan school system.

230,000

school safety and misconduct reports analyzed on behalf of the Bureau of Indian Education.

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Recent Projects

City of Phoenix, AZ

Assessed home visits for the Head Start Birth to Five Program's home-based option in the City of Phoenix using the Home Visit Rating Scales (HOVRS3) tool. Contracted to observe and assess 168 home visits each year for a five-year term and conduct reflective feedback sessions with each home visitor to improve services for Phoenix families.

New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development

Drove creation of risk assessments and a fraud prevention and detection policy to aid in monitoring of $5.6 billion dollars of Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program funds, $9 billion in Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) program funds, and $3.8 billion in Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) program funds.

New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, Division of Disaster Recovery and Mitigation

Developed the subrecipient monitoring plan the Division of Disaster Recovery and Mitigation (DRM) will use to ensure subrecipients comply with ARPA, implement regulations, and assist subrecipients in identifying metrics for success. Includes initial and ongoing risk assessments, and means to evaluate project performance, internal controls, cash management, acquisition management, property management, and records management capabilities. Provided training in the detection and prevention of fraud, waste, and abuse, and in subrecipient monitoring.

New Jersey Division of Pensions and Benefits

Developed prioritized recommendations, risk assessment, and sampling and monitoring procedures following a Memorandum of Understanding between the NJ Department of Treasury and the NJ Division of Pensions and Benefits (NJPB) to aid in monitoring of $146.2 million in increased claims to NJPB resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection

Monitored more than $20 million in funds allocated to the NJ Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) to be awarded to grantees--primarily fishermen or fishery-related businesses--with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC). Conducted interviews, policy and procedure collection and review, developed a risk assessment based on recommendations to mitigate fraud, waste, and abuse. Reviewed benefits samples for duplication on behalf of the Office of the Comptroller to minimize overlap with ongoing fraud investigations.

New Jersey Redevelopment Authority

Supported creation of a risk assessment and conducted monitoring of state funds following a Memorandum of Understanding between the NJ Department of Treasury and the NJ Redevelopment Authority (NJRA) allocating $6.25 million to eligible businesses and property owners toward monthly lease obligations under the Small Business Lease-Emergency Assistance Grant Program.

Featured Project:
Early Intervention

Early Intervention programs provide coordinated services to children with disabilities younger than age 3 and high-risk infants and toddlers. The Vander Weele Group’s success in delivering compliance monitoring services for the State of Illinois, the sixth largest Early Intervention system in the United States, affords us considerable expertise on program logistics, staffing, training, and reporting to share with our clients.

We create agile and responsive compliance monitoring protocols and tools aligned with the Part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, state laws, and agency rules. We manage large-scale, complex compliance monitoring programs and provide continuous technical support infused with our deep knowledge of best practice.

We also harness data collected through compliance monitoring reviews and special investigations to identify systemic challenges and work closely with key partners and stakeholders to devise and enact solutions.

Public Sector Projects

Analyzed payroll records for approximately 50,000 school employees for evidence of fraud.

Identified hundreds of instances of fraud, including employees paid for more than 250 hours per week or residing cross country from assigned work locations.

Reviewed and recommended improvements in more than 20 major functions, ranging from information technology and recruitment to financial management systems, in multi-billion dollar organizations throughout the government and corporate sectors.

Built a comprehensive grant management system and monitoring program for a state agency overseeing grants that serve employees of the horse racing industry and their families.

Served as the outsourced Inspector General of the Public Building Commission of Chicago.

Served as a subject matter expert for the government of Indonesia in designing software with built-in algorithms to detect fraud in its procurement system.

Assisted Chicago Public Schools in developing Safe Schools planning guides and provided a detailed security assessment of one of the system’s largest high schools.

Provided robust training on the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015, School Board Roles and Responsibilities, Board Oversight, Ethics, Using School Data, Facilities, Roberts’ Rules of Order, Administrative Cost Grants, Emergency Planning, and more.

Developed training and tools for conducting fiscal and educational reviews of public schools. Wrote policy documents covering topics ranging from security, substance abuse, suicide prevention, and sexual harassment to search and seizure, drug and alcohol testing, anti-bullying, and zero tolerance for weapons.

Developed a Substance Abuse Prevention: Best Practices Resource Guide for educators and more than 25 custom forms and guides for monitoring in education, including a Parents’ Guide to Mental Health, Student Health Guidelines, Memoranda of Understanding, Student Codes of Conduct, Lost or Stolen Equipment Reports and School Entrance Health Forms.

"Each year, the Vander Weele Group has effectively met or exceeded its monitoring goals on time and within budget. The team has become a true partner, delivering more than monitoring services. They have made significant contributions to enhanced accountability and improved child outcomes in Early Intervention.

I heartily recommend the Vander Weele Group as a competent, caring, and professional organization."

Private Sector Projects

Saved a corporate client between $5 million to $7 million a year after analyzing approximately $40 million in credit card expenditures and identifying 145 suspect users, some of whom were criminally charged.

Investigated theft of half a million dollars from a client processing millions of dollars in checks. Worked with the client to obtain a written confession, and supported the efforts of the U.S. Postal Service and U.S. Attorney’s Office in indicting the employee responsible, who was part of a multi-million-dollar Nigerian bank fraud ring.

Performed more than 175 investigative projects for a Fortune 500 company, including a series of allegations relevant to compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2001, insider trading, kickbacks, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations, unauthorized diversion of scrap, conflicts of interests, procurement fraud, accounting fraud, and self-dealing.

As a subcontractor, conducted assessments of seven American manufacturing plants in China, Malaysia, and Singapore to prevent product diversion to the black market. Designed and conducted security audits of seven plants, and co-authored recommendations for development of a security compliance program.

Gathered intelligence concerning a company claiming revenue growth from $19.4 million to $155 million in three years. Uncovered multiple instances of fraud and mismanagement, including nearly 80 civil actions and a scheme to inflate revenues to obtain hundreds of millions of investment dollars. Liabilities totaled $800 million; the client who requested the investigation escaped the losses.

Saved a maintenance company $1.6 million in union contributions by documenting errors in a union audit that claimed the company owed the money. Reconstructed data from hundreds of purchase orders to demonstrate the audit was faulty.

On behalf of a client, conducted background investigation of a partner in a potential sales initiative with a foreign government agency. Uncovered prior convictions for war crimes and ongoing allegations of steering bids, leading the client to terminate the relationship.

Conducted investigations into complex inventory fraud schemes in American manufacturing plants in Shanghai, China, and in Guadalajara, Mexico. Used data analysis to show disparities in Certificates of Authenticity (COAs) entering the manufacturing line compared with COAs attached to product coming out of the Mexican plant. After one investigation, six employees in the Mexican operation were dismissed.

Prior to a $150,000 investment by the client, investigated an entity promising to raise tens of millions in capital. The investigation detected numerous inconsistences and improprieties, including connections to an infamous overseas cult leader implicated in sex abuse crimes and black market organ trade.

"We were hired by an art gallery to find a customer who stole more than $100,000 of artwork. With only a name and no permanent address, the Vander Weele Group was able to locate the thief's family in an off-grid country home fueled only by a wood burning stove."

Featured Project:
Bureau of Indian Education

In a five-year program, Vander Weele Group provided compliance reviews, evaluations and technical assistance to nearly all of the 183 schools funded by the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE). The firm made on-site visits to more than 140 locations in 23 states, reviewed more than 230,000 school safety and misconduct reports, and developed custom database tools for monitoring and reporting.

Each year, the Vander Weele Group provided a final report with recommended systemic reforms that addressed challenges such as high leadership and teacher turnover, inadequate technological infrastructure, insufficient understanding of student achievement data to drive educational programs, insufficient parental involvement, excessive carryover funds, violations of internal controls, Going Concern problems (schools improperly budgeting and at risk of exhausting their funds), and more. The BIE and its schools used the information from the monitoring visits and these recommendations to drive new strategies, future training, and technical assistance.