States--Federal Aid, Grants, Etc.

The Department of Health, Education, and Welfare asked GAO its opinion as to whether the Department is in every case legally required to seek the repayment of funds paid under grants which have, subsequent to award, been determined to have been inadvertently made without authority under the statute and/or the regulations governing the grant program; and whether the Department may pay for expenditures incurred and noncancellable commitments made by the grant recipients prior to notification that the grant has been retracted.