Audit Report on the Procurement Practices of the New York City Board of Elections

The New York City Board of Elections (BOE) is responsible under New York State Election Law for all matters associated with voters and Election Day operations throughout the five boroughs of New York City.

In Fiscal Year 2010, BOE expended a total of $95.7 million, consisting of $68.7 million for Other than Personal Services (OTPS) expenditures, covering the procurement of supplies, materials, goods and services necessary to support agency operations and $27 million in Personal Service (PS) expenditures.¹

The objective of this audit was to determine whether BOE’s procurement practices comply with applicable City rules and regulations (i.e., Comptroller’s Directives #1, #6, and #24, and Procurement Policy Board Rules).

Audit Findings and Conclusions

With some minor exceptions, this audit determined that BOE’s procurement practices complied with key provisions of applicable City rules and regulations, including Comptroller’s Directives #1, #6, and # 24, and Procurement Policy Board (PPB) Rules. The minor exceptions we noted include that BOE incorrectly used miscellaneous vouchers to pay for goods and services that should have been purchased on standard vouchers. Additionally, we noted that BOE incorrectly paid one vendor $1,352 for some excessive charges.

Audit Recommendations

The audit recommends that BOE (1) limit the use of miscellaneous vouchers to those purchases in which the estimated or actual expenditures cannot be determined as per Comptroller’s Directive #24 and (2) ensure that its staff closely reviews car service invoices and disallow charges for excessive wait time.

Agency Response

We received a written response from BOE officials on December 1, 2011. In their response, BOE officials agreed with the audit’s findings and recommendations, stating that BOE has taken steps to ensure that it will use a purchase order-based payment method and has instituted a new after-hours transportation management procedure and monitoring system.