Follow-Up Audit Report on Other Than Personal Services Expenditures of Schools Within The Department of Education Regional Operations Center For Region 3 And District 75

AUDIT REPORT IN BRIEF

This follow-up audit determined whether the Department of Education (DOE) has implemented the four recommendations made in a previous audit entitled Audit Report on Other Than Personal Services Expenditures of Schools within the Department of Education Regional Operations Center for Region 3 and District 75 (Audit No. FP05-077A, issued May 4, 2005). In this report, we discuss the four recommendations from the prior audit in detail, as well as the implementation status of each recommendation.

The earlier audit determined whether DOE other than personal services (OTPS) procurement policies and procedures were followed for purchases of goods and services made by schools in Region 3 and District 75 that required Regional Operations Center (ROC) approval. In that audit, the auditors determined that the officials of the ROC and schools in Region 3 and District 75 generally followed DOE procurement policies and procedures for purchases that require ROC approval. However, there were instances of noncompliance with DOE procedures relating to the sole-source method of procurement for certain purchases. Specifically, the purchase files lacked justification letters; payments were made prior to the delivery of goods and services; and purchases were made prior to being approved.

Audit Findings and Conclusions

The current audit disclosed that DOE implemented three of the four recommendations made in the previous audit. However, we could not determine whether one other recommendation was implemented because the purchases that we reviewed (which comprised the entire population) did not exceed the monetary threshold that would require the approval of the Administrator of the Office of Purchasing Management. However, Regions 3 and District 75 instituted an internal control checklist to ensure that the procedures were followed.

In this current audit, we also noted that one school in District 75 appears to have split purchases to circumvent the approval requirements for purchases exceeding $5,000, the monetary threshold that would require ROC approval for these purchases. There was one instance in which the school issued two purchase orders to the same vendor.