Follow-up Audit Report on the Controls of the Department of Design and Construction Over Contractor-Provided Vehicles

This follow-up audit determined whether the New York City Department of Design and Construction (DDC) implemented the eight recommendations made in the previous audit, Audit Report on the Controls of the Department of Design and Construction over Contractor-Provided Vehicles, (MH06-130A) issued June 26, 2007.

The previous audit determined whether DDC had adequate controls over the use and assignment of contractor-provided vehicles to DDC employees (including maintaining assignment forms on file, using trip logs to record how vehicles are used, and instituting procedures for assigning vehicles). The audit found that DDC controls over contractor-provided vehicles were inadequate. Specifically, six of the 154 DDC drivers reviewed drove contractor-provided vehicles while having a suspended drivers licenses or privileges, while DDC could not provide evidence that one employee had a driver’s license. In addition, DDC did not have a copy of current licenses for 25 of 154 drivers (20 of the 25 drivers had a copy of an expired license on file and the other 5 drivers had no license on file).

Furthermore, City vehicles were kept at home while drivers were on vacation, making these vehicles unavailable for use by other engineers in the division. Moreover, DDC failed to ensure that accurate records were maintained detailing how contractor-provided vehicles assigned to the Infrastructure Division were used and drivers did not complete their trip logs in accordance with DDC procedures. Also, vehicles assigned to the Technical Support Division were found to be used primarily for commuting rather than for work-related purposes.

Audit Findings and Conclusions

The current follow-up audit found that of the eight recommendations made in the previous audit, DDC has implemented five, has not implemented one and two are no longer applicable. Specifically, we found that: DDC maintained valid and up-to-date driver’s licenses; there were no DDC drivers (from those sampled) of contractor-provided-vehicles with a revoked or suspended license, and all of the drivers assigned contractor-provided vehicles were with the Infrastructure unit (the Technical Support Unit is no longer issued contractor-provided-vehicles). Further, DDC has established and distributed a written policy that clearly incorporates procedures for assigned vehicles when an engineer is planning to be away for a week or more, vehicle trip logs were completed as required, and DDC vehicle coordinators reviewed and signed-off on the vehicle trip logs included in our sample. However, we found that DDC’s list of drivers, sent to the New York State License Event Notification System (LENS) for the report, dated June 26, 2010, did not include all drivers. A complete list is critical because, among other things, LENS allows DDC to be notified when a driver’s license is revoked or suspended. Finally, one driver was found to be licensed out of state and domiciled in New York in violation of Department of Motor Vehicle regulations. An additional driver was found to be licensed in both New York and another state. Events related to out of state drivers’ licenses are not reported by the LENS system, if they occur outside of New York State. However, events occurring in New York State involving non-New York State licensees are reported by LENS. If DDC is unaware of the driving records of its employees, it can hinder DDC’s ability to defend itself in court if the driver had a poor driving record.

Audit Recommendations

To address the issue that still exists, we recommend that DDC:

• Ensure that the list of DDC drivers sent to LENS is complete and includes all drivers, including those with out-of-state licenses.

To address the new issues in this report, we recommend that DDC:

• Ensure that all drivers are licensed by the state in which they legally reside and maintain licenses in only one state.

Agency Response

In their response DDC officials generally agreed with the recommendations and described the actions to be taken to address them.