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Audit Objective

Determine whether Copiague Fire District (District) officials used a competitive process to procure goods, services and professional service providers and ensured that no conflict of interest existed in the procurement process.

Key Findings

District officials did not always use a competitive process to procure goods, services or professional services or ensure no conflicts of interest existed.

• No competition was sought for professional services. Officials paid the 12 providers $388,628.
• Required verbal or written quotes were not always obtained when goods and services were procured.
  • 23 purchases totaling $129,696 reviewed required competition. Only one purchase totaling $2,076 was competitively procured.
• A Commissioner, employed by a company the District contracts with, did not disclose his company’s interests or abstain or recuse himself from approving claims and warrants. The District has been contracting with the company for about 10 years.

Key Recommendations

• Provide guidance for procuring professional services through a competitive process.
• Competitively procure goods and services and maintain adequate supporting documentation.
• Disclose, in writing, any interest in contracts.

District officials disagreed with certain findings but indicated they plan to initiate corrective action. Appendix B includes our response on certain issues raised in the District’s response.