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Audit Objective

Determine whether District officials used a competitive process to procure goods and services.

Key Findings

• District officials did not use a request for proposals (RFPs) process or seek competition for three professional service providers paid $220,748.
• Four vendors were paid $48,816 for goods procured without a competitive bid as required by District policy.
• Due to the District’s inconsistent purchasing policies, officials do not have clear guidelines to follow when making purchases and therefore, officials may not be procuring goods and services as intended by the Board.

Key Recommendations

• Review and update purchasing policies to clarify guidelines for procuring professional services and quote thresholds.
• Comply with District policies by ensuring professional service providers have been selected using RFPs and purchases over $5,000 are competitively bid.
• Adequately support all purchase decisions including those goods and services obtained from a sole source vendor.

District officials disagreed with certain aspects of our findings and recommendations but indicated they have begun to implement corrective action. Appendix B includes our comments on issues raised in the District’s response letter.