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Audit Objective

Determine whether Watertown City School District (District) officials sought competition for the purchase of goods and services not subject to competitive bidding.

Key Findings

District officials did not always comply with the District’s procurement policy and seek competition for the purchase of goods and services not subject to competitive bidding.

Officials did not:

• Seek competition for the services procured from 13 professional service providers, totaling $305,052 (92 percent of the District’s providers) and did not have written service agreements with three providers.
• Obtain verbal or written quotes for the purchase of goods and services from nine vendors who were paid $123,509 (52 percent of the amount tested).

Key Recommendations

• Periodically issue requests for proposals (RFPs) to solicit competition when seeking professional services and obtain written agreements for all professional service providers.
• Obtain verbal and written quotes as required by the procurement policy.

District officials generally agreed with our recommendations and have initiated or indicated they planned to initiate corrective action.