Audit Objective
Determine whether Newark Valley Central School District (District) officials used a competitive process to procure goods and services not subject to competitive bidding.
Key Findings
District officials did not always seek competition for the purchase of goods and services not subject to competitive bidding. As a result, goods and services may not have been procured economically and in the best interest of taxpayers. We reviewed 30 purchases totaling $200,012 and expenditures for five professional service vendors totaling $171,446 and found that officials did not:
- Seek competition for 13 purchases of goods and services totaling $44,401.
- Compare billed prices to the awarded contract prices and overpaid for cleaning supplies by $1,532. As a result of our audit, officials obtained a credit for this amount from the vendor.
- Seek competition for four of five professional service providers paid $133,346 during our audit period.
In addition, policies and procedures were inadequate and did not help ensure officials sought competition for goods and services.
Key Recommendations
- Seek competition when procuring goods and services.
- Compare billed prices to awarded contract prices to ensure the District is billed the correct rates.
- Update the procurement policy and related procedures to include detailed guidance for procuring goods and services at all levels not subject to competitive bidding.
- Establish reasonable intervals to use a request for proposal (RFP) process to obtain proposals for professional services.
District officials generally agreed with our recommendations and have initiated, or indicated they planned to initiate corrective action.