Audit - Professional/Technical Contract Development & Approval Process
The Department of Finance and Administrative Services' Purchasing Division can improve upon the valuable services it provides to the City and contractors by acceptance and implementation of the following recommendations: (a) The Purchasing Division should require that City Departments attend contract training more frequently; (b) The Purchasing Division should review its internal control processes and ensure that all staff have a clear understanding; and (c) Employee access to CTS should be revoked following the employee’s change of employment.
The Office of Internal Audit (OIA) conducted a performance audit of the Department of Finance & Administrative Services (DFAS), Purchasing Division, Professional/Technical (P/T) Contract Development & Approval Process. The audit was included in the fiscal year (FY) 13 approved audit plan.
The Purchasing Division is the Central Purchasing Office for the City of Albuquerque and is responsible for providing material management support to user departments.
Objective: Is the Professional/Technical Contract Development & Approval Process efficient?
- City Departments should be required to attend additional contract development training.
- Contracts submitted by city departments to the Purchasing Division for approval, were returned to the departments, for corrections or additional information, up to and including five separate times.
- The average length of time for the Purchasing Division to approve a P/T contract, when returned to the contracting department, is 23.9 days.
- The average length of time for the Purchasing Division to approve a P/T contract, when contracts do not need to be returned to the contracting department for additional information, is less than 1 day.
Objective: Is the Professional/Technical Contract Development & Approval Process effective?
- Contract Tracking System (CTS) access is not revoked upon an employee’s separation from the City.
- Of 300 individuals listed as having access to CTS, 55 were no longer employees and the employment status of eight individuals could not be determined.
- Of 23 professional/technical contracts selected for review, five contracts could not be initially located in the Purchasing Division, and one of the five contracts was not on-file at the City Clerk’s office. Following the completion of audit fieldwork, and discussion with the Materials Management Officer, the missing contract files were located.
- The agreement dates of three contracts were later than the Time of Performance date, indicating that departments accepted services prior to the execution of the contracts.