Audit Objective
Did Elmira City School District (District) officials properly procure contracts related to the 2020 Capital and Energy Performance Improvements Project (Project)?
Audit Period
March 19, 2020 – January 31, 2024.
We extended the audit period through October 31, 2024 to review approval, expenditure and financing documentation.
Understanding the Audit Area
Proper procurement of goods and services helps ensure the prudent and economical use of public money and helps guard against favoritism, improvidence, extravagance, fraud and abuse. Whether using formal competitive bids, requests for proposals (RFP) or written and verbal quotes to ensure purchases are made in the most prudent and economical manner, a well-planned solicitation effort is needed to reach as many qualified vendors as possible.
District voters approved the ongoing Project, with a budget of $76.8 million. Although the Project is not complete, we reviewed 72 Project contracts and change orders paid during the audit period that exceeded competitive bidding thresholds or were subject to the District’s procurement policies, totaling approximately $62.9 million, to assess whether goods and services were properly procured and approved.
Audit Summary
Although District officials complied with competitive bidding requirements and certain aspects of the District’s procurement policies, they did not seek competition for two professional service contracts related to the Project.
We reviewed a total of 60 contracts1 and 12 change orders associated with the contracts that either exceeded the competitive bidding requirements set forth in New York State General Municipal Law (GML) or were subject to the District’s procurement policies and procedures. The total cost of the 72 contracts and change orders was approximately $62.9 million. The District complied with GML with respect to the procurement process for 70 of the contracts and change orders. However, of the $62.9 million we reviewed, $7.3 million was paid to two vendors through contracts for professional services that were not let in accordance with the District’s procurement policy, which required the District to use an RFP process to obtain proposals.
When District officials do not solicit competition in accordance with the District’s procurement policy, taxpayers are less assured that purchases are made in the most prudent and economical manner, in compliance with statute and without favoritism.
The report includes two recommendations that, if implemented, can improve the District’s procurement practices. District officials disagreed with certain aspects of our findings. Appendix C includes our comments on issues raised in the District’s response.
We conducted this audit pursuant to Article V, Section 1 of the State Constitution and the Office of the New York State Comptroller’s (OSC) authority as set forth in Article 3 of GML. Our methodology and standards are included in Appendix D.
The Board of Education (Board) has the responsibility to initiate corrective action. A written corrective action plan (CAP) that addresses the findings and recommendations in this report must be prepared and provided to our office within 90 days, pursuant to Section 35 of GML, Section 2116-a (3)(c) of New York State Education Law and Section 170.12 of the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education. To the extent practicable, implementation of the CAP must begin by the end of the next fiscal year. For more information on preparing and filing your CAP, please refer to our brochure, Responding to an OSC Audit Report, which you received with the draft audit report. The CAP should be posted on the District’s website for public review.
1 These contracts included 58 purchase contracts or contracts for public work and two professional service contracts.