Audit Objective
Did Village of Moravia (Village) officials seek competition for procuring goods and services?
Audit Period
June 1, 2024 – June 26, 2026.
Understanding the Audit Area
Village officials should seek competition for procuring goods and services to help ensure the best value for taxpayers, prevent conflicts of interest and maintain public trust. Seeking competition also helps guard against favoritism, extravagance and fraud, while allowing interested vendors to have a fair and equal opportunity to compete for the Village’s procurement opportunities.
The Village purchased more than $5 million in goods and services during the period June 1, 2024, through August 31, 2025. These procurements included payments totaling approximately $3.2 million for a wastewater treatment plant capital improvement project (capital project).
Audit Summary
Village officials did not always seek competition when procuring goods and services in accordance with statutory requirements set forth in New York State General Municipal Law (GML) and the Village’s procurement policy (Policy). When Village officials do not seek competition for, or document the methods used when, procuring goods and services, the Village Board of Trustees (Board) cannot ensure that purchases are made in the most prudent and economical manner, in the Village’s and taxpayers’ best interests, without favoritism and comply with applicable statutes.
Specifically, Village officials did not have supporting documentation indicating that they sought competition for goods and services totaling more than $1.3 million and procured the goods and services in the most economical manner. Officials did not:
- Competitively bid for purchases totaling $281,444.
- Seek competition for 13 professional services and insurance providers that were paid $992,544.
- Obtain written quotes for 16 purchases totaling $100,176, as required by the Policy.
The report includes four recommendations that, if implemented, will improve the Village’s procurement of goods and services to help ensure that purchases are made economically and in the Village’s and taxpayers’ best interests. Village officials generally agreed with our recommendations, and their response is included in Appendix B.
This audit was conducted pursuant to Article V, Section 1 of the State Constitution and the Office of the New York State Comptroller’s (OSC’s) authority as set forth in Article 3 of GML. The audit’s methodology and standards are included in Appendix C.
The Board has the responsibility to initiate corrective action. A written corrective action plan (CAP) that addresses the findings and recommendations in this report should be prepared and provided to OSC within 90 days, pursuant to GML Section 35. For more information on preparing and filing the CAP, please refer to the OSC brochure, Responding to an OSC Audit Report, which was provided with the draft audit report. The Board is encouraged to make the CAP available for public review in the Clerk’s office.