Salem Central School District - Purchasing (2019M-105)

Issued Date
August 23, 2019

[read complete report - pdf]

Audit Objective

Determine whether the District sought competition when purchasing goods and services under the statutory bidding thresholds.

Key Findings

  • Our review of 60 purchases made during our audit period totaling approximately $182,000 disclosed that District officials lacked adequate evidence to show they sought competition for 32 purchases (53 percent) totaling about $115,000.
  • The Board did not develop and implement procedures to seek competition for purchases of goods and services that were not required to be competitively bid.

Key Recommendations

  • Maintain adequate documentation to support that competitive purchasing practices are used by employees when procuring goods and services below bidding thresholds.
  • Develop written purchasing procedures for procuring goods and services below bidding thresholds and distribute to the appropriate personnel.

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