Greenwood Lake Union Free School District – Procurement and Claims Processing (2021M-147)

Issued Date
December 03, 2021

[read complete report - pdf]

Audit Objective

Determine whether Greenwood Lake Union Free School District (District) officials procured goods and services in a cost-effective manner and ensured claims were audited for accuracy and completeness.

Key Findings

District officials did not always procure goods and services in a cost-effective manner or ensure claims were audited for accuracy and completeness.

  • District officials did not use a competitive process for 16 or 27 percent of the purchases we reviewed.
    • Request for proposals (RFPs) for three professional services totaling $69,320 were not issued and the RFP for external audit was last advertised in 2011.
    • 13 purchases totaling $99,231 lacked quote and sole source documentation.
  • Purchasing duties were not properly segregated and adequate mitigating controls were not established.
  • The claims audit process was not adequate. As a result, the District overpaid three vendors totaling $14,208.

Key Recommendations

  • Periodically issue RFPs to solicit competition when seeking professional services.
  • Obtain verbal and written quotes and ensure that all proper documentation is maintained.
  • Ensure a thorough audit of claims is conducted before authorizing payments.
  • Review overpayments identified in this report and seek recovery as appropriate.

District officials generally agreed with our recommendations and have initiated or indicated they planned to initiate corrective action. Appendix B includes our comment on an issue that was raised in the District’s response letter.