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Audit Objective

Determine whether North Syracuse Central School District (District) officials sought competition for the procurement of professional services and entered into written agreements with service providers.

Key Findings

Although District officials entered into written agreements with the 15 professional service providers we reviewed, they did not always seek competition for professional services in accordance with District policy. As a result, services may not have been procured in the most economical manner and in the best interest of the taxpayers.

District officials:

• Paid $1.2 million to six professional service providers without seeking competition.
• Used a request for proposals (RFP) process to select certain professional service providers many years ago but did not seek new competition. Officials paid $2.1 million to six professional service providers who were selected based on RFPs issued in 2013 and 2014.

Key Recommendations

• Update the procurement policy to specify when and how frequently officials should issue professional service RFPs.
• Use an RFP process to solicit competition when procuring professional services, as required by the policy.

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