The Office of the Comptroller of Puerto Rico issues an adverse opinion on the operations related to the purchases made at the Public Buildings Authority from 2011 to 2016. During that period, 10,610 purchases of goods and services totaling $28.3 million were made.
In this regard, the Report comments that the Authority does not have an effective and efficient internal control system that provides reasonable assurance of the achievement of objectives. Our auditors found that the Authority does not have the necessary rules, regulations, and procedures to ensure that processes are carried out efficiently, nor does it conduct internal audits of its operations. For example, for the fiscal year 2014 closing process, the external auditors noted that they were delayed by the informality of the Authority's internal processes and the absence of a plan including responsibilities, delivery dates, and the required analyses and reports.
In particular, the seven-finding audit reveals that the Budget Office of the Public Buildings Authority does not have written rules or procedures for the pre-intervention process and the Check Procedure was obsolete. In addition, the Purchasing Regulation dating from 2000 lacks updated and specific provisions on the purchasing process.
Among the multiple deficiencies in the awarding of purchases, erasures, errors, and incomplete information were detected in the Request for Prices. In addition, the availability of funds was not validated prior to the issuance of the purchase order, and the purchases made did not have all the supporting documents.
Contrary to the Bidding Regulation, the Authority fragmented the cost to carry out improvement work on the detention cells for juvenile offenders contracted in 2009 by the Police and the Office of the Commissioner of Municipal Affairs. In addition, they made purchases without the approval and authorization of the competent authority, and their accounting records lacked uniformity.
This is the third report we have issued on the Authority. The two previous ones are CP-16-04 and CP-16-17.
The Authority manages 648 buildings and has 1,279 employees.
The Report covers the period from July 1, 2010 to June 30, 2016.
See Audit Report CP-17-11
To view other published reports, visit our Audit Reports section.
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