The Office of the Comptroller of Puerto Rico issued a qualified opinion on the operations of the Humacao Regional Education Office (OREH) of the Department of Education. The OREH serves 16 towns and 125 schools. A qualified opinion is issued when the instances of noncompliance, individually or in the aggregate, are significant but not pervasive.
The Report reveals that, for one of the 14 contracts examined for $69,197, neither the service requests nor the lists prepared and certified by the school principals were found, nor were they provided by the officials of the Humacao Regional Education Office. In addition, the information of the remaining 13 contracts was not reliable when comparing the data contained in the principals' lists, the Routes by District, and in the School Transportation Management System (SMTE). For example, 49% of the students were not included in the SMTE and 90% of the students were not registered in the official lists.
In addition, the supervisor of the School Transportation Unit did not conduct the necessary monitoring to verify whether the services were being provided as contracted, nor did he maintain an updated inventory of the routes for fiscal years 2016 and 2017. These situations make it impossible to evaluate the services rendered by the carriers and may cause the municipalities to make improper payments for empty routes or routes without assigned students.
The OREH received $30,748,591 for transportation services from 2016 to 2020 and 722 transportation contracts were granted.
The audit points out that, of a sample of 24 contracts examined, the OREH had not registered the amendments of three contracts with the Office of the Comptroller, and another 23 contracts were submitted seven months later, contrary to Regulation 33. This situation prevents public documents from being available to citizens.
The Report comments that the Municipality of Patillas made improper payments of $19,139 to a carrier for transportation services not rendered to special education students. From 2016 to 2017, Route 237 had no student enrollment, and Route 243 also had no students from February to May 2016.
These situations were referred to the Department of Justice and to the Office of Government Ethics of Puerto Rico on April 22, 2021, so that they may take the appropriate actions regarding the possible improper payment to the contractor.
The Municipality of Patillas had received funds of $1,378,974 under four interagency agreements between the Department of Education and the Office of the Commissioner of Municipal Affairs from 2015 to 2016 for these purposes. The Report covers the period from January 1, 2016 to June 30, 2020.
See Audit Report DA-23-05.
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