The Office of the Comptroller of Puerto Rico issued a qualified opinion on the fiscal operations of the Public Housing Administration (AVP) of the Department of Housing. A qualified opinion is issued when the instances of noncompliance, individually or in the aggregate, are significant but not pervasive.
The Report reveals that the Office of Regulation and Compliance of the AVP did not conduct audits of the Administration's petty cash accounts or of the managing agents from 2015 to 2018. The Acquisitions Manual and Acquisition Policies of the Public Housing Administration of Puerto Rico provides that audits of petty cash accounts must be conducted every six months. For the period from 2015 to 2019, $2,843,577 was disbursed from the petty cash accounts. This situation prevented maintaining continuous and effective oversight of these funds.
The audit points out deficiencies in the processes for the acquisition of goods and services carried out by the project managing agents. From the examination of the files of 40 purchase orders for $1,187,569 it was detected that: 85% did not have the Small Purchase Request document, 90% did not have the certification of the Single Registry of Bidders, and in 45% no evidence was found of having verified in the Excluded Parties List System whether the suppliers were excluded from receiving contracts.
These situations do not allow the managing agents adequate control of the purchasing processes; goods could be acquired from suppliers not authorized by the state government or from suppliers disqualified by the federal government. The audit recommends, among other things, that a plan of workshops and training be prepared for the managing agents on the Acquisitions Manual, and that documentation and evidence be obtained for all acquisitions of goods and services. The managing agents are the 14 private companies contracted to manage 334 public housing projects. The Report covers the period from January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2019.
See Audit Report DA-23-06.
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