The Office of the Comptroller of Puerto Rico issued a qualified opinion of the fiscal operations of the Puerto Rico Energy Bureau. A qualified opinion is issued when the noncompliances, individually or together, are significant but not pervasive.
The Report reveals that an electronic subscription application was acquired for requisition and purchase-order services that was never used, never completed, and never used by the Bureau's personnel. The officials of the administrative area certified the monthly subscription services as received, for which $36,000 was paid to the contractor for the period from 2015 to 2019.
The contractor, for its part, in addition to charging for the application in its billing, included the service in its subsequent contract proposals, without informing the Bureau that the application was not being used. This situation, contrary to the duty of loyalty and the continuing obligation to disclose any information that could affect the entity, was referred to the Department of Justice on November 3, 2022 to take the appropriate measures.
The four-finding audit notes that 40% of the professional and consulting services contracts examined were granted amendments with a retroactive effect equivalent to $48,308 paid in excess of the original contract balance. In addition, expenses not included in the contractual clauses were paid, and the contracting was split to avoid the prior authorization required for contracting in excess of $10,000 in the same fiscal year, as provided by the regulations in force.
The auditors found that the Bureau paid $59,760 to a contractor that used 80% of its contracted hours from 2017 to 2018 on services unrelated to the proposal and not described in its public administration advisory contract. Its services were used in drafting internal regulations. For the same period, a company was contracted for legislative-proposal analysis and lobbying services, which used 67% of its time on administrative tasks and services not described in the contract, equivalent to $50,900.
The report details that in 50% of the professional and consulting services contracts examined, the Debt Certification (Model SC 6096) was not requested from the contractors with tax liability in Puerto Rico before making the final payment to settle the contract. This situation has the effect that contractors who have debts with the Department of the Treasury cannot comply, and these cannot be recovered. This report on the Puerto Rico Energy Bureau covers the period from January 1, 2016 to December 31, 2019.
See Audit Report DA-23-10.
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