The Office of the Comptroller of Puerto Rico issued a qualified opinion on the fiscal operations of the Department of Correction and Rehabilitation (Department). 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 Department paid $1,691,571 to the Public-Private Partnerships Authority, for financial, administrative and consulting assistance, for the evaluation and development of two correctional institutions, without a written assistance contract between the parties. The Department was required to enter into an assistance contract to obtain and pay for those services as established by the applicable case law and by Act 29-2009, Public-Private Partnerships Act. The absence of written contracts may foster fraudulent and illegal claims, among others.
The four-finding audit points out that, as of April 14, 2021, the Department had not used the technological equipment of two of the seven technological educational laboratories, acquired for $313,707, despite more than two years having passed since their installation. This technological equipment, which is part of the Building for My Future Program, had not been identified with a property number nor registered with the Department of the Treasury.
In addition, the Department paid $17,860 to a contractor for hours of training not offered to the participants of the Training, Alignment and Insertion into the Working World Project. The auxiliary secretary of Programs and Services did not adequately verify the invoices and supporting documents prior to sending them for payment to the Finance Division.
The Report discloses multiple deviations from the regulations related to the absence of documents in the files of the professional and consulting services contracts. Some of these documents were the certifications required in the contracts issued by the Department of the Treasury, the Municipal Revenue Collection Center, or the Department of Labor and Human Resources. In addition, none of the files examined had the sworn statement in which the contractor reports that he has not been convicted of or found guilty of certain crimes. This situation may have had the effect of contracting with persons or entities that do not comply with their responsibilities, tax obligations, or that have been convicted of or found guilty of certain crimes.
The Comptroller's auditors also detected multiple deficiencies related to the invoices processed for payment. Income taxes not withheld at source, special contribution withheld in excess, or informative declarations not filed are some of the deficiencies that foster errors and irregularities in the processing of payments.
The Report has a special comment indicating that a contractor billed $17,672 for the work of 181.5 hours to Correction, which conflicted with the hours billed to the House of Representatives, to the Innovation Fund for Agricultural Development, and to the Office of the Governor. In addition, the contractor billed 31 hours for $1,550 from May 1 to 9, 2018, for services similar to those billed to the Office of the Governor.
The same contractor billed $8,928 for 279 hours of meetings, hearings and other matters, which presented differences in the entry hours from what was noted in the Department of Correction's Visitors Registry. In addition, she billed 17.5 for hours of work that conflicted with hours of work billed to the Department of Education.
These situations were referred for the consideration of the secretary of Justice on May 12, 2022.
This fourth report covers the period from January 1, 2016 to June 30, 2021.
Audit Report DA-23-19 can be obtained on our website: www.ocpr.gov.pr.
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