The Comptroller of Puerto Rico issues a qualified opinion on the fiscal operations of the Northeast Local Workforce Development Area related to the proposals, the purchases, and the disbursements. A qualified opinion is issued when the instances of noncompliance, individually or in the aggregate, are significant but not pervasive.
The Report reveals that possible false quotes were considered in the awarding of services such as the washing and waxing of office floors, the transportation of summer 2015 participants, and the repair of an official vehicle. The disbursement vouchers and their supporting documents did not include information about who certified the truthfulness and correctness of the quotes.
These situations were referred to the Department of Justice on April 27, 2017 and are pending resolution. Considering false quotes undermines the purpose of obtaining the best offer through free competition among suppliers. In addition, crimes of document falsification and undue interference in government operations may have been configured.
The audit notes that 91 participants of the limited-time work experience program were allowed to have from two to 10 work experiences without documenting or justifying those excesses in their Individual Employment Plan. This allowed, contrary to the regulations, more than half a million dollars to be disbursed for work experiences that exceeded the permitted time.
The 10-finding Report identified that goods and services totaling $63,363 were acquired without obtaining the three regulatory quotes, four contracts and one amendment totaling $325,998 were granted with only one proposal for each contract, and the Finance director did not obligate the credits necessary for the payment of 29 contracts and 11 amendments totaling $1.6 million.
Our auditors found that contracts were executed with municipalities and suppliers without the approvals of the Development Board, and that up to 93% of the participants' work experience contracts lacked information. In addition, from 2009 to 2015, physical inventories were not performed and several accidents were not investigated, so responsibilities could not be assigned to employees.
The Report comments that the Workforce Development Program, through which the ALDL receives the federal funds, determined that the personnel transaction by which payments amounting to $127,267 were made for the accumulated vacation and sick leave balances of 33 employees in 2016 is illegal. In addition, the ALDL – Northeast has four lawsuits totaling $4.9 million for age discrimination pending resolution in the courts.
The Report covers the period from January 1, 2010 to June 30, 2016.
See Audit Report M-18-22.
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