The Office of the Comptroller of Puerto Rico issued a qualified opinion on the fiscal operations of the Municipality of Vega Baja. A qualified opinion is issued when the noncompliances, individually or in the aggregate, are significant but not pervasive.
The Report reveals that the Municipality formalized three contracts for $1.5 million for engineering and refrigeration work with three companies not authorized to provide those services. In addition, our auditors identified an architect and a refrigeration technician who provided services without active professional licenses. Furthermore, contrary to the contractual clauses, one corporation subcontracted an engineer and another corporation to prepare plans and soil studies.
These situations were referred to the Secretary of Justice, to the president of the Examining Board of Architects and Landscape Architects, to the president of the College of Architects and Landscape Architects, to the president of the College of Engineers and Surveyors, and to the president of the Examining Board of Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Technicians, on January 25 and August 29, 2018, for the pertinent administrative and judicial actions. The expired license of the refrigeration technician was also referred to the Environmental Quality Board and to the president of the College of Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Technicians.
The five-finding audit notes that in 2011, the former mayor and acting mayor formalized two contracts for $5 million to build a plaza, kiosks, a sanitary pumping station, a medical emergency building, and other facilities at the Puerto Nuevo beach without planning the financing sources necessary for their completion. Exhibit 1 shows photos of the facilities in a state of abandonment.
The Municipality did not obtain from the Office of Management and Permits the construction permits, before the remodeling, of the public plaza and the roofing of the court of the Colombo community, until three months later. A similar situation had been noted in Audit Report M-16-03 of 2016. Nor had they obtained from the Department of Recreation and Sports (DRD) the Authorization for Entry and Development of Construction Projects, since the courts of the El Verde, Panaini, and Altos de Cuba communities are located on DRD land.
The Report indicates that Vega Baja did not comply with federal regulations by not including specific descriptions of the services, products, and materials requested in the requisitions and contracts for the construction and improvement of the Head Start centers. In addition, time extensions were authorized to finish contracted work for repairing fences, roofs, and installing air conditioners, without amending the contracts.
The audit comments that the Municipality's Internal Audit Unit referred to the Department of Justice the president of a contracted company because he signed as an architect, even though in the files of the College of Architects and Landscape Architects he was not registered as an active architect. In addition, from 2015 to 2016, the Municipality awarded two contracts and five amendments to remodel the Fénix cinema and theater and to roof several courts, financed with funds from the Government Development Bank, which were halted after the declaration of a state of emergency in 2016. In February 2018 the projects were unfinished.
The Municipality paid $2 million for six lawsuits resolved in the courts and has not yet received $225,000 from a lawsuit in its favor. Nine civil lawsuits remain to be resolved in the courts.
The report covers the period from July 1, 2013 to June 30, 2017.
See Audit Report M-19-25.
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