Report reveals improper payments for travel expenses at ASSMCA
The Office of the Comptroller of Puerto Rico issued a qualified opinion on the fiscal operations of the Mental Health and Anti-Addiction Services Administration of the Department of Health. 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 Mental Health and Anti-Addiction Services Administration (ASSMCA) improperly paid $27,008 in travel expenses to two employees. This finding was identified from a sample of seven employee files examined. From 2018 to 2022, ASSMCA disbursed a total of $746,609 for the payment of travel.
The claim for travel for the employee's commute from their private residence to the office designated to perform their work is not allowed under Regulation 37, on Travel Expenses of 2008. The audit recommends that the administrator of ASSMCA take a recovery action, and verify whether this situation was repeated with other employees.
The two-finding audit notes that the purchase orders examined lacked information such as: the penalty clause for late delivery, the delivery date of the ordered goods, or the Summary of Offers document. From 2018 to 2021, ASSMCA issued 231 purchase orders for $4,999,909.
In addition, other deficiencies were identified in the acquisition of goods and services, such as the lack of timely follow-up actions with the supplier on late deliveries, and employees without an official appointment who received the acquired goods.
ASSMCA's budget comes from joint resolutions of the general fund, federal allocations, special allocations of the Legislative Assembly, and own revenues. The budget during fiscal years 2018 through 2022 was $810,229,303, and it made disbursements of $701,535,708, for a balance of $108,693,595.
The Report recommends that the Inspector General of the Office of the Inspector General evaluate the situation commented on regarding the improper payments and determine the appropriate actions.
This first report OC-24-47 of ASSMCA covers the period from January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2021.
Audit Report OC-24-47 is available on our website: www.ocpr.gov.pr.
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