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Office of the Comptroller reveals deficiencies with the exceptional purchase modality at the General Services Administration

The Office of the Comptroller of Puerto Rico issued a qualified opinion on the fiscal operations of the General Services Administration. A qualified opinion is issued when the noncompliances, individually or together, are significant but not pervasive.

The Report reveals that the General Services Administration (ASG) made purchases through the exceptional purchase modality, without the documents required under Regulation 9230. These purchases are made in emergency situations, when the validity of the funds is about to expire, or when there is a single source of supply, among others.

For example, an entity requested the printing service of guides for teachers and school students on October 27, 2021 through the informal bidding procedure. However, 86 days later, on January 21, 2022, a special assistant of the Bidding Board of the ASG instructed that the service be acquired through an exceptional purchase because the federal funds expired on January 31, 2022. This exceptional purchase was not evaluated by the auxiliary administrator of acquisitions nor authorized by the bidding officer.

This situation undermines the established internal controls and may lead to a specific provider being benefited over the others.

The audit, with one finding, also notes that the ASG requested a service for the disposal of construction materials located in the warehouse of the former Office of Services of Aguadilla on August 10, 2021. After 315 days of the request, the auxiliary administrator instructed that the disposal service be acquired but in the exceptional purchase modality, since the availability of funds expired on June 30, 2022. The auditors found no evidence that efforts had been made to acquire the service before that date.

In addition, the renewal of the ASG's temporary employment service for $228,780 was not formalized through a professional services contract but through an exceptional purchase order on June 30, 2022. The day before, the Human Resources manager reported on the immediate need for human resources and that he was requesting an exceptional purchase order. The ASG was aware that the temporary employee contract signed on November 17, 2021 was valid until June 30, 2022.

In this regard, the interests of the ASG in case of noncompliance by the provider were not protected, as there was no contract between the parties.

The Report also publishes that the purchase of uniforms for 177 ASG employees for $73,057 was made through an exceptional purchase, without justification.

These situations are attributed to the fact that the buyers departed from the provisions of law and regulation related to the acquisition processes and the officials in charge who did not adequately supervise these operations.

The ASG's budget was $108.4 million from 2020 to 2023. For the same period, it made disbursements of $73.2 million.

This second and final report covers the period from January 1, 2019 to December 31, 2023.

The Audit Report OC-25-71 can be obtained on our website: www.ocpr.gov.pr.