The Office of the Comptroller of Puerto Rico issued an adverse opinion on the contracting process carried out in the Municipality for the Guayama Digital Program.
The Report reveals the investment of $3 million in 2012 for the implementation of the Guayama Digital Program without obtaining the expected benefits. The administrative application did not include updated information on its screens and the Municipality never used it. In addition, the students did not use the tablets received since, as they indicated, they were fragile and broke in a short time. The wireless network was also not available for the students' use and the schools were unaware of the network passwords.
These situations were due to the special assistant designated as project manager not ensuring that the administrative application was implemented in the Office of Citizen Assistance. In addition, the former mayor did not require the company to provide the application's source code, did not document the agreements made with the Department of Education for the internet connection, and there was a lack of documentation about the contracting process in the Municipality's files.
The audit notes that prior to awarding the contract, the Municipality did not perform needs and feasibility studies, did not include important clauses that would protect the Municipality's interests, and the amendment to the contract for $950,000 was formalized with 31 days of retroactivity. Some of these situations prevented adequate control of the contract and lead to the commission of irregularities. In addition, it was detrimental to the Municipality since there was no documentation evidencing the obligations between the parties.
Contrary to applicable law and regulations, the Municipality made payments without the necessary documentation; without the original contract, without the final project proposal, or the connectivity certifications performed by the wireless network provider. In addition, the Municipality made an improper payment of $722,560 for services offered before formalizing the amendment that included them in the contract.
The Report comments on the multiple deficiencies in the processes that the Municipality carried out in the planning and final acceptance of the Guayama Digital Program. Not applying the best practices in the implementation of the technological projects caused the investment of $3 million without obtaining the expected benefits and without being able to use them.
The Report covers the period from January 1, 2012 to September 30, 2015.
See Audit Report TI-19-03.
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