COR3 and the Office of the Comptroller of Puerto Rico establish an Agreement to strengthen oversight of the use of federal funds
(San Juan, Puerto Rico- July 10, 2023) With the purpose of continuing to join efforts with the entities responsible for overseeing compliance with laws and regulations in the contracting process, the executive director of the Central Office for Recovery, Reconstruction and Resiliency (COR3), Manuel A. Laboy Rivera, and the comptroller of the Office of the Comptroller of Puerto Rico (OCPR), Yesmin M. Valdivieso Galib, signed a Collaborative Agreement that enables the exchange of information between both governmental agencies. “As I had anticipated, we established this Memorandum to ensure that funds coming from programs subsidized by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) are administered correctly and legally, in accordance with the planning, protocols or programs. In this way, we unify efforts to strengthen the work carried out from COR3's Compliance division.
This Agreement complies with the public policy of Governor Pedro Pierluisi to promote the adequate and effective use of the resources necessary to expedite reconstruction, in accordance with current regulations”, stated Laboy Rivera. As part of the agreement, the OCPR will provide access to the Registry of Contracts and to the Registry of Notifications of Losses or Irregularities in the Handling of Public Funds or Property to COR3 personnel. Meanwhile, COR3 will provide OCPR personnel access to the Disaster Recovery Solutions (DRS) platform, which manages all aspects of the disaster recovery programs under its charge. Through these accesses, both parties will notify each other of any discrepancies that may be found as part of the examination of the registries and platforms they administer.
Comptroller Valdivieso Galib stated that this Collaborative Agreement “allows the public registries of the Office of the Comptroller and the data from COR3's Puerto Rico Disaster Recovery Solutions digital platform to be shared. Having this data will facilitate the planning and definition of audit objectives before arriving at the entity, and will make oversight processes more efficient”. This agreement precisely favors timely and adequate intervention in the prevention and investigation of situations that may represent fraud, waste, abuse, corruption and inefficiency in the administration of the programs and operations of governmental entities. According to the comptroller, similar agreements have been made with the Department of Housing of Puerto Rico, the General Services Administration and the Department of Health (Demographic Registry), among others.
In addition, it was agreed that both will coordinate continuing education activities that contribute to the professional development of their respective officials and employees, as well as collaborate on any other initiative that promotes an effective exercise of their powers. The executive director of COR3 recalled that during the “Compliance Summit” event, held this past June, another Memorandum of Understanding was established with the Office of the Inspector General of Puerto Rico. He also assured that conversations continue with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to formalize
a teamwork plan in case any case related to the mismanagement of funds is identified. As part of the OCPR's mission, the governmental entity promotes the effective, efficient and ethical use of Government resources. As part of its
function, it examines the revenues, accounts and disbursements of governmental agencies, state and municipal bodies, to determine whether they have been carried out as stipulated by law. Lastly, Laboy Rivera urged those interested in filing a complaint about a possible commission of fraud, waste and abuse of federal funds to do so through the Fraud section, available in COR3's Transparency Portal (pr.gov).
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