The Comptroller of Puerto Rico published the result of a complaint about alleged free deliveries of school textbooks at the Department of Education's Printing Office in Santurce. The complaint states that there were new and used books, two floors full of them, and that the free and unlimited deliveries were made Monday through Friday from 8:00AM to 3:00PM.
The investigation reveals that the Department held an Open House starting August 24, 2019, to dispose of the school textbooks free of charge to the public. However, the Department was not authorized to dispose of the surplus books without complying with the provisions of the Regulation on State Surplus Property of the General Services Administration.
This situation could have led to the commission of irregularities in those processes, and to the Department not receiving income from the sale of the textbooks or to a bona fide institution having the opportunity to use them, as established by Article 17 of the Regulation.
In addition, deficiencies were detected in the content of the form used for the delivery of the books to the printing office, as part of the closure, consolidation and reorganization of schools. The form does not provide for specifying whether the books were counted by boxes or on pallets, pickup and delivery dates for books, nor the position of the employee carrying out the process.
Because of this situation, the Comptroller's auditors could not verify in detail the book disposal process, nor did the Department maintain adequate control of the books received at the printing office.
The investigation recommends that the Secretary of Education ensure that the Department's Undersecretariat for Academic Affairs, the property custodian and the regional and school directors comply with the General Services Administration regulations established for the disposal of surplus books.
The Result of the Investigation dated December 4, 2020..
See the Complaint Investigation Result, RIQ-OQIF-21-02.
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