District Of Columbia Authority Needs To Improve Its Procurement Practices Report To Congressional Requesters

Author : U S Government Accountability Office (G
Publisher : BiblioGov
ISBN 13 : 9781289010348
Total Pages : 52 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (13 download)

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Download or read book District of Columbia written by U S Government Accountability Office (G and published by BiblioGov. This book was released on 2013-06 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the procurement practices of the District of Columbia Financial Responsibility and Management Assistance Authority, focusing on whether: (1) applicable procurement regulations and procedures were followed in awarding and administering selected contracts on behalf of the Authority's former Chief of Management Officer and to Thompson, Cobb, Bazilio and Associates; and (2) the Authority and the District received the goods and services that they contracted and paid for in the contracts that GAO reviewed. GAO noted that: (1) the Authority did not always comply with its procurement regulations and procedures or follow sound contracting principles when it awarded and administered the 9 contracts that GAO assessed; (2) the Authority's contract files for these contracts were incomplete; (3) the files did not generally contain documentation of the key contract award and administration decisions as required by the Authority's procurement regulations; (4) as a result of the incomplete contract files, the Authority could not demonstrate that its objectives of: (a) acquiring goods and services at the lowest price or best value; and (b) treating offerors fairly were achieved for several of the contracts GAO reviewed; (5) the Authority's procurement regulations provide for a preference for competitively awarded contracts and require written justification and approval of sole source contracts; (6) the Authority's contract files contained evidence that it sought competition for 7 of the 9 contracts assessed; (7) however, contrary to regulations, the Authority did not: (a) document its basis for contract selection for 3 contracts; (b) include written justification for 1 sole source contract award or a series of modifications to another contract that, in effect, was a sole source award; or (c) comply with other requirements in several cases; (8) none of the contract files for the 9 contracts assessed contained certification or any other evidence that the contractor performed satisfactorily prior to payment of invoices; (9) for the 2 emergency sole source contracts awarded by the District government, the District's Chief Procurement Officer did not comply with the Authority's contract review and approval regulations governing District contracts or procurement regulations; (10) several factors appeared to contribute to the Authority's failure to comply with its procurement regulations; and (11) according to the Authority's former Executive Director, the magnitude of the tasks and the short timeframe in which the Authority had to complete them contributed to the Authority's procurements not being as "tidy" as the Authority would have liked.