AUDIT COMMITTEE SUMMARY
February 18, 2020
Audit of Finance Department Purchasing Division Procurement
Report Issued February 11, 2020
Audit Objective
Determine if purchases are in compliance with policies and procurement guidelines with a focus on purchases of less than $3,000.
Background
The Purchasing Division (Purchasing) of the Finance Department (Finance) is responsible for the timely and efficient procurement of goods and non-professional services necessary for the delivery of municipal services. Procurement uses the Central/Shared Services organizational structure. All requirements for goods and non-professional services are routed to Purchasing via SAP or SAePS electronic shopping carts.
The Citywide Purchasing Card Program’s (P-card) primary objective is to simplify the procurement process and to provide a more efficient, cost-effective method of purchasing and paying for non-biddable and small dollar transactions. The Accounts Payable section of Finance is responsible for Non-Purchase Order (Non-PO) procurement workflow. Non-PO processing allows departments to purchase non-biddable items without having to create shopping carts through the City’s SAePS system or go through Purchasing to procure an item.
Finally, the City’s SAP and SAePS systems are used to process the procurement of goods and non-professional services under $3,000 using the VROOZI catalog management system. Purchasing is responsible for the maintenance of contracted items that are available for procurement. They also monitor purchases to ensure goods and non-professional services are properly procured, and contracted items are purchased.
Scope and Methodology
The audit scope was from October 1, 2015 through February 28, 2019 and included purchases made by Purchase Order (PO), Non-PO and P-card. We reviewed PO, Non-PO, and P-card purchases to verify they followed the procurement guidelines. We reviewed purchases for allowability, proper authorization, adherence to dollar limit thresholds and duplicate payments. Finally, we reviewed appropriateness of user access in SAP, SAePS and the Wells Fargo P-card Portal.
Conclusions
Purchases are in compliance with policies and procurement guidelines. Purchase orders less than $3,000 were properly processed and followed procurement guidelines. In addition, purchase orders over $3,000 were properly supported, approved and sent out for bid. Purchase card transactions followed procurement guidelines and were adequately supported and approved.
However, we identified an opportunity to strengthen the Non-PO process. We identified transactions that exceeded dollar limit thresholds and had insufficient support documentation. In addition, we identified vendors that were paid a cumulative amount above the 50K threshold that may require a contract.
We made a recommendation to address this issue. Management agreed with the recommendation and developed a positive corrective action plan.