An Audit Report on Proprietary and Emergency Procurements at Selected State Agencies and Higher Education Institutions
June 2007
Report Number 07-037
Overall Conclusion
In most respects, the University of Texas - Pan American, the Department of Public Safety, and the Building and Procurement Commission used appropriate methods to make proprietary and emergency procurements, as well as other procurements that were not subject to full competition.
The University of Texas - Pan American. The University of Texas - Pan American's (University) controls over proprietary and other noncompetitive procurements are sufficient to ensure that goods and services purchased are justified and that prices achieve best value for the University. Auditors did not identify any emergency procurements made at the University.
Department of Public Safety. Overall, the Department of Public Safety (Department) uses proprietary and emergency procurement methods for valid, justifiable reasons. The Department also controls procurements that are not competitively bid or to which a single bidder responds to ensure that the State does not pay excessive prices. However, the Department does not always document the basis for selecting vendors.
Building and Procurement Commission. The Building and Procurement Commission's (Commission) procurements of proprietary and emergency products and services were justified and subject to competition, but the Commission did not document how the vendor was selected on emergency procurements. The Commission also exercised reasonable controls over the hiring of consultants and professionals to ensure that they were competent and qualified and that prices paid were reasonable.
The effectiveness of the Commission's audits of state agency procurements could be improved by (1) providing more complete and straightforward guidance for processing vendor payments to state agencies and universities and (2) imposing stronger consequences for agencies that score poorly on these audits.
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