Finding Text
Assistance Listing, Federal Agency, and Program Name 20.500, 20.507, 20.525, 20.526, U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Transit Cluster Federal Award Identification Number and Year All Pass through Entity Not applicable Finding Type Material weakness and material noncompliance with laws and regulations Repeat Finding Yes 2023-005 Criteria 2 CFR 200.320 provides standards for acceptable methods of procurement, which includes the following required support for the contract price: Informal procurement methods (micro purchases) may be awarded without submitting competitive price or rate quotations if the non federal entity considers the price to be reasonable based on research, experience, purchase history, or other information and documents in files accordingly. Small purchases require that price or rate quotations be obtained and documented to support the procurement decisions. Formal procurement methods require documentation of sealed bids, proposals, or rationale for the use of non competitive procurements, such as single source and emergency procurements Condition During our testing, we identified two contracts that did not have adequate documentation to support the basis for the contract price. Questioned Costs $222,703 Identification of How Questioned Costs Were Computed The sum of the expenditures incurred under the contracts for the two exceptions identified in our testing was used to calculate questioned costs. Context Of the 33 procurements selected for testing, there were two contracts subject to formal procurement methods that had no evidence to support whether sealed bids, proposals, or noncompetitive procurements were used to support the contract price, one of which was a sole source contract. Cause and Effect The Authority experienced turnover in personnel that resulted in it being unable to locate documentation to support compliance for the two exceptions identified in our testing. Recommendation We recommend that internal controls be put in place to ensure that all procurements adhere to 2 CFR 200.320 and maintain documentation to support compliance and supervisory review. Views of Responsible Officials and Corrective Action Plan Effective 6/1/2025, TARTA implemented a new ERP system that will allow us to electronically control and verify all purchases in accordance with 2 CFR 200.32 standards for acceptable methods of procurement going forward.