Finding Text
FINDING 2024-004: PROCUREMENT (50000)
Assistance Listing # 10.553, 10.555 – U.S. Department of Agriculture, California Department of Education,
Child Nutrition Cluster
Repeat Finding? No
Criteria: Code of Federal Regulations, CFR 200.320, requires the non-Federal entity to have and use documented
procurement procedures, consistent with the standards of this section and §§ 200.317, 200.318, and 200.319 for the
acquisition of property or services required under a Federal award or sub-award. For “formal purchases,” those
where the aggregate dollar amount is higher than the simplified acquisition threshold, sealed bids are publicly solicited
through an invitation and a firm fixed-price contract (lump sum or unit price) is awarded to the responsible bidder
whose bid conforms with all the material terms and conditions of the invitation and is the lowest in price.
Condition: During our testing we discovered one contract which lacked documentation to demonstrate that
competitive bids were obtained, contractor selection or rejection, and determination as to whom the contract was
awarded to.
Context: Error was isolated to one contract tested.
Questioned Costs: This resulted in a contract of $997,040 being awarded without competitive bidding
documentation.
Cause: Change in key management.
Effect: The District could potentially award contracts without doing due diligence.
Recommendation: We recommend that the District comply with 2 CFR, section 200.318-322, which requires that
an LEA maintain the documented procedures for procurement transactions under a federal award.
Views of Responsible Officials: We posted a job walk and had one bidder. In the future we will post for a longer
period of time and if needed repost for a second job walk. We will note each company that attends and if they did or
did not chose to bid the job. The documentation of each bid and the board approval for the awarded bid will now be
maintained at both the Construction, Maintenance, and Operations Department and the District Office to lessen the
loss of documentation due to employee turnover.