Condition: Suspension and debarment compliance was not verified for two covered transactions.
Corrective Action Planned: All Purchase Order requests that are associated with a federal government grant will all have an attached list showing the company is not on the debarment list. We will also update our School Contract language to include specific wording where the Vendor acknowledges the law and forfeits the contract if they are on the debarment list after the contract has been signed. A statement will be added to the contracts that states the following:
‘The Contractor (or use the term in the contract that identifies the vendor instead of Contractor) certifies under the pains and penalties of perjury, that the Contractor is not currently debarred or suspended by the Federal government, or any of its agencies, entities or subdivisions, nor is the Contractor currently debarred or suspended by the Commonwealth Massachusetts or any of its agencies, entities or subdivisions.’
If there is a section in the contract where the vendor certifies to other conditions (i.e. state taxes paid), then this language could be included under that section as another certification requirement.
A Google Drive has been created to upload all supporting documents on a yearly basis.
Anticipated Completion Date: 2/17/2025
Contact: Noel Velez, Director of Finance and Fiona Maxwell, Procurement Director