Finding Text
Criteria or specific requirement: Per 2 CFR section 200.320. Noncompetitive procurement can only be awarded if one or more of the following circumstances apply: (1) The acquisition of property or services, the aggregate dollar amount of which does not exceed the micro-purchase threshold (see paragraph (a)(1) of this section); (2) The item is available only from a single source; (3) The public exigency or emergency for the requirement will not permit a delay resulting from publicizing a competitive solicitation; (4) The Federal awarding agency or pass-through entity expressly authorizes a noncompetitive procurement in response to a written request from the non-Federal entity; or (5) After solicitation of a number of sources, competition is determined inadequate. Per 2 CFR 200.213 Suspension and Debarment restricts awards, subawards, and contracts with certain parties that are debarred, suspended, or otherwise excluded from or ineligible for participation in Federal assistance programs or activities. CFR 180.300 states that an entity may determine suspension and debarment status by: (a) Checking SAM Exclusions; or (b) Collecting a certification from that person; or (c) Adding a clause or condition to the covered transaction with that person. Condition: Documentation was not maintained to support why vendors were selected using noncompetitive procurement. Furthermore, the documentation to support the vendor?s suspension debarment status was not provided. Questioned costs: None Context: For 5 of 7 procurement transactions greater than $10,000, no documentation was provided to justify noncompetitive procurement method used. 3 of the 7 vendors exceeded $25,000 in procurement and further were not reviewed to ensure the vendors were not suspended or disbarred. Cause: The College used vendors that have been historically used by the institution during non-pandemic periods of time to acquire needed supplies and materials for the suppression and monitoring of COVID where possible. Several purchases that were needed for these efforts were not available from the College?s normal vendors and those costs had to be acquired from new sources. Multiple sources were investigated, but with supply chain issues, the College was unable to always find multiple vendors that could meet the needs of the institution. With changes in staffing at the institution, the records related to the processes used and vendor?s investigated have not been retained. The vendor?s used have all subsequently been checked for suspension debarment status and none where found to have any issues. Effect: Vendors may be selected in a manner that is not consistent with Federal guidelines and Federal funds may be paid to parties that are ineligible to participate in a Federal program. Repeat Finding: No Recommendation: We recommend the College establish policies and procedures to properly identify procured transactions and maintain documentation to support performance of the procurement procedures. We also recommend the College evaluate its policies procedures to ensure that suspension and debarment requirements are being met prior to entering into transactions with vendors. Views of responsible officials: There is no disagreement with the audit finding.