HomeMy WebLinkAbout09/15/2014 - Regular Minutes - City Council - Audit CommitteeMayor
Nancy Berry
Mayor Pro Tem
Karl Mooney
City Manager
Kelly Templin
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CITY OF COT.I.FGE STATION
Home of Texas A&M University'
Minutes
CITY COUNCIL AUDIT COMMITTEE
Monday, September 15, 2014 at 4:30 pm
City Hall Administrative Conference Room
1101 Texas Avenue
College Station, Texas 77840
Audit Committee Members Present:
Nancy Berry, Mayor
Karl Mooney, Councilmember
Steve Aldrich, Councilmember
City Staff:
Ty Elliott, Internal Auditor
Greg Jeffs, Assistant Internal Auditor
Melodie Kline, Auditor Intern
Kelly Templin, City Manager
Chuck Gilman, Assistant City Manager
Carla Robinson, City Attorney
Jeff Kersten, Assistant City Manager
Cheryl Turney, Assistant Director of Fiscal Services
Ian Whittenton, Records Management Coordinator
Regular Agenda Item No. 1 — Call to Order and Announce a Quorum is Present
Council members
Blanche Brick
Steve Aldrich
Karl Mooney
Julie Schultz
James M. Benham
With a quorum present, the Audit Committee of College Station was called to order by Mayor Nancy Berry at
4:30 p.m. on Monday, September 15, 2014 in the Administrative Conference Room of the City of College
Station City Hall, 1101 Texas Avenue, College Station, Texas 77842.
Regular Agenda Item No. 2 - Presentation, possible action, and discussion of minutes for the audit
committee meeting held on April 23, 2014.
MOTION: Upon a motion made by Councilmember Aldrich and a second by Councilmember Mooney, the
Audit Committee voted three (3) for and zero (0) opposed, to approve the April 23, 2014 Audit Committee
minutes. The motion carried unanimously.
Regular Agenda Item No 3 - Presentation, possible action and discussion regarding the Annual Audit
Plan
Ty Elliott, Internal Auditor presented the Audit Committee with potential audit topics for the fiscal year 2015
audit plan. The offerings were separated into Limited Scope Financial Audits and Performance Audits with
each section consisting of several offerings. The Limited Scope Financial Audits were: Skimming, Write -
Offs, Collections of Delinquent Accounts, Collection of Recurring Debts, Collection of Code Enforcement
Receivables, Duplicates on the Payroll, Non -Payroll Checks Made to Employees, Vendor Database, Shell
Companies, Pay -and -Return, Illegitimate Purchases. The Performance Audits were: Urban Forestry, Citizen
Resolution Processes, Ambulance Services, Fees, Compensation, and Enterprise Risk Assessment. The Audit
Committee selected the following audits to be conducted in the 2015 fiscal year:
• Collections of Delinquent Accounts
• Non -Payroll Checks Made to Employees
• Illegitimate Purchases
• Fees
• Compensation.
Regular Agenda Item No 4 - Presentation, possible action and discussion regarding the Change Order
Audit Results.
Greg Jeffs, Assistant Internal Auditor presented the results of the Change Order Audit. The audit found no
improper change orders; however, the following recommendations were made:
• All change orders should have the approval of the contract manager and the contract manager's
supervisor or superior.
• Anytime a change occurs on a purchase order that will result in the city's financial system counting a
change, Finance should document the change.
• The city should place a greater emphasis on negotiating change order prices.
• Information regarding the city's fraud hotline should be distributed to vendors and vendor employees.
Regular Agenda Item No. 5 - Presentation, possible action and discussion on the City facilities Audit
Results.
Ty Elliott, Internal Auditor presented results for the Facilities Risk Assessment Audit. The audit found City
Hall to be the highest risk based on prior facility condition assessments, general liability claims, 2012 ADA
inspection, 2013 employee survey, facility utility costs, and modeling methods also used by the City of
Austin. The results highlighted areas of concern including safety, space, and the past cost of maintaining the
facility over time. The audit closed with a cost comparison of either accepting the identified risks, investing
in the current facility, or funding a new facility.
Regular Agenda Item No. 6 - Presentation, possible action and discussion regarding the Dependent
Eligibility Audit update.
Ty Elliott, Internal Auditor, updated the council on the current state of the audit.
Regular Agenda Item No. 7 - Presentation, possible action and discussion on the Audit Committee
Structure.
Ty Elliott, Internal Auditor briefly addressed the council on best practices of local government audit
committee composition. The committee desired no changes to the current composition.
Regular Agenda Item No. 8 - Presentation, possible action and discussion regarding Selection of
External Auditor Services.
Jeff Kersten, Assistant City Manager presented an update to the Audit Committee on the current agreement
for outside audit services. Staff is proposing to amend the letter agreement with Ingram Wallis in order to
obtain services for the preparation of the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report due to staff time being
devoted to the ICE project implementation. This item is expected to come before the Council on September
22°a
MOTION: Upon a motion made by Mayor Berry and a second by Councilmember Mooney, the Audit
Committee voted three (3) for and zero (0) opposed, to recommend the approval of the amended letter of
agreement with Ingram Wallis. The motion carried unanimously.
Regular Agenda Item No. 9 - Presentation, possible action and discussion regarding future agenda
items.
No future agenda items.
Regular Agenda Item No. 10 - Adjourn.
Hearing no objections, Mayor Berry adjourned the meeting at 5:43 p.m. on Monday, September 15, 2014.
Nancy Berry, Mayor
ATTEST:
Tanya cNu ' , Deputy ity Secretary
City Facilities Risk
Assessment
SEPTEMBER 2014
How did we find City Hall to be highest risk?
• City of Austin facility risk assessment
• 36 Facility condition assessments
• General liability claims
• 2012 ADA facilities inspection report
• 2013 employee survey
• Facility utility costs
OBJECTIVES
WHAT WE DID
Safety & Security
ADA compliance
Financial costs/efficiencies
Operational deficiencies
81 Interviews & site observations
Safety, security, ADA mitigation
Financial cost analysis
Historical review
City Hall History
1969
Center wing
Population 17,676
Square footage: 8,836
1979
South wing
Pop. 36,188
ft2: 17,041
1983
North wing
Pop. 44,864
ft2: 36,881
2014
Current
Pop. 101,648
ft2: 36,881
2020
Est. Pop: 120,144
2014
Pop. 101,648
Staff - 907
2009
Pop. 93,450
Staff - 935
2003
Pop. 78,309
Staff - 806
1997
Pop. 61,646
Staff - 717
7%
6%
5%
4%
3%
2%
1%
0%
- 1%
- 2%
-3%
Population & Staff Growth Comparison
N 00 al 0 N CO Cr Ln l0 N 00 al 0 - N CO ''
a, rn rn 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 i +
a, a, a, 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
c -I %-i %-i N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N
% Change Employee • % Change Population
"There is nothing to stop people [from] just walking into offices."
"Space for everyone is bursting at the seams."
receptionist
cabinets..w.. • Waffle
"When it rains, water leaks in the elevator and
under the doors in the hallway..."
i eililrisi•_
LL upon= e MiLatt
outside
coldwindows
e1tK
"Part of the facility is almost 50 years old..."
''k
riles closet alarm
eeruu available
. alt Flea 0or ock
m .tee
tora
•• e, o nstruct 1 L Ck 0 entry m� had iiatt4
ons Wel
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lrrroaches fan escape
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tectinatagy b7;71c11.4 izerwffigirret non wood
Q1: City Hall meets the needs of my department.
Average - 2.64
Somewhat disagree
Top health & safety concern
Air quality - 65%
Emergency evacuation - 26%
Sanitation - 26%
Parking lot conditions - 21%
Infestation - 19%
Maintenance - 16%
Top security concerns
Citizen access to facility - 52%
Preventative security measures - 47%
Unauthorized employee access - 12%
Visibility - 11%
Building free flow - 11%
Other concerns
Space - 57%
HVAC system - 48%
Energy efficiency - 25%
Way findings & signs - 23%
Department efficiency - 20%
Building aesthetic - 11%
Technological needs - 9%
Break room & bathrooms - 6%
ADA compliancy - 4%
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
Mitigated Recommendations
17
ADA
4
7
12
11
16
35
Safety Security Total
■ Unmitigated Mitigated
What are the City's Options?
• Option 1: Accept the identified risks
• $100,000 (O&M expenditures)
• $100,000 (utility expense)
• Option 2: Invest in current facility
• $2.144 million (recommended capital expenditures)
• Safety, security, ADA, capacity ?
• Option 3: Fund a new facility
Option 3: Fund a New Facility
FUNDING SOURCES
City Hall Appraisal $ 4,760,000
2003 GO bond $ 3,655,000
Other $
Total Funds $ 8,415,000
COSTS
Sq Ft Needed
57,000
Total Cost $ 17,100,000 at $300 per sq/ft
Remainder $ (8,685,000.0)
`
CITY OF COT T,FGE STATION
Home of Texas A&M University'
City of College Station Audit Committee
Nancy Berry, Mayor
Karl Mooney, Mayor Pro Tem
Steve Aldrich, Council Member
September 15, 2014
In preparing this list of potential audit topics, we identified topics that were likely to provide the
greatest overall benefit to the city. These potential topics were developed after taking the
following actions: (a) discussing audit possibilities with city staff; (b) reviewing potential findings
that were identified in previous audit reports that fell out of the scope of those reviews; (c)
reviewing audits performed in other Texas municipalities; and (d) considering audit topics that
have received limited audit coverage in past years.
This year the potential audits topics are divided into two sections: (1) limited scope financial
audits, and (2) larger scope performance audits.
LIMITED SCOPE FINANCIAL AUDITS
The following limited scope financial audits will require between 1 to 2 months to complete.
Accounts Receivable:
1. Skimming — When employees receive accounts receivable payments there is the risk that
they may keep some of those payments for themselves.
2. Write-offs—Some employees are authorized to write-off receivable accounts. Without
proper controls this authority could be abused.
3. Collections of delinquent accounts — Ineffective collections of delinquent accounts result in
the city never collecting payments from individuals that choose not to pay what they owe.
On the other hand, overly aggressive collections policies could reflect poorly on the city.
4. Collection of recurring debts — When the city has recurring receivables there is the risk that
the city will fail to collect the receivable every cycle.
5. Collection of Code Enforcement receivables — As a small division within the city, there is the
risk that proper controls for code enforcement collection may not be in place.
Employee Disbursements:
6. Duplicates on the payroll — Duplicate names, addresses, bank account numbers, or other
data in the payroll system may indicate a form of payroll fraud.
TY ELLIOTT
City Internal Auditor
telliott@cstx.gov
TEL: (979) 764-6269
CITY INTERNAL AUDITOR'S OFFICE
300 Krenek Tap
College Station, TX 77840
AUDIT COMMITTEE
Mayor Nancy Berry
Mayor Pro Tem Karl Mooney
Councilmember Steve Aldrich
City of College Station
Page 2 of 4
7. Non -payroll checks made to employees —Typically these checks are made to employees to
reimburse them for business related expenses. Because these types of payments can occur
for a variety of reasons, there is a risk that some of these payments were made
inappropriately.
Vendors:
8. Vendor Database—There are a variety of potential frauds and abuses that could be
detected through in-depth analysis of the city's vendor data. This includes areas such as
vendor performance and inappropriate vendor -employee relationships.
9. Shell Companies — Shell companies present the risk that an employee could set up a
fictitious company and then use city funds to pay the shell company for goods and services
that were never rendered.
10. Pay -and -return — Pay -and -return schemes present the risk that an employee could overpay
a vendor, wait for a reimbursement, and then steal the reimbursed money.
11. Illegitimate purchases — Illegitimate purchases present the risk that employees could
purchase personal items using city funds.
PERFORMANCE AUDITS
12. Urban Forestry: Planting, maintaining trees, landscaping, and other greenery in an urban
setting can be costly, but can enhance the quality of life for citizens. Determining the total
development, operations, and maintenance costs of the program may significantly aid
decision makers in determining how to best plan for the city's future urban forestry
demands.
Estimated Time to Complete: 3 months
13. Citizen Resolution Processes: Currently, the city utilizes a number of different means for
identifying citizens' concerns such as see -click -fix, social media (e.g. Facebook and Twitter),
the city website, or phone calls made to staff in various departments. Identifying an issue is
only the first step to mitigating a citizen concern. These issues must then be efficiently
relayed to the appropriate city staff so that effective corrective action can be taken.
Some cities implement customer relationship management systems that function as city-
wide intake systems for all customer service requests. These systems are designed to
enhance customer service by improving communications, data tracking, and reporting. For
example, the City of San Antonio implemented a city-wide customer intake system in 2011
that cost approximately $893,000 with a total cost including implementation of $3.5 million.
The San Antonio Auditor's Office conducted a 2013 audit of this system.
Estimated Time to Complete: 3 months
TY ELLIOTT
City Internal Auditor
telliott@cstx.gov
TEL: (979) 764-6269
CITY INTERNAL AUDITOR'S OFFICE
300 Krenek Tap
College Station, TX 77840
AUDIT COMMITTEE
Mayor Nancy Berry
Mayor Pro Tem Karl Mooney
Councilmember Steve Aldrich
City of College Station
Page 3 of 4
14. Ambulance Services: Based on the 2010 citywide risk assessment that we performed, EMS
ranked among the top ten areas for risk when compared to all other city divisions. In FY13
there were 4,846 EMS and 2,179 fire incidents dispatched. In addition, EMS related fees are
a significant source of other revenue to the general fund.
Estimated Time to Complete: 4 months
15. Fees: The city uses fees to help recover some of the costs associated with providing goods
and services. An audit of the city's fees would assess the degree to which fees cover costs,
and whether these amounts are appropriate.
Estimated Time to Complete: 3 months
16. Compensation: The proposed budget for employee wages and benefits in FY15 is
$65,425,670 (38%). An audit of the city's compensation to employees would assess the
competitiveness of employee compensation packages.
Estimated Time to Complete: 3 months
17. Enterprise Risk Assessment: An enterprise risk assessment is a systematic methodology for
identifying the areas of greatest risk in an organization. An enterprise risk assessment will
be valuable in helping to ensure that future audit work is directed in areas that present the
greatest risk in the city.
Estimated Time to Complete: 2 months
UPDATE
During the audit committee meeting on 9/15/2014, the following audits were selected:
3. Collections of delinquent accounts — Ineffective collections of delinquent accounts result
in the city never collecting payments from individuals that choose not to pay what they
owe. On the other hand, overly aggressive collections policies could reflect poorly on the
city.
7. Non -payroll checks made to employees —Typically these checks are made to employees
to reimburse them for business related expenses. Because these types of payments can
occur for a variety of reasons, there is a risk that some of these payments were made
inappropriately.
TY ELLIOTT
City Internal Auditor
telliott@cstx.gov
TEL: (979) 764-6269
CITY INTERNAL AUDITOR'S OFFICE
300 Krenek Tap
College Station, TX 77840
AUDIT COMMITTEE
Mayor Nancy Berry
Mayor Pro Tem Karl Mooney
Councilmember Steve Aldrich
City of College Station
Page 4 of 4
11. Illegitimate purchases — Illegitimate purchases present the risk that employees could
purchase personal items using city funds.
15. Fees: The city uses fees to help recover some of the costs associated with providing
goods and services. An audit of the city's fees would assess the degree to which fees cover
costs, and whether these amounts are appropriate.
16. Compensation: The proposed budget for employee wages and benefits in FY15 is
$65,425,670 (38%). An audit of the city's compensation to employees would assess the
competitiveness of employee compensation packages.
TY ELLIOTT
City Internal Auditor
telliott@cstx.gov
TEL: (979) 764-6269
CITY INTERNAL AUDITOR'S OFFICE
300 Krenek Tap
College Station, TX 77840
AUDIT COMMITTEE
Mayor Nancy Berry
Mayor Pro Tem Karl Mooney
Councilmember Steve Aldrich
Change Order Audit
August 2014
City Internal Auditor's Office
City of College Station
File#: 14-01
Why We Did This Audit
This audit was conducted per direction of
the City of College Station Audit
Committee. The Audit Committee
requested assurance services in regards to:
1. compliance with relevant change
order statutes, policies, and
procedures,
2. controls against change order fraud
and abuse, and
3. the appropriateness of change
orders that occurred in 2013.
What We Recommended
• All change orders should have the
approval of the contract manager
and the contract manager's
supervisor or superior.
• All changes to a purchase order
should be documented.
• Greater emphasis should be placed
on negotiating change order prices.
• The ethics hotline should be made
available to vendors and vendor
employees.
Audit Executive Summary:
Change Orders
What We Found
Overall the change order processes at
the City of College Station appear to
be running efficiently and effectively.
But, as always, there is room for
improvement.
We found that the city is mostly
compliant with the relevant statutes,
policies, and procedures for change
orders. There were not any material
changes to purchases, change order
forms were being appropriately used,
and price increases did not exceed the
limits. However, we also found that
approval practices for change orders
needed to be strengthened.
We found the controls against change
order fraud and abuse to be moderately
strong. All change orders appear to be
justified, and we found that the
controls over change order prices
appear to be sufficient. However, we
also found that documentation needs to
be improved, greater emphasis on
negotiation would be beneficial, and
the city's ethics hotline should be
made available to vendors and vendor
employees.
We did not find any change orders that
should not have been approved.
Change Order Audit
Table of Contents
Introduction 2
Background 2
Audit Objectives 4
Scope and Methodology 5
Analysis and Recommendations 7
Compliance with Policies & Procedures 7
No Material Changes Occurred 7
Approval Practices for Change Orders Should Be Strengthened 7
Change Order Forms Are Being Appropriately Used 10
Price Increases Did Not Exceed Limits 10
Risks of Fraud or Abuse 10
Change Orders Were Justified, But Documentation Should Be Improved 10
Change Order Controls for Pricing Appear Sufficient 14
Greater Emphasis On Negotiation May Be Needed 15
The Ethics Hotline Should Be Made Available to Vendors 16
Summary of Audit Recommendations 17
Appendix A: Single Page Change Order Approval Aide 18
Appendix B: Management Responses to the Audit Recommendations 19
Change Order Audit 1
Introduction
The Office of the City Internal Auditor conducted this performance audit of change
orders pursuant to Article III Section 30 of the College Station City Charter, which
outlines the City Internal Auditor's primary duties.
A performance audit is an objective, systematic examination of evidence to assess
independently the performance of an organization, program, activity, or function. The
purpose of a performance audit is to provide information to improve public
accountability and facilitate decision-making. Performance audits encompass a wide
variety of objectives, including those related to assessing program effectiveness and
results; economy and efficiency; internal control; compliance with legal or other
requirements; and objectives related to providing prospective analyses, guidance, or
summary information. A performance audit of change orders was included in the fiscal
year 2014 audit plan based on direction given by the Audit Committee.
Background
As an organization, the City of College Station had over $80 million worth of purchase
orders in 2013. Relevant to this audit, these purchases can be divided into one of two
categories:
1. Competitively bid purchases This generally includes purchases of materials,
general services, and construction contracts.
2. Non -bid purchases This generally includes professional service contracts.
For various reasons, the city's purchases sometimes need to be changed after the
purchase has been finalized. A change order is a change to one of these purchases.
Depending on the situation, the term "change order" can have slightly varying
definitions. For the purposes of this audit, a change order is anything that is counted as
a change in the city's electronic financial system. Therefore change orders can range
from large monetary changes that affect the original contract down to very minor
administrative changes that are only fixing a typo.
Change orders should be considered a part of doing business. They allow the city to
adapt to changing situations and to correct for errors that will inevitably occur. In fact, if
the city never had any change orders, this would be a major red flag.
2 Change Order Audit
Change orders can occur for a variety of reasons. These reasons can be broken down
into two broad categories: (1) contractual changes, and (2) administrative changes. In
this audit, we have further broken down contractual changes into the sub -categories:
true -ups, changes in specifications, substantive errors, changes in external conditions,
and changes in law.
True -ups (41.7%)1. The majority of change orders that we investigated were caused
by true -ups. These changes occur because it is often difficult to predict with perfect
accuracy how much of a good or service will be required. For example, if constructing a
mile -long brick wall, it would be difficult to determine exactly how much mortar will be
required. Therefore the original contract contains a reasonable estimate, and a change
order is subsequently executed to true -up the estimates with the actuals. It should be
noted that during these true -ups unit prices do not change, only the quantities.
In this category we also included corrections of reasonable assumptions. For example,
before construction begins, engineers must often test the ground for foundation issues.
It would be unreasonable to test every piece of dirt in the area; so instead, they test
multiple locations and assume the nearby ground will be similar. On occasion it is
discovered that the nearby ground is not similar, and changes have to be made to
account for it.
These types of change orders are the most common. They also reduce the financial risks
caused by uncertainty.
Change in specifications (26.7%). Changes in specifications occurred when the city
decided to change what it wanted to order after the purchase had been finalized. For
the change to be considered a change in specifications, the change must have been
initiated by the city while the contractor still had the ability to deliver on the original
contract. An example of a change in specifications that occurred in the city is for one of
the city's mowing contracts. The city made a contract for several of its fields to be
mowed. Due to staffing changes a few of the city's internal mowing positions were
eliminated, so the city changed the specifications on its mowing contract to cover the
additional fields that had previously been mowed internally.
While changes in specifications are not necessarily abnormal, they are a type of change
that is at relatively high risk of abuse. This is because a large change in specifications
could constitute a material change, which is prohibited by state law.
Substantive error (15.0%). Substantive errors occurred when a city employee made a
mistake that had to be fixed by changing the original contract. For example, if an
employee mistakenly ordered the wrong item, the original contract would have to be
changed to swap in the correct item.
1 As will be explained in the scope section, the change orders selected for this audit were not selected
randomly. Therefore, the relative frequency of the different types of changes are unlikely to be reflective
of overall trends throughout the city.
Change Order Audit 3
On a related note, the question sometimes arises of whether the city or the contractor
should pay for the costs of an error. For professional services and construction contracts
the general rule is that the city, as owner, must pay for the cost of an error even when
the contractor was the one who made the mistake. While perhaps surprising, this is a
rule that's practiced throughout the country. For the most part, the only time the
contractor must pay for an error is if the contractor was not exercising "reasonable and
ordinary care and diligence" when the error occurred. This standard accepts that
mistakes will occur, and will generally only hold the contractor liable when the mistake
was the result of negligence or intentional misconduct.
The fact that employees occasionally make errors should not be a major cause for
concern; however, because the correction of a substantive error could constitute a
material change, these change orders must be examined closely.
Administrative changes (11.7%). Administrative changes occur when a change must
be made to the purchase documentation, but the contract itself does not change. An
example of this would be if a purchase had an incorrect account number. In this case a
change order would be initiated to correct the error, but the contract itself would not
change. Administrative changes are of relatively low risk.
Change in external conditions (3.3%). Changes in external conditions were events
that occurred outside the control of either the city or the contractor, but affected the
ability of either party to deliver on the contract. An example of this could be if a change
in market conditions led to a scarcity of red bricks. A change order might then be
required to allow for the use of grey bricks. Change orders caused by a change in
external conditions are of a moderate level of risk.
Change in law (1.7%). Changes in law are a type of change in external conditions,
but are unique enough to warrant its own category. An example of how a change in law
could result in a change order is building codes. A change in the building codes could
require changes to a construction contract. Change orders caused by a change in law
are of moderately low risk.
Audit Objectives
This report answers the following questions:
• Is the City of College Station compliant with the relevant statutes, policies, and
procedures regarding change orders?
• Does the City of College Station have sufficient controls against change order
fraud and abuse?
• Were there any change orders that should not have been approved or executed?
4 Change Order Audit
Scope and Methodology
This audit was conducted in accordance with government auditing standards, which are
promulgated by the Comptroller General of the United States, with the exception of an
external peer review.2 Audit fieldwork was conducted from May 2014 through August
2014.
The scope of review included purchase orders that:
1. Occurred in calendar year 2013,
2. had a value greater than $50,000, and
3. had change orders that cumulatively increased the value of the original purchase
order.
In 2013 there were 198 purchase orders that were worth more than $50,000. Table 1
shows how change orders affected these 198 purchase orders:
Table 1: Purchase orders worth more than $50,0003
PO Category Count of POs Percentage
No change orders
124 63%
Changes increased PO value 40
Changes did not change PO value 14
Changes decreased PO value 20
20%
7%
10%
Totals: 198
100%
This audit investigated the forty purchase orders that had an increase in value.
Additionally, some purchase orders within the scope of this audit had multiple change
orders, and some of those change orders decreased the value of the purchase order
(even though cumulatively the change orders increased the overall purchase order
value). In this audit, individual change orders that did not increase the value of the
purchase order were generally given less scrutiny than the ones that increased it.
It should also be noted that this was a change order audit and not a purchasing audit. A
few aspects of this audit required us to investigate some aspects of purchasing; but we
only investigated so far as was relevant to change orders. For example, in this audit we
often needed to verify whether a contract was bid; but we did not actually audit the
competitive bidding process.
2 Government auditing standards require audit organizations to undergo an external peer review every
three years.
3 This data is for purchase orders that occurred in calendar year 2013. The data is accurate as of 4-29-
2014.
Change Order Audit 5
This audit's scope was limited to the above stated criteria in order to ensure the audit
would be completed in a timely manner.
The methodology used to complete the audit objectives included:
• Reviewing the work of auditors in other jurisdictions and researching professional
literature to identify: (1) applicable laws and regulations, (2) change order best
practices, and (3) common forms of change order fraud or abuse.
• Reviewing applicable policies and procedures.
• In-depth interviews with all contract managers and department directors
overseeing the purchase orders within this audit's scope.
• Review and analysis of all relevant documentation and data regarding the
change orders investigated for this audit.
6 Change Order Audit
Analysis and Recommendations
Compliance with Policies & Procedures
The City's policies and procedures regarding change orders are found in the purchasing
manual. These policies reflect the statutes described in the Texas Local Government
Code4. Relevant to this audit, there are four requirements for change orders laid out in
the purchasing manual: (1) material changes in scope, quantities, or related work may
not be made; (2) change orders must be properly approved; (3) a change order form
must be filled out for all written contract documents; and (4) certain change orders may
not have their prices increased by more than 25 percent.
No Material Changes Occurred
Material changes, defined as"substantial revisions," are impermissible because the
bidding process "requires that all bidders be placed upon the same plane of equality and
that they each bid upon the same terms and conditions involved in all the items and
parts of the contract, and the proposal specify as to all bids the same or substantially
similar specifications."
We found no instances of material changes to the city's contracts.'
Approval Practices for Change Orders Should Be Strengthened
Policies and Procedures regarding change order approvals are sufficient. A
basic control for preventing fraud, waste, or abuse at any organization is the
requirement that expenditures be approved. Ideally, the individual doing the approving
will meet two basic requirements:
1. The approver is a superior of the employee requesting the expenditure. This
helps ensure that the approver has the power to deny approval if necessary.
2. The approver has sufficient knowledge regarding the expenditure to determine
whether the expenditure is appropriate. The approver should be determining
whether the change itself is appropriate, as well as whether the cost of the
change is appropriate.
The approval policies laid out in the City of College Station's purchasing manual meet
both of the above stated criteria. The city's approval requirements for change orders
4 § 252
' However, it should be noted that the scope of this audit focused on change orders that increased the
value of the purchase order. Therefore, we did not investigate whether there were material changes in
change orders that decreased the value of the purchase order.
Change Order Audit 7
vary slightly depending on the type of contract6, but the requirements are basically as
follows:
• When the original contract amount plus all change orders is $50,000 or less the
City Manager or his designee may approve the change order, provided the
change order does not increase the total amount set forth in the contract to
more than $50,000.
• When the change order is for more than $50,000 or it results in a revised total
contract amount that exceeds $50,000, the change order must be approved by
City Council.
• For professional services contracts, when the sum of all change orders exceed 25
percent of the original contract, the City Council must approve the change
orders.
In the above stated requirements, when the purchasing manual states "City Manager or
his designee" the city generally follows the approval criteria laid out in the change order
routing procedures shown in the table below:
Table 2: Change Order Routing Procedures
Change orders of $0.01
to $2,999.99
Change orders of
$3,000.00 to $50,000.00
Change orders greater
than $50,000.00
1.
A/E Consultant (if
applicable)
1.
A/E Consultant (if
applicable)
1.
A/E Consultant (if
applicable)
2.
Contractor
2.
Contractor
2.
Contractor
3.
Contract manager
3.
Contract manager
3.
Contract manager
4.
Public Works Director (if
applicable)
4.
Public Works Director (if
applicable)
4.
Public Works Director
5.
Department Director
5.
Department Director
5.
Department Director
6.
Chief Financial Officer
6.
Chief Financial Officer
7.
City Manager
7.
City Manager
8.
Legal
9.
City Council
Not all change orders were properly approved. In this audit we did not find
adequate evidence of supervisor approval for 26 percent of the change orders we
investigated. These deficiencies were all related to change orders that did not require
city council approval. The cause of these non -approvals is that the Finance department
had generally been allowing these types of change orders to take place upon the sole
request of the contract manager. (This, of course, does not necessarily mean that the
contract manager's supervisor did not know about the change order, it only means that
we don't have evidence that it was approved.)
Early on in this audit the Finance department recognized this as a control weakness and
going forward has committed to ensure that supervisors have approved all change
orders and to retain documentation of this approval prior to performing the change.
6 The purchasing manual divides contracts into four kinds: (1) materials, equipment, supplies or other
commodities, (2) general services, (3) professional services, and (4) construction contracts.
8 Change Order Audit
Recommendation 1: At a minimum, all change orders should have the approval of the
contract manager and the contract manager's supervisor or superior. Before executing a
change order, Finance should ensure these approvals have been obtained, and should
retain documentation of this approval.
The strictness of these approval controls may vary depending on the amount at risk. For
small change orders it is probably sufficient to simply make sure that the contract
manager's supervisor has been copied on the email request. When large amounts are at
risk Finance may want to enter more formal approval processes.
Consolidated change order risk. Split change orders occur when a change order is
divided into multiple change orders in order to avoid approval requirements. For
example, if there is a $50,000 approval threshold, a $52,000 change order might be
divided into two $26,000 change orders in order to avoid the approval process set off by
crossing the $50,000 threshold. Such actions are signs of lax controls and procedures
regarding change orders and are a major red flag for change order abuse.
Among the change orders investigated in this audit we found no incidents of split
change orders. However, we found one instance of a consolidated change order that
had substantially the same effect.
Consolidating change orders is a common practice and is not usually a cause for
concern. It is only a cause for concern when both of the following conditions are met:
1. The items in the change order are not directly related to each other. I.e. there
are parts of the change order that would have occurred regardless of the other
changes in the change order.
2. The consolidation of the change order results in avoiding an approval threshold.
In this audit we found one instance where both of these conditions were met. Purchase
Order 130498 was a materials purchase with a change order that totaled $966.25.
However, the individual changes within the purchase order were as follows:
1. -$1,980.00 - Removal of line item G-1 due to a bid mistake. The bid was
mistakenly awarded to this bidder, and had to be removed in order to be given
to the correct bidder.
2. -$1,239.50 — Removal of line item G-6 due to a bid mistake. The bid was
mistakenly awarded to this bidder, and had to be removed in order to be given
to the correct bidder.
3. +$4,185.75 — This line item was added because the original winner of the bid
proved unable to fulfill the bid. This vendor had the next lowest bid, and so was
subsequently awarded it.
The above three changes are not directly related to each other. Item 3 would have
occurred regardless of whether Items 1 and 2 occurred. But by consolidating these
Change Order Audit 9
changes, the change order fell below the $3,000 approval threshold when Item 3 on its
own would have been above the threshold.
In this specific incident we found no evidence of fraud or abuse, and this one isolated
incident is not a cause for concern. We mention this only as a reminder of the potential
risks associated with consolidating change orders when there are unrelated changes and
the consolidation results in missing approval thresholds.
Change Order Forms Are Being Appropriately Used
The purchasing manual states that "[a] change order form must be filled out for all
written contract documents." Furthermore, all change orders to written contracts must
follow the purchasing manual's routing procedures. The change order routing
procedures indicate who must approve the change orders. (These procedures are shown
on Table 1.)
We found that all of the change orders that needed a change order form had properly
completed the form.
Price Increases Did Not Exceed Limits
Both Texas law and the purchasing manual state that purchases obtained through
competitive bidding may not have changes that exceed 25 percent of the original
amount.
We did not find any competitively bid purchases with change orders that exceeded 25
percent.
Risks of Fraud or Abuse
Abuse of the change order system generally comes in one of two forms: (1) change
orders that are unjustified or unnecessary, or (2) inflated change order prices.
Change Orders Were Justified, But Documentation Should Be Improved
One way that the change order system can be abused occurs when an employee
colludes with a vendor to purchase goods or services that are not actually needed.
All change orders increasing the value of the purchase order appear to be
justified. In this audit we did not find any instances of clearly unjustified change
orders. However, it should be noted that in many cases we do not have the technical
expertise to personally determine whether a change order is necessary (e.g.
engineering, mechanics, etc.). In those situations we had to rely on the expert
testimony of the contract manager and his or her supervisors in affirming the need for
the change order.
10 Change Order Audit
This fact further highlights the need for strong approval controls in the city. Given the
city's diverse services and activities, there are often a limited number of employees
within the organization who have the necessary expertise to understand whether certain
change orders are fully justified. As such, it is crucial that change orders not be
executed until they have been reviewed by a supervisor with sufficient knowledge and
expertise to justifiably approve the change.
Change order documentation should be improved. An important financial control
for change orders is proper documentation. When an organization has strong
documentation controls, it can account for every change, why it occurred, and who was
responsible. With these strong controls, if an individual commits fraud, he or she is more
likely to be caught. Weak documentation controls could make it more difficult to detect
fraud.
At the City of College Station, many of these controls are built into the city's electronic
financial system. In regards to change orders, one of the most important built-in
controls is the change count. This is a count of every time a change has been made to
the purchase order in the system. It even counts minor changes, such as date changes
or corrections to typos. Significantly, this number cannot be edited. This security control
makes surreptitious alterations of a purchase order more difficult, since it makes it
difficult to hide the fact that a change occurred.
However, this security control will lose much of its effectiveness if the city does not
document the reason for each change that is counted. This is because the lack of
documentation creates an environment wherein there are many innocent change orders
that are difficult to explain. This in turn increases the risk of fraud because unexplained
and inappropriate changes will be more difficult to detect.
In the City of College Station, there are two separate places the city documents the
reasons for changes. The first is in the "remarks" section within the financial system, as
shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Purchase Order Remarks Documentation in the City's Financial System
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Change Order Audit
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The second is printed on the updated purchase order form, which is uploaded to
laserfiche, as can be seen in Figure 2.
Figure 2: Purchase Order Form in Laserfiche
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Change Order 2 Remove 1022 Crested Point, Add
(Peed Control at '7750 on Graham Rd, Aid City
Cemetery Mowing.
Council. APPrcved July 20, 2013 Iter 20
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12 Change Order Audit
In this audit we found that 33 percent' of the changes counted in the financial system
do not have the reason for the change documented either in the financial system or on
the purchase order form on laserfiche. However, it should be noted that the vast
majority of these undocumented changes appear to be minor changes that do not affect
the purchase order's dollar value, or are final changes that are closing -out the purchase
order. Additionally, we found that when documentation does exist, it is sometimes
insufficient.
Purchase Order 130362, which was for medical and dental insurance, is an example of
why strong documentation is important. This purchase order lists 6 changes, but the
only documentation we could find can be seen below in Figure 3.
Figure 3: Purchase Order 130362 Remarks
Remark
RFP 12-062
ImStop Loss approved by Council 12/13/12 i2i
Change Order 1 - correct account number on line 2
TE,Increased lines 1-5 per 's e-mail
request on 1/27/2014. Resulting EPO amount
should be the final amount for 2013 expenditures.
From the information given in the remarks, the first arrow explains change order 1; but
it is unclear which change number the second arrow is associated with. We also do not
know by how much the purchase order has changed.
After working through the financial system's audit trail, we were able to piece together
the following table of what occurred on this change order described in Table 3 below.
Table 3: Changes Made to Purchase Order 130362
Change Post Balances Change oh
No. Date Amount Change
0 1/18/2013 $ 6,628,627.00 n/a n/a
1 3/18/2013 $ 6,628,627.00 $ - 0.0%
2 1/21/2014 $ 6,589,008.15 $ (39,618.85) -0.6%
3 1/21/2014 $ 6,652,895.70 $ 63,887.55 1.0%
4 1/27/2014 $ 6,803,386.17 $ 150,490.47 2.3%
5 6/06/2014 $ 6,803,386.17 $ - 0.0%
6 6/06/2014 $ 6,803,382.51
(3.66) 0.0%
From this data, it appears that the second arrow is for change 4. While there's no
documentation for changes 5 and 6 (which occurred on the same day) it's likely these
changes are associated with the closing of the purchase order. Changes 2 and 3 (which
occurred on the same day) are not at all clear. Because they are posted within a week
' This is 33% of the change orders within the scope of this audit, not 33% of change orders throughout the city.
Change Order Audit 13
of change 4, it's possible they are associated with change 4 in some way; but it appears
more likely that they were changed for another reason that is not documented.
Recommendation 2: Any time a change occurs on a purchase order that will result in
the financial system counting a change, Finance should document the change. The
documentation should at the minimum state the change number it is associated with
and the amount the purchase order has changed. For the very small changes, such as
fixing typos, the city should still document the reason for the change, but can keep the
documentation minimal—such as only a short note in the "remarks" section in the
financial system. For purchase orders that increase the value of the purchase order,
documentation showing proper approvals should also be retained.
Change Order Controls for Pricing Appear Sufficient
Because change orders do not have to undergo competitive bidding, some vendors may
be tempted to abuse the change order process by submitting inflated change order price
proposals. There are three primary practices for reducing the risk of inflated change
order prices: (1) establish terms in the original contract for how change order pricing
will be handled, (2) manage and review change order costs, and (3) negotiate.
When reasonable, change order prices are established in the original
contracts. The preferred method for pricing change orders is to have the prices already
established in the original contract. However, while this is ideal, it is not always practical
since many change orders are not reasonably foreseeable.
Generally, change order prices can be established in the original contract in one of two
ways. The first occurs when the contract states that if the city decides to go ahead with
a certain change order, it will cost a specified amount.
The second method is to have the contract's original pricing as a guide, but not
necessarily as the specific price to be used. Using unit prices from the original bid or
from other recent bids as the basis for pricing change orders is usually appropriate; but
it may be inappropriate when significant changes in market prices have occurred, or the
location, timing, nature, or conditions of the work is substantially different. For example,
if the city is paying a company for lawn mowing services, the unit prices could be used
as a guide for how much to pay if the city decides to hire the company to mow other
similar areas. However, using the same unit prices would probably be inappropriate for
areas that are not similar, e.g. an empty field and a cemetery.
In this audit we found that about two-thirds of the change orders investigated had the
pricing for the change order included in the original contract. We found no instances
where a change order price clearly should have been included in the original contract,
but was not.
14 Change Order Audit
Management and review of change order costs appear sufcient. In order to
prevent against inflated prices, it is important that contract managers perform detailed
reviews of change order prices. There are two aspects to these reviews:
1. Allcontract managers should be performing detailed reviews of pre -established
change order costs. This includes comparing change order prices against the
original contract prices, or to the schedules of units, rates or values, vendor
invoices, price indices, or other sources that are pre -established by contract.
Such reviews help ensure the additional charges are reasonable and conform to
the contract conditions.
2. Contracts that do not have an Architecture & Engineering (A&E) firm helping to
oversee the contract should also make sure the organization is not paying too
much for labor, materials, equipment and markups. In situations where an A&E
firm is being used, the city need only spot-check the scrutiny provided by the
A&E firm.
Review of pre -established prices. It appears that review of pre -established change order
prices is sufficient. We found evidence that detailed reviews are occurring. For example,
on Purchase Order 140178, a Public Works purchase order, we found the contract
manager communicating to the vendor in an e-mail: "This cost seems reasonable if it
includes all the work needed per the drawing from the engineer. However, before
approving, can we see a cost breakdown with a little more detail to make sure
everything is covered?" A more detailed proposal was subsequently supplied. In our own
review of pre -established prices we found no errors.
Review of new change order prices. Due to time constraints we could not personally
make a determination as to whether specific change order prices for labor, materials,
equipment, and markups were reasonable. However we did interview the contract
managers to determine the depth of their change order price reviews. Assuming
contract managers are following the procedures they say they are following, review of
new change order prices are sufficient. However, we found one case in which the price
review was probably insufficient. In this purchase order (130738) the vendor's submitted
price had consolidated materials, labor and equipment into a single line item, and the
reviewer did not ask for a more detailed price submission before approving.
In situations where an A&E firm is employed, we found that spot-checks are occurring.
Greater Emphasis On Negotiation May Be Needed
When possible, contract managers should be negotiating the prices of change orders.
However, it should be noted that negotiating change orders can be difficult for the city
because it has substantially less bargaining power than the contractor. This is because
Change Order Audit 15
with change orders, the city is locked into the vendor working on the original contract.
This unequal bargaining power gives vendors the ability to potentially inflate change
order prices up to the point of the city's cost of changing vendors.
About one-third of the change orders we investigated had aspects that could have been
negotiated. However, during the course of this audit we found little evidence that these
change orders were negotiated. There appears to be two primary causes for this lack of
negotiation. The first is the previously mentioned lack of bargaining power. The second
is that the negotiation of change order prices does not appear to be an emphasized
practice in the city, which results in most contract managers not considering it when
they are reviewing costs.
Recommendation 3: The city should place a greater emphasis on negotiating change
order prices.
We do not necessarily recommend that negotiation be attempted on every single change
order. However, we do recommend that more emphasis be placed on negotiation so
that contract managers will feel a greater obligation to attempt negotiation in situations
where it may be beneficial.
The Ethics Hotline Should Be Made Available to Vendors
Best practices recommend establishing hotlines for vendors and their employees to
report waste and fraud. These hotlines are a cost effective tool for timely identification
of issues, and should be widely communicated to everyone involved in a project.
The city currently subscribes to a hotline where city employees can report instances of
fraud, waste, or abuse. However, in the past this hotline has not been made available to
vendors or vendor employees.
The most difficult part of making the hotline available to vendor employees is informing
the front line vendor employees that the hotline exists. After discussion with city staff,
some ideas included:
1. Placing in the bid documents information regarding the ethics hotline,
and requiring that the vendor inform its employees about the ethics
hotline. The advantage of this method is that it is relatively simple to execute. A
disadvantage is that it only applies to contracts that were bid.
2. Placing in the contract information regarding the ethics hotline, and
requiring that the vendor inform its employees about the ethics
hotline. The advantage to this method is that it will apply to most vendors. The
16 Change Order Audit
disadvantage is that changing the form contracts would cost substantially more
time and effort than updating the bid documents.
3. Place signs or posters at construction sites. This could be particularly
effective at construction sites such as buildings or parks. It would be less feasible
for constantly moving construction sites, like roads.
4. Direct communication with vendor employees. The advantage to this
method is that it would ensure that the employees most likely to be aware of
fraudulent activity are also aware of the ethics hotline. The disadvantage is that
it could strain the relationship between the contract manager and the vendor.
Recommendation 4: Information regarding the city's fraud hotline should be
distributed to vendors and vendor employees.
Summary of Audit Recommendations
1. All change orders should have the approval of the contract manager and the contract
manager's supervisor or superior. Before executing a change order, Finance should ensure
these approvals have been obtained.
2. Any time a change occurs on a purchase order that will result in the city's financial system
counting a change, Finance should document the change. The documentation should at the
minimum state the change number it is associated with and the amount the purchase order
has changed. For purchase orders that increase the value of the purchase order,
documentation showing proper approvals should also be retained.
3. The city should place a greater emphasis on negotiating change order prices.
4. Information regarding the city's fraud hotline should be distributed to vendors and vendor
employees.
Change Order Audit 17
Appendix A: Single Page Change Order Approval Aide
This document is intended to help members of the City Council know where to focus
their attention during the change order approval process. Because all change orders are
different, this aide will not by itself determine whether a change order should be
approved; instead it is designed to help Council Members gather relevant information
before deciding whether to approve a change.
1. What is the reason for the change? Depending on the reason for the change
order, Council Members may want to consider applying varying levels of scrutiny.
• Higher scrutiny:
o If the contractor is unchanged in its ability to deliver on the contract, but
the city has changed what it wants.
• Medium scrutiny:
o If the change was caused by an error and the contract must now be
changed.
o If the change is due to factors outside the control of the city and
contractor.
o If the contract change is to true -up estimates or to correct for reasonable
assumptions.
• Lower scrutiny:
o If a change in the law limited the contractor's ability to fulfill the contract.
o If an administrative change occurred that did not result in a change to
the contract.
2. Are there previous changes? What's the total percent change in price for all
changes? If it is more than 20 percent, give extra scrutiny.
3. Is the change order needed? Is the proposed change order necessary for
meeting the original contract's purpose? What would happen if the change was
rejected?
4. Review the cost of the changes. In most situations Council Members must
depend on the expertise of city staff in determining whether the cost of a change
order is reasonable. If Council members wish to verify staff's due diligence,
questions should focus on:
• Which prices were pre -established in the contract? How detailed was the
review and comparison of change order prices against the pre -established
prices?
• Which prices had to be determined outside the contract? How much
negotiation occurred? How many people reviewed the final price, and how
detailed were the price reviews by each person? Were the costs of labor,
materials, equipment and markups reviewed? How were the costs
determined to be reasonable?
18 Change Order Audit
Appendix B: Management Responses to the Audit Recommendations
To: Kelly Templin, City Manager
From: Jeff Kersten, Assistant City Manager
Date: September 10, 2014
Subject: Performance Audit: Change Order Recommendations and Management Responses
Staff agrees with the recommendations from the Internal Auditor's Office, however, we thought it
would be appropriate to provide some general background on the types and nature of changes that
can occur on City purchase orders:
• The scope of this audit included change orders with written contracts and those with
purchase orders serving as the contract. With the City's current financial system (Sungard),
every contract (construction services, professional services, general services) has a
corresponding purchase order, but not every purchase order has a written contract. A
purchase order with attached PO terms serves as the contract for the purchase of goods and
commodities.
• There are two primary categories of change orders:
o Contractual change orders — changes that occur after the contract is awarded when
the plans, specifications, costs, quantities or delivery time changes from the original
approved contract; or
o Administrative changes — these changes do not impact the contract and/or PO terms.
Examples of these may include a change in the account number, inverting the unit
cost and total cost in order to make progress payments, or correcting a typo.
• It is also important to note that the Sungard financial system provides an audit trail of every
change that occurs on the purchase order, regardless of whether it is administrative or
contractual change. The audit trail may be cumbersome to follow, but it provides the
individual that made the change, the date of the change and automatically numbers every
change(s).
• Also worth mentioning is the new Tyler MUNIS financial system will allow better
documentation to be attached directly to the records. Therefore, staff will be able to attach
change order forms, emails or any other relevant documentation directly to each change
occurring.
Following are staff responses to the recommendations:
Auditor Recommendation 1. All change orders should have the approval of the contract manager
and the contract manager's supervisor or superior. Before executing a change order, Finance should
ensure these approvals have been obtained.
Management Response: Staff agrees. Currently, written change order forms are
required for written contracts with the contractor's signature, the project manager,
the department director and depending on the amount, City Manager or City Council
approval. The approval process on change orders to purchase orders is less formal,
however, since the beginning of this audit, staff has been more diligent in requiring
supervisor approval on requested changes. Staff will revise the current policies and
procedures and develop any approval forms as needed. The new MUNIS financial
Change Order Audit 19
system will provide for an electronic approval workflow that will be used when the
system is implemented.
Auditor Recommendation 2. Any time a change order occurs on a purchase order that will result
in the City's financial system counting a change, Finance should document the change. The
documentation should at the minimum state the change number it is associated with and the
amount the purchase order has changed. For purchase orders that increase the value of the
purchase order, documentation showing proper approvals should also be retained.
Management Response. Staff agrees. Sometimes the audit trail in the financial
system is difficult to follow. Staff will document each change order by number with a
corresponding reason for the change. If the change results in an increase, staff will
also document the approval(s). Again, the new MONIS financial system will provide
for an electronic approval workflow that will be used when the system is
implemented.
Auditor Recommendation 3. The city should place a greater emphasis on negotiating change
order prices.
Management Response. Staff agrees. Every effort should be made to confirm that
change order prices are fair and reasonable.
Auditor Recommendation 4. Information regarding the City's fraud hotline should be distributed
to vendors and vendor employees.
Management Response. Staff will place information regarding the fraud hotline in
all bid documents. The be documents typically become part of the contract
documents, if applicable. When developing the new purchase order form in Tyler
MUNIS, staff will see if it is feasible to add the fraud hotline to this form which will
reach more vendors than just those vendors awarded bids/contracts.
20 Change Order Audit