The Fraser-Fort George Regional District has some room for improvement in the way it handles day-to-day purchasing, the Auditor General of Local Government said Wednesday.
Although the FFGRD has "for the most part, well-developed principles, bylaws and procedures," the AGLG did identify a few exceptions when it carried out an audit of what is also known as operational procurement.
Specifically, the AGLG recommended it:
- improve purchasing and conflict of interest guidelines;
- update purchasing card policies to address gaps and formalize existing good practice;
- improve reporting on operational procurement, including the development of performance review measures to allow for regular evaluation of procurement practices and increased reporting to board.
The audit included a revew of 25 selected transactions and found four where staff did not fully follow FFGRD policies.
In one instance, where there was no contract in place for a recurring service valued at between $5,000 and $10,000, the FFGRD continued to pay for the service through an annual standing purchase order without executing a competitive process, which requires three quotes under its policy.
In the three others, staff staff exceeded their authorized purchasing limits without getting approval.
However, the audit found that in all instances of direct award it reviewed, guidelines were followed.
Likewise, in instances where a full competitive procurement process was used, "we found evidence that staff advertised the competitions using the BC Bid website and the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George website."
In a statement, the FFGRD said it welcomes the recommendations and plans to act on them.
"We operate in an environment of continuous improvement, so we welcomed the opportunity to have our procurement practices reviewed to identify areas where we can perform even better," administrator Jim Martin said.
That the FFGRD's policies and practices were generally sound was encouraging, said AGLG auditor Gordon Ruth and added that he's "pleased with the regional district's positive response to the audit and its commitment to act on our recommendations."
The FFGRD provides 89 services to residents of its seven electoral areas and to the City of Prince George, District of Mackenzie, Village of Valemount and Village of McBride, with annual operating expenses of just over $36 million. Operational procurement accounts for roughly $12 million per year.
"The audit confirmed our observations that we do a good job of ensuring that tax dollars are spent with a goal to getting the best value," said FFGRD chair Art Kaehn.
The review covered the period from 2010 to 2012 and was the 16th audit of a local government the AGLG has conducted since its inception.
