EFFICIENCY OF THE PROCUREMENT PROCESS - FEBRUARY 2024
Efficiency of the Procurement Process
Released: February 2024 Download the Full Report here Download the Highlights Page here We undertook this audit because an efficient procurement process helps mitigate the risk of departments circumventing process controls. We assessed the efficiency of the procurement process and reviewed anti-fraud measures adopted in the updated procedures. Our recommendations to the Chief Procurement Officer is to finalize the draft policies and procedures and train staff, work with city's ATLCloud consultant to connect the solicitation and contract modules if possible. Ensure all contracts, engagement packages and justification forms are uploaded to ATLCloud or Sharepoint, continue to implement the RACI chart and integrate key dates into ATLCloud. Clarify City Council reporting metrics for purchase orders, create a mandatory field in ATLCloud to track non- contract related spending and make the micro or small purchase field mandatory, consistently label and track purchase categories and encourage city agencies to use punchout vendors to seek economies of scale. |
We found:
- While the Department of Procurement took several steps to standardize its operations, strengthen competition. and enhance efficiency, our audit found that the department should continue to improve reporting and document retention
- The department communicated to City Council that it had reduced the average cycle time for competitive procurements to 186 days as of January 2023
- Documentation and reporting issues also surfaced during the audit