The Tribune

By KHRISNA RUSSELL

Deputy Chief Reporter

krussell@tribunemedia.net

TWENTY-TWO contractors in the small home repairs programme under Urban Renewal's Grand Bahama arm did not have the supporting documents to ensure they were verified as licenced operators, an audit tabled in the House of Assembly said yesterday.

There were also more than 20 instances where supporting documents for small home repairs did not include evidence of a bid from the contractual awardee. In these instances, the supporting document from the awardee was an invoice.

The discrepancies were entailed in Auditor General Terrance Bastian's audit of Urban Renewal Grand Bahama for the fiscal years July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2017. During this time, Michelle Reckley, former deputy director, headed the programme under which various centres in the northern Bahamas were included.

She had oversight of the small home programme in Bimini, Cat island, Exuma, North Abaco/Grand Cay, North Andros and Berry Islands, South Andros/Mangrove Cay and South and Central Eleuthera.

"In an effort to confirm that contractors participating in the small home repairs programme were legitimately licenced, we requested supporting documents," the report noted. "The documents submitted included such records as business licences, VAT registration including TIN numbers and National Insurance Board compliance letters. Supporting documents for 22 contractors were not supported."

Auditors also explored the tender process used for the small home repair programme.

"Supporting documents for small home repairs on Grand Bahama typically included three quotations, the contractual agreements and before and after images of the repairs. We were not provided with details of the tender process, but noted that the same contractors appeared to have participated in the process. We noted that quotations submitted used similar wording.

"We inquired about the format of the quotations with the undersecretary in the Ministry (of) Grand Bahama who advised that he was not sure whether there was a template used by the Ministry of Grand Bahama or whether the submissions came from the Department of Urban Renewal. We were unable to inquire with the staff of the department of Urban Renewal because the office was closed."

The report continued: "We found 23 instances totaling $463,000 where supporting documents for small home repairs conducted on Grand Bahama did not include evidence of a bid from the contract awardee. In these instances, the supporting document from the awardee was an invoice."

Auditors recommended that supporting documents include evidence of a proper bidding process for a clear and objective audit trail.

Additionally, there were 18 instances where repairs were valued at $203,147.27 and the payments amounts recorded on the requisitions for Family Island contractual repairs could not be agreed with supporting documents.

Further, supporting documents did not include dollar values, also the amount recorded in the supporting documents did not correspond with the amount paid per the requisition.

And neither was their evidence that homeowners were required to attest to completion of home repairs.

It was also noted that annual salaries for Urban Renewal workers could not be verified. In 2016 the salary budget was $1,926,050 and in 2017 there was a slight increase of $1,971,050.

Auditors said they could not confirm the salaries because the Public Treasury was unable to produce payroll records for August 2015 through June 2017. However, they were referred to the Ministry of Grand Bahama.

Records were submitted for the 2016/2017 fiscal year but the April 2017 payroll was missing. At the time of the audit, the records for 2015/2016 remained outstanding.

Overall the results of this examination were not satisfactory, auditors said.