A COMPLIANCE audit of the procurement process – planning, sourcing and contract management – of textbooks has found that the Education Ministry breached the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act 2003 in 2016 resulting in the misallocation of $35.064M.
In the Report of the Auditor General on the Compliance Audit of the Procurement of Textbooks by the Ministry of Education for the year ending December 31, 2018, $35.064M was paid in excess of the ministry’s approved allocation for the nursery and primary levels.
It was explained that the sum of $506.569M was allocated, under Line Item 6224 Print and Non-Print, to the Education Ministry for the procurement of textbooks, among other things.
It was explained that the sum of $195.887M was allocated to the ministry for the procurement of nursery and primary-level text books; but instead of purchasing text books in accordance with the funds allocated, it expended an additional $35.064M, thereby breaching the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act.
The report, which was presented to the National Assembly by Finance Minister Winston Jordan, stated too that the suitability and context of textbooks purchased could not be determined.
“Documentation, including minutes of relevant committees’ meetings, was not received for audit. As a result, we were unable to determine how many meetings were held and what, if any, decisions were made with regard to the acquisition of textbooks. This is in contravention to the Book Policy of the ministry, which states that a Textbook Evaluation Committee and an Education System Committee should be maintained to determine the suitability of texts and seek additional information about the contexts of textbooks,” the report stated.
According to the audit report, poor planning cost the Education Ministry $15.916M.
“The ministry bought 3,609 ‘New 30 SEA Practice Test in Mathematics (Student Edition) textbooks in 2016 at a cost of $15.916M. Of the books bought, 3,559 were distributed. Subsequently, the ministry purchased 12,550 ’32 SEA Practice Test in Mathematics’ (Student Edition and Teacher Book) for the sum of $61.269M to replace the New 30 SEA Practice Test in Mathematics (Student Edition),” the report explained.
It was also noted that the Education Ministry fell short in the area of transparency. It was explained that contracts for the nursery and secondary levels were not published as required by Part II, 11 (1) of the Procurement Act 2003; that part of the act states, ‘The procuring entity shall publish notice of procurement contract awards within seven days of awarding such contracts.’
To further compound the plethora of issues which surfaced during the audit, the auditor general found that the ministry received 15,000 textbooks for the contracted cost of 30,000. According to the report, the sum of $1.924M was paid for 15,000 ‘Timehri Readers/Animal Friends W/Book 1’ textbooks, at a unit cost of $128.30; however, the ministry had contracted the same contractor to supply 30,000 of the said textbooks at a unit price of $64.15 or a total of $1.924M.
Additionally, the auditor general could not determine whether the ministry received textbooks valued at $91.639M – approximately 26 per cent of the total textbooks paid for in 2016; nor could the correctness and accuracy of the payments totalling $247.668M or approximately 70 per cent of the total payments for textbooks be verified.
“The Ministry of Education did not comply in all material respects with the relevant acts, regulations and policies governing the procurement of textbooks during the financial year ending December 31, 2016,” the auditor general said in drawing his conclusion, noting that internal controls were weak and not functioning in some instances.
The Audit Office has since recommended that the Education Ministry comply with the Procurement Act 2003, the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act 2003, the Stores Regulations 2003, and the Book Policy 2007.
The ministry is also being called upon to document its meetings and secure its documents to aid audit scrutiny.
The audit was carried out as part of an initiative by the Caribbean Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (CAROSAI). In total, 13 Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) in the Region undertook procurement audits that were to be done simultaneously.
