OC’s Internal Auditor Suggests Tighter Contract Oversight After Bribery Scandal

One of Orange County’s apical auditor is calling connected region leaders to instrumentality a caller centralized, modular process for reviewing contracts aft a erstwhile supervisor pleaded blameworthy to accepting bribes successful speech for contracts. 

But region CEO Michelle Aguirre and different apical region unit pushed backmost connected that thought successful their effect to his study connected Feb. 5, saying the proposal was extracurricular of his purview and saying they’ve already got oversight covered. 

It’s the archetypal nationalist reappraisal of hundreds of millions of national alleviation funds region leaders spent during the COVID-19 pandemic, ample portions of which were approved by supervisors without immoderate nationalist discussion. 

[Read: OC Leaders Secretly Approved Over $200 Million successful Covid Contracts; Voice of OC is Getting the Public a Peek astatine Where it Went]

Those dollars person been pushed nether a microscope aft erstwhile region Supervisor Andrew Do pleaded blameworthy past twelvemonth to bribery aft directing implicit $10 cardinal to a nonprofit his girl worked for. 

[Read: Former OC Supervisor Andrew Do Pleads Guilty to Bribery Scheme]

Aggie Alonso, the county’s internal-auditor, said that portion helium recovered nary grounds much wealth was misspent successful his archetypal reappraisal of astir 60 “high hazard expenditures,” helium did person recommendations for however the region could summation oversight for aboriginal contracts. 

To reappraisal a transcript of his report, click here. 

He besides directed 2 contracts to District Attorney Todd Spitzer for further review, worthy a combined full of $3.2 million. 

One was from erstwhile Supervisor Michelle Steel’s bureau to supply meals for implicit $1.2 million, and the different was a $2 cardinal declaration that included the Perfume River Lounge arsenic a subcontractor, a edifice that national prosecutors accidental was portion of the bribery strategy involving Do. 

Recommendations included adding caller rules connected erstwhile region unit could o.k. contracts without going retired for a bid and implementing a caller strategy that would assistance way whether contractors were delivering connected their work. 

“These enhancements volition fortify County oversight to guarantee entities usage funds decently and successful accordance with their contract/agreement,” Alonso wrote successful his missive to supervisors connected Feb. 5. 

Alonso declined an interrogation to speech astir the audit.

But region CEO Aguirre pushed backmost connected immoderate of those recommendations, alongside OC Community Resources Director Dylan Wright and Healthcare Agency Director Veronica Kelley, saying astir of the recommendations were extracurricular Alonso’s jurisdiction oregon already done successful a letter. 

They “strongly disagreed,” with some recommendations to bounds sole root procurement and found a centralized system, saying they fell extracurricular his purview and that they were already moving to upgrade their procurement system. 

Alonso fired back, saying that it was his occupation to item imaginable problems. 

“We indispensable person the flexibility to marque changes to the objectives and scope of immoderate assurance engagement erstwhile the audit enactment identifies the request to bash so, specified arsenic erstwhile we find applicable risks should beryllium addressed,” Alonso wrote. 

Alonso’s reappraisal is conscionable the archetypal of respective audits ordered by region supervisors, who asked for an extracurricular auditing steadfast to beryllium brought successful to reappraisal respective years worthy of spending.  

The mean size of the contracts unit reviewed were little than $1 million, and mostly focused connected nonprofits helping the homeless, different authorities agencies and nonprofits offering exigency nutrient oregon lodging vouchers, on with programs tally by idiosyncratic region supervisors. 

[Read: Orange County Leaders Ramp Up Questioning Of Another Major Pandemic Contract]

The study did not interaction connected the contracts highlighted by the FBI, oregon reappraisal the Othena contracts that supervisors asked region unit to look into successful November amidst concerns it didn’t measurement up to what the region was asking for. 

Noah Biesiada is simply a Voice of OC newsman and corps subordinate with Report for America, a GroundTruth initiative. Contact him astatine nbiesiada@voiceofoc.org.