The U.S. Marshals Service does not fully comply with the Federal Acquisition Regulation, Department of Justice Policies, and internal policies in its award and administration of procurement actions, the Justice inspector general has concluded.
The Marshals Service spent about $592 million in fiscal 2011, and $415 million in the first eight months of fiscal 2012. The IG’s audit work at the USMS headquarters procurement office, other division offices and two district offices identified problems in practices for purchase approvals, confirming receipt of purchased items, justifying non-competitive purchases, and monthly purchase card and fleet card reconciliations, for example.
Most problems resulted from insufficient training for contracting personnel and ineffective management inspection of USMS procurement activities, the IG said.
It said the agency’s internal controls are not fully effective at ensuring adequate oversight of procurement actions and that USMS’s management of vendor purchases did not ensure vendor billions were accurate.
USMS concurred with recommendations to re-emphasize procurement policies and procedures, develop a tracking system to monitor the training completion of all procurement staff, and establish a process within the USMS Office of Inspection – Compliance Review, for following up on issues identified in the audit.
