Recently, the Contract Audit section issued an audit report evaluating the effectiveness of internal controls in place at the State Aluminum Structures Shop (SASS) in Oviedo, FL. The SASS is part of the Structures Operations division within the Office of Maintenance (OOM) and serves dual purposes for the department. The SASS’s primary purpose is to store, repair, and deploy temporary bridging for emergency and bridge construction detour operations. The SASS is a vital unit of the department, dedicated to providing maintenance, construction, and fabrication support during times of declared emergency, such as the recent Hurricane Irma, which affected much of the state.
SASS staff is also responsible for purchasing and storing inventory used to fabricate products such as breakaway sign supports, bridge rails, truck bodies, etc. for department use. In addition, SASS fabricates the department’s employee awards for service and special recognition while only employing four full-time welders. Our audit was limited to reviewing internal controls over inventory and the aluminum fabrication function.
We examined transactions from the inventory tracking system for receipts and issues of commodities as well as supporting purchasing documentation. The results of our review found the average time from receiving commodities in the shop to recording the receipt ticket in the inventory tracking system was 163 days. We also found the average time from the issuance of a commodity to recording the issue ticket in the inventory tracking system was 168 days.
The OOM conducts annual quality assurance reviews (QARs) to verify the accuracy of actual quantities of commodities on hand compared with quantities reported in the inventory tracking system. We found the OOM has an opportunity to improve the SASS QAR process and address the challenges presented by having limited staffing by conducting more frequent random inventory counts, on a sample basis, between annual QARs.
In conclusion, the audit recommended the OOM develop a formal procedure to enhance the accountability of commodities used during the fabrication process. Implementing a formal procedure for the fabrication process would further enhance accountability of department resources and mitigate the risk of errors, fraud, and theft not being detected in a timely manner.
The OIG finalized Report 16C-6003 on July 28, 2017, and it is available here.
FDOT Office of Inspector General Examiner 