Report 2015-116 Recommendation 8 Responses

Report 2015-116: City of Irvine: Poor Governance of the $1.7 Million Review of the Orange County Great Park Needlessly Compromised the Review's Credibility (Release Date: August 2016)

Recommendation #8 To: Irvine, City of

To ensure that it receives the services for which it has contracted and to avoid conflicts with its contractors, Irvine should monitor and enforce its contract provisions requiring that work not be performed in advance of the city issuing a signed contract and approved purchase order.

60-Day Agency Response

Irvine has, at all relevant times, monitored and enforced its contract provisions requiring that work n¬ot be performed in advance of issuing a signed contract and approved purchase order. Irvine will continue to monitor and enforce these provisions. Note: Listed as Recommendation No. 6 in June 28, 2016 letter.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Fully Implemented

We agree that this recommendation is fully implemented but caution the city to continue to enforce requirements that contractors and consultants not begin work without a signed contract and approved purchase order. We acknowledge in the section of our report beginning on page 33 that Irvine had controls in place to monitor contract provisions that work not be performed in advance of an approved purchase order. For example, we describe a warning issued to one consultant, and we note that Irvine required consultants to submit invoices within 15 days of the end of each month. However, our section describes a situation where such controls were ineffective.

All Recommendations in 2015-116

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.