Photo: Jon Manchester

A performance audit report on the City of Vernon has been completed by B.C.'s auditor general for local government.

In summary, it appears that in 2011 a city department direct-awarded a $35,000 purchase order to a vendor to provide services without involving the purchasing services department in the transaction, contrary to the city’s purchasing policy.

The report states the city’s files contained no written contract, but only a purchase order, which also contradicts city policy.

There was also a lack of compliance in the procurement of legal services, according to the report. The city procured legal services contrary to the requirements of both its legal services policy and its professional services policy.

Acting Auditor General for Local Government Arn van Iersel, who lead the report, indicated the city breached its purchasing-card policy limit on the size of individual transactions.

The report's executive summary says van Iersel believes there is a need to strengthen procurement policies and improve compliance in order to minimize risk to the organization.

The city needs to strengthen its gathering of information on operational procurement, monitoring and reporting of meaningful results to senior management, van Iersel said.

"In our view, if the City of Vernon adopts the recommendations in this report and continues to look for ways to increase value for money, it will generate lasting benefits for taxpayers."

The City of Vernon is one of six local governments the province set out to audit on the topic "Achieving Value for Money in Operational Procurement" during 2013-14.