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the amount of paper purchased in prior years, they would have realized that the District spent more than $20,000 a year on copy paper. The Assistant Director told us that due to prior shipping and handling concerns with the State contract vendor, they did not want to buy from the State contract vendor. However, The District’s District officials did not comply with GML Section 103 because this purchase was procurement required to be competitively bid and officials did not use the vendor awarded the State contract. policy did The Business Administrator, who was also the Board-appointed purchasing agent, not outline agreed that both purchases should have been advertised and competitively bid, the specific but she did not confirm that purchases were in compliance with GML. Instead, the Business Administrator relied on officials in each department to ensure purchases methods of complied with GML. Although the District’s procurement process is decentralized, procurement with many officials seeking competition and making their own purchases, these officials may not be aware of the aggregate amount of goods being purchased to be used, across the District or have sufficient knowledge of the laws or policies governing purchasing. Ultimately, the Board is responsible for ensuring that officials comply such as with GML competitive bidding requirements. As such, it is essential that the quotes or Board, or the Board-appointed purchasing agent, monitor purchases to ensure they are in compliance with GML. RFPs, or the dollar Officials Did Not Procure Goods and Services in a Competitive Manner thresholds for when We reviewed 48 purchase and public works contracts totaling $443,734 that were not subject to statutory bid requirements to determine whether District officials quotes will be procured them in a competitive manner. The District’s procurement policy did not outline the specific methods of procurement to be used, such as quotes or RFPs, obtained or or the dollar thresholds for when quotes will be obtained or RFPs will be issued. RFPs will be In addition, the procurement policy did not outline any specific situations in which District officials will not seek competition for procuring goods and services under issued. certain circumstances, as well as any instances where officials could choose a vendor that did not submit the lowest bid or dollar value. As such, District officials either chose not to obtain competitive pricing prior to purchasing goods and services, or they did not retain documentation to demonstrate that quotes were obtained. Examples include:2 l Seven purchases of various printing and graphic services, including school flyers, calendars, newsletters and other items totaling $54,413. The respective department heads told us they did not obtain quotes because these vendors were local and purchasing from them was convenient. 2 Totals represent the combined total of like purchases made during both the 2021-22 and 2022-23 fiscal years. 4 Of f ic e of t he New York State Comptroller