In 2019, Saskatchewan’s Provincial Auditor gave the Northern Lights School Division several recommendations to improve purchasing practices.
The recommendations came following an audit of the school division the year prior.
The auditor felt the school division did not have effective processes for the purchase of goods and services. Therefore, the school division was given 14 recommendations to improve these practices.
The recommendations included updates to written policies on purchasing, updating credit card and fleet card guidelines and monitoring, and improving communication and evaluation of suppliers.
Last week, the provincial auditor released its annual report highlighting housing vacancy rates, foreign ownership of farmland, and social services’ hotel procurement as areas the government needs to address.
Included in the report, was a follow-up of the recommendations given to the Northern Lights School Division in 2019.
Of the 14 recommendations, the auditor says only 4 were fully implemented, 7 saw partial implementation, while 3 saw “limited progress.”
In 2022, the school division did implement a revised purchasing policy to address some of the concerns raised in 2019, however, the provincial auditor found that the updated requirements were not always followed.
With $23 million in purchases between 2022-23, the auditor says the school division needs strong processes to support transparency and fairness in the purchase of goods and services.
The section of the provincial auditors report following up on the 2019 recommendations can be found here. – ch-22—-northern-lights-school-division-no-113purchasing-goods-and-services