The Office of the Inspector General of Puerto Rico (OIG) has today published an investigation that reveals a series of irregularities in which personnel of the Department of Health may have been involved in the acquisition of a system of registration of assistance and in the contracting of services.
According to a press release, this is the second report issued by this government agency in collaboration with the Office of the Inspector General of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS-OIG). its acronym in English).
The investigation focused on addressing possible irregularities in the process of acquiring attendance registration system for SD employees.
According to the communication, the OIG assessed the possibility of loss of data or information that may have favored a contractor in an auction process to have access to inside information prior to the holding of the same and implementation of the project.
The investigation covered the period from September 14, 2015 to February 5, 2020. According to its need, the OIG evaluated transactions and documents from earlier and later dates.
Another of the findings of the investigation, reflects possible irregularities in the hiring of services through a recruitment company.
According to the documents evaluated, the DS could have incurred expenses in excess of $ 140,000, for the salary paid to a person who acted as Project Director, for the aforementioned project of acquisition of registration system of assistance.
It follows that, officials in the DS were able to intervene improperly by giving instructions to the recruitment company to get the recruitment of the resource, in accordance with their particular interests, even if the person had no experience or academic preparation to occupy the position of Project Director.
On the other hand, the OIG stated that the possibility of losing public funds was identified in the face of the investment made by the Department of Health in an unfinished project. In April 2020, they noted that the project for the new attendance registration system was unfinished and the installation of the punchers had not been completed by the Department of Health. They added that the DS computer office had not carried out all the installations with the necessary electrical and communications connections to the internal network.
The Complaints and Investigations Division of the OIG will require the DS to take a corrective action plan to request the completion of the project, which will evaluate the actions taken by the employees who took part in the project auction and contracting process. of the project manager and proceed with the corresponding disciplinary actions, among other required actions.
In addition, they have indicated that the corresponding ones referred to the relevant entities were carried out, so that they can evaluate the possible legal infractions and take the corresponding determinations.