The District of Columbia agency charged with transporting Medicaid recipients to doctor’s offices risked millions of dollars when it failed to evaluate the price tag of transportation services and allowed hopeful contractors to base their bids on faulty figures, according to a recently released audit.

The review by the D.C. Inspector General of the Department of Health’s Medical Assistance Administration revealed a pattern of omissions in a program long criticized as one of the most dysfunctional in the District government. The audit of the nonemergency transportation system was the fourth in two years to reveal serious problems with the system.