A new audit found “significant deficiencies” in Morgan State University?s management of capital projects, prompting auditors to refer the issues to the Criminal Division of the Office of the Attorney General.
“The potential is there for fraud,” said Bruce Myers, legislative auditor in the state?s Office of Legislative Audits.
“The taxpayer money has not been accounted for.”
Particularly troubling was the management of a new telecommunications hub, which is a project to build a new hub in a new location that swelled to more than $7 million, he said.
More than $3 million of the original contract amount was for undefined costs, so they were not approved by the state Board of Public Works, the audit found.
The money was mainly used to pay for work not related to the awarded contracts, according to the audit, which covered Nov. 1, 2003, to Jan. 31, 2007.
Another $2.4 million in “questionable payments” were made to the contractor, a result of inadequate review of invoices, charges for duplicate items and payments for services never received, the audit states.
For example, the Baltimore City university overpaid the contractor by $825,250 due to duplicate contractor billings, and by December 2007, university officials had not recovered the overpayments, according to the audit.
In a written response to the audit, university officials said they have made moves toward a thorough review of all future Board of Public Works submissions.
“… The university believes that this was an isolated occurrence, and again, will take steps to prevent this from reoccurring,” university officials stated.
Officials also will review all invoices and seek reimbursement for any overpayments.
University officials did not return calls for comment.
Audit info
To view a copy of the Morgan State University audit, visit ola.state.md.us/Reports/Fiscal%20Compliance/MSU2008.pdf
