Home » News Releases » 2011-2012 » January 24, 2012

Superintendent Requests $4.04 Million CIP Budget Transfer to Pay Outstanding Invoices

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At tonight's scheduled budget work session, Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) Superintendent Morton Sherman will present the Alexandria City School Board with a $4.04 million Capital Improvement Program (CIP) budget transfer request for outstanding vendor payments. The transfer request is based on $3.3 million in pending invoices, which have been reviewed and found to be in compliance with the Virginia Public Procurement Act (VPPA) and just over $700,000 for work scheduled to be completed. The transfer request is necessary due to the actions of staff members no longer with ACPS, which included inaccurate initial cost estimates and expenditure authorizations that exceeded budget. The current CIP budget is sufficient to cover all expenditures.

In September 2011, Dr. Sherman initiated a comprehensive review and reconciliation of CIP expenditures after concerns arose, including authorization of contracts in excess of budgeted funds and transfer of funds between projects without school board approval. Dr. Sherman announced in November 2011 that he had engaged independent audit firm Robinson, Farmer, Cox Associates (RFCA) to conduct a defined-procedures review.

Also at that time, the superintendent committed to an additional review of all CIP payment vouchers and requested that all invoices and relevant verification documents be resubmitted prior to payment. To date, RFCA has delivered the financial reporting component of the audit.

"The complete audit was originally expected to be delivered in December; the first component has been received and is being reviewed by the board this evening." Dr. Sherman said. "The final component on internal controls is expected to be received during the first week in February after which the complete findings will be made public," he continued. "In the meantime, ACPS must continue to move forward in taking the necessary steps to ensure that proper financial procedures are in place and that our vendors are paid for work properly completed."

While awaiting finalization of the complete audit, Dr. Sherman put into place new financial procedures including scheduling mandatory training on procurement procedures for all ACPS financial program managers. ACPS staff will also provide a quarterly CIP financial report to the school board. A new small-project planning process is now in place and projects will be approved first by the ACPS executive team (the superintendent and deputy superintendents) and then by the school board. Procedures have been implemented to ensure that all pending invoices, including those covered by the review and those outside the scope of the review, meet the following required criteria:

1. An accurate invoice charged to the correct project
2. Availability of funds
3. Verification that the invoiced work was performed in a satisfactory fashion
4. Procurement of the services consistent with the VPPA

ACPS has engaged an outside engineering firm, Advanced Project Management (APM) to verify the work performed in the majority of the outstanding invoices. APM has verified work performed on $4.5 million in invoices, covering all ACPS sites and projects. Approximately $1 million in invoices have been recommended for further review.

The requested budget transfer will allow ACPS to pay 40 of the 85 outstanding invoices for which verification of work completed has been performed and which have been reviewed and found to be consistent with VPAA. The remaining 45 invoices are now subject to VPAA compliance review before payment will be recommended.

Total Invoices	Number
Pending Verification of Work Performed	62
Verification of Work Performed	85
Set Aside for Investigation	26
Confirmed for Payment/Consistent with VPPA	40

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Contact: Communications and Public Relations. Modified: Wednesday, January 25, 2012 4:28 PM EST.