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TagsState comptroller helps save $3.2 million annually
The state government has paid more than $3.2 million annually for more than 19,000 phone lines that had gone unused and were no longer needed, according to an audit released Wednesday by the Office of the State Comptroller.
In response to the audit's findings, state agencies have disconnected or suspended each of the lines.
The audit of the state's Office of Information Technology (OIT), also found the state has been renewing some of its major telecommunications contracts for more than a decade without opening the contracts up to competition as required by law.
"The state is paying hundreds of thousands of dollars every month for phone lines that are not even being used," State Comptroller Matthew Boxer said. "Examples of government waste don't get much clearer than that."
In one instance the comptroller's office found the state continued paying for the wireless line of a former employee for almost six years after her resignation. In response to inquiries about the line, it was disconnected.The audit's findings came after the comptroller's office reviewed the state's monthly telephone usage reports. Auditors provided a listing of unused lines to the responsible departments and asked them to justify whether the lines should be kept in service.
As a result of the audit, 18,265 land lines have either been disconnected or suspended for 30 days by the state pending final disconnection. The state's 1,394 unused wireless lines have also been disconnected. Going forward, the OIT will generate periodic reports of lines with zero usage to ensure agencies are disconnecting their unused lines.
In another area of the audit, a review of four state telecommunications contracts found that each has been extended at least seven times without being opened up to competition as required by law.
One such contract has been extended 22 different times.
Each of the four contracts was originally awarded to the current vendor between 10 and 15 years ago after a competitive procurement process. Each had a stated contract term between one and three years, but has been extended ever since. In one case, the state has paid two vendors - both part of the same contract - a total of $164.6 million over the course of six years of extensions.
"The state has prevented fair vendor competition in its telecommunications contracts for more than a decade and essentially handed out a no-bid contract with each extension," Boxer said. "As a result, the public cannot be sure that the state is getting a fair price."
The audit also found:
During a one-year period, the state paid more than $250,000 worth of unreasonable expenses stemming from state employees calling directory assistance when toll-free assistance was available.
The state is owed $43,183 for data lines that were disconnected in 2008 and 2009 but continued to be billed.
Many state departments are not maintaining documentation to justify their assignment of wireless devices to employees. Approximately 19,000 such devices are currently assigned to executive branch employees.
Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande (R-Monmouth) maintains a website, www.stopgovernmentwastenj.com, as a confidential way for public employees and residents to submit examples of government waste.
She said she received a tip on the site that identified waste in the telecommunications area. Casagrande said she then forwarded the information to the Christie Administration and the Mercer County government.
"Unfortunately, waste in government is pervasive and we must remain diligent in identifying those areas and rooting it out," Casagrande said. "OSC (the comptroller's office) deserves credit for finding a significant savings, but their resources are limited. I'm sure there are many other opportunities where waste exists and we need the cooperation of the public and government employees to point them out.
"The effort to identify waste is ongoing and no area of government is immune," the Assemblywoman said. "Every dollar saved ads up. In this instance, $3.2 million represents a substantial savings."
"One can only imagine how much it cost taxpayers because contracts were extended by a rubber-stamp without adhering to the prescribed format," Casagrande said. "Those who are accountable need to explain why they are unfamiliar with the bidding process for government contracts or how such an oversight could occur for so long. I suspect they won't have a good answer. Extending a contract 22 times without competition is the ultimate in what constitutes a ‘no-bid.'"
— TOM HESTER SR., NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
