By The Star Staff
The Commonwealth Comptroller of Puerto Rico says half of the 278 entities in the three branches of government did not correct or take steps to fix objections to contracts, something that could make them illegal.
In a special report, the comptroller highlighted that the failure on the part of 50% of the entities to address objections within the established term for fiscal year 2023 has significant implications for the public sector in Puerto Rico. All government contracts must be presented to the commonwealth comptroller under the law to be legal.
An objection is a notification to the entity’s active liaison officer, informing the agency that the contract submitted to the comptroller was incomplete or contained incorrect information. There are 2,511 contracts with objections in the Registry Application. Some of those have been more than 30 days pending a response. Contracts with objections totaled $1.16 billion to pay and $16 million to receive.
Those types of situations, which had already been discussed in Special Report DA-15-11 of Oct. 24, 2014, prevent contracts from being accessible to the public as public documents and prevent the Comptroller’s Office from receiving corrected contracts as established by law.
The verification indicates that 64% of the main officials certified, under oath, incorrect information in the Annual Certification. The certification must be sent to the Comptroller’s Office by Aug. 31 at the close of each fiscal year. The auditors identified differences of up to 902 fewer contracts in the application and 227 more contracts in the Annual Certification. The application is the electronic registry of contracts in which entities register and submit their contracts.
The situation may cause disbursements of funds under the contracts contrary to Law 18 of 1975, the comptroller noted. In addition, it encourages the issuance of false certifications, an action that can be classified as a felony, according to Article 258 of the Penal Code of Puerto Rico.
The Three-Result Report verified that 26% of the entities did not send the Annual Certification for the year 2023, despite an extension until Sept. 15, 2023. In addition, 13% of the entities did not send the Annual Certification on the indicated date.
As a result, the Comptroller’s Office recommends to the executive director of the Government Ethics Office that he take the measures he deems appropriate.
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