The University of New Orleans didn’t follow proper policies and procedures for the installation of a boiler costing nearly $215,000 by allowing an existing maintenance contractor to call all the shots, a state auditor’s report concludes.
The boiler incident was only one of several incidents at UNO brought up in a January report from Louisiana Legislative Auditor Michael Waguespack. The school’s Facilities Department failed to provide a project manual and a list of three contractors to the UNO Purchasing Department prior to the boiler’s purchase, the audit states.
“Instead, the UNO management allowed the existing maintenance and repair contractor to request the quotes; receive unsealed quotes; recommend a winning contractor, which was accepted by UNO; and buy and pay for the broiler,” the report says.
Since then, the school has fired its vice president for business affairs and improved protocols laid out for the UNO departments involved in such purchases, the school’s president, John Nicklow, said in a response to the audit.
The audit also found other financial irregularities at the university, including faulty procedures that led to the theft of an estimated $3,600 in cash from the UNO Athletics Department. The department has since switched to accepting mainly checks and credit cards for concessions and ticket sales, according to a letter Nicklow sent to the Auditor’s Office.
In addition, the audit criticized the university for not following its payroll policies and time and attendance records.
“In a test of time and attendance records for pay periods ending in fiscal year 2022, two (6%) of 33 employees who were required to certify their time did not do so for the time period reviewed,” the report says.
A spokesperson for the Legislative Auditor’s Office told the Louisiana Record that the office could not comment on the corrective actions UNO has put in place at the moment, but it will follow up on this month’s published findings in a report covering the 2023 fiscal year ending June 30.
UNO officials did not respond to requests for comment.