The city Department of Education this week indicated that it strongly disagreed with an audit conducted by city Comptroller Scott Stringer which revealed “thousands of computers and tablets lost and unused,” at the agency, including devices that were supposed to be delivered and in use at four borough schools.
More than 1,800 computers were unaccounted for or missing entirely, and nearly 400 laptops and tablets were found unpacked and unused in 10 DOE locations, raising concerns that millions in computer equipment may be lost citywide, according to an audit of DOE’s inventory control over nearly $200 million in computer purchases released on Tuesday by Stringer’s office.
The audit findings included missing computers and “grossly inaccurate records.” According to Stringer, DOE was unable to identify the location of 1,817 laptop and desktop computers that were supposed to be at the 10 sites—1,090 that were listed as “asset location unknown” or were no longer listed at all at Bronx PS 168 and 727 that were not physically found at nine of the locations. The department spent nearly $200 million during Fiscal Year 2012 and Fiscal Year 2013 on computers and tablets, “yet does not maintain a centralized inventory system to make sure they are sent to the right places.” The four Queens schools that have been affected are PS 152 in Woodside, JHS 217 in Jamaica, PS 165 in Flushing, and Francis Lewis High School in Fresh Meadows.
The audit also found that nearly 400 devices had gone unused and unopened at eight school sites.
Stringer’s recommendations included creating a centralized inventory system; revising DOE’s procedures; finding every computer identified as missing; and reporting any evidence of crimes.
The DOE disagreed with the audit’s findings and with most of the recommendations. The agency maintains that Stringer “did not investigate DOE’s actual inventory process and as a result the audit provides an incomplete and uneven account of the location of equipment purchased by the DOE.”
Additionally, the DOE questioned the auditors’ methodology and asserted that “an audit with the stated purpose of seeking all items listed in the [Asset Management System] is incomplete without reviewing the purchase orders to identify the delivery location.
The “flawed methodology” presented the audit team with a number of hurdles that led to “incomplete information” being included in the final report. The DOE also stated that it “does not agree that a single centralized inventory system is cost effective or practical.”
By Michael V. Cusenza
