TxDOT Internal Audit. After Hours State Vehicle Usage Audit (1303-3) Department-wide Report

Transcription

1 Introduction After Hours State Vehicle Usage Audit (1303-3) Department-wide Report This report was prepared for the Transportation Commission, TxDOT Administration and Management. The report presents the results of the After Hours State Vehicle Usage Audit which was conducted as part of the Fiscal Year 2010 Audit Plan. The objective of the audit was to determine if the after hours state vehicle usage is within the requirements of the TxDOT policies and procedures. Scope Audit team included Kathy Baca with oversight provided by Lee Stone (Auditor-in- Charge) and Owen Whitworth (Audit Director). The audit work was conducted during the period of October through November All work was conducted in conformance with the International Standards for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditing of The Institute of Internal Auditors. Audit work included interviews with district and division staff with special assistance from the General Services Division (GSD) and Office of General Counsel (OGC) staff; reviews of policies and procedures, Form 1558s, After Hours State Vehicle Usage Biannual Summary Reports Fiscal Year 2010 September February and Fiscal Year 2010 March August, Biannual documentation, and the List of Employees Eligible to Commute in a State Vehicle. Background TxDOT Fleet Vehicles shall only be used for official state business and overnight resident parking requires a District Engineer/Division Director/Office Director/ Region Director (DE/DD/OD/RD) prior approval. If an employee is unexpectedly called out after hours or a late return precludes prior approval for parking at an employee s residence, the employee must obtain authorization from the responsible DE/DD/OD the next working day. These types of authorization are granted on a case-by-case assessment. Per the Equipment Manual, the approval for overnight usage is to be requested on the GSD Form 1558 State Vehicle Special Use Authorization. Only the DE/DD/OD/RD can approve assignment of a commuting vehicle for after hours usage. This authority cannot be further delegated. DE/DD/OD/RD must forward copies of the prior approved Form 1558s and semiannual State Vehicle Usage Reports to the Director of GSD. GSD maintains a department-wide record of vehicle usage. The semiannual reports are due to GSD in March and September of each year. GSD sends out a reminder notice around the first of February and first of August. An assignment of a vehicle should be based on need for after-hours usage. It is difficult to set rigid rules for authorizing an employee to commute to and from work because of Report of 6 January 14, 2011

2 the working conditions throughout the state (climate, topography, population/traffic density, etc.). Employees shall not use TxDOT vehicles to commute to or from work unless it is necessary to ensure that vital functions are performed. These functions are defined as an emergency nature that requires attention by a qualified individual in order to ensure the safety and well being of the traveling public. The policy states that the DE/DD/OD/RD need to consider when allowing an employee to take a vehicle after hours: Authorization should be only granted when the job duty requires a special type of vehicle or immediate availability of special tools or equipment carried on certain vehicles. Authorization should never be made because of title, seniority, rank or any other factor that might be construed as a reward or perk to a particular employee. When an employee frequently takes a state vehicle home at night but seldom uses it for a vital department function, the DE/DD/OD/RD should review the necessity of continuing the commuting vehicle authorization. The policy identifies employees that may take a state vehicle home after normal duty hours, on the basis of expected need; however, prior approval is still required from the DE/DD/OD/RD. All authorizations will expire on the specified date or on August 31 of each year, whichever comes first. In the last Legislative session, there were questions about the usage of state vehicles after hours. A part of TxDOT s response was that they would focus on any practical reductions to after hour usage. The impact is reflected in the GSD After Hours State Vehicle Usage Comparison Report. This report shows the number of authorized employees has decreased from 729 in 2008 to 442 in The same report shows that the number of times a state vehicle has been taken home after hours has decreased from 92,879 in 2008 to 19,191 in Opinion The Equipment Manual does not provide clear guidance and requirements for the state vehicle after hour usage. It seemed that all the districts and divisions had an understanding of the policy and there was no evidence found of misuse of state vehicles after hours. There seems to be misinterpretations of the processes. In general, there is compliance with the intent of the after hour use policy, but the forms and procedures need to be clarified to improve compliance and monitoring. Report of 6 January 14, 2011

3 Detailed Findings and Recommendations No. 1: GSD is not consistently managing and maintaining the department-wide record of vehicle usage (approved Form 1558s and After Hours State Vehicle Usage Biannual Summary Reports) for the after hours state vehicles. Effect: There were missing forms, discrepancies and lack of information with the Form 1558 s in twenty-two (22) districts and two (2) divisions which is a violation of the Equipment Manual, Government Code and Government Code Recommendation: The GSD Director should be notifying the district or division DE/DD/OD/RD of non-compliance and carbon copy the Assistant Executive Director for District Operations. Management Response and Action Plan GSD agrees with the AUD findings in Item No. 1, as well as the recommendations. GSD will take the following actions to ensure a more consistent and maintained record of vehicle usage by the districts, divisions, offices and regions: GSD will develop and distribute a memorandum to all DE/DD/OD/RDs detailing the requirements of after hours vehicle usage documentation and reporting. Responsible Party: GSD Fleet and GSD Staff Implementation Date: An ongoing, biannual, follow-up (reminder) memo will be sent to DE/DD/OD/RDs for submitting the After Hours State Vehicle Usage Biannual Summary Report, reminding all of the importance of complete data and timely submittal. Points of contact in each DE/DD/OD/RD will be copied on this reminder. Responsible Party: GSD Fleet and GSD Staff Implementation Date: Feb 1 st & Aug 1 st of each year GSD personnel responsible for submitting the After Hours State Vehicle Usage Biannual Summary Report will review all submitted DE/DD/OD/RD biannual data in a timely fashion allowing sufficient time for the GSD Division Director to notify the DE/DD/OD/RD of any non-compliance (and copy the appropriate Assistant Executive Director on all correspondence). Responsible Party: GSD Fleet and GSD Staff Implementation Date: Mar 31 st and Sept 30 th of each year Report of 6 January 14, 2011

4 GSD Fleet Management will provide more oversight to GSD staff responsible for developing and submitting the After Hours State Vehicle Usage Biannual Summary Report to ensure adequate checks-and-balances are in place for a timely, complete and accurate report. Responsible Party: GSD Fleet Implementation Date: No later than Jan 31, 2011 No. 2: GSD is responsible for the development and management of the Equipment Manual and the Form In Chapter 1, Section 3, the manual does not provide clear and specific requirements for completing the required forms and reports for the usage of state vehicles. Effect: Chapter 1, Section 3 of the Equipment Manual has caused different interpretations and understandings amongst the DE/DD/OD/RDs about the required Form 1558 After Hours State Vehicle Usage Authorization Form because the policies do not provide clear, direct, specific guidance on how to complete a Form This has caused forms to be incomplete, out of compliance or not submitted to GSD at all. This has especially affected the Railroad and Bridge employees who are on continuous travel status. These employees are not commuting but have been required to fill out this form. The Equipment Manual requires the DE/DD/OD/RDs having employees authorized to commute in a TxDOT vehicle to submit semiannual reports for reporting periods ending February 28 and August 31 to GSD Administration. Around February 1 and August 1 of each fiscal year, GSD Administration will send a notice to each DE/DD/OD/RD reminding them to submit the list of employees eligible to commute in a state vehicle, for the reporting period. The manual does give specific details when the reports are due to GSD. Recommendation: Suggest GSD make some modifications to Chapter 1, Section 3 of the Equipment Manual that gives specific directions for filling out and submitting the Form 1558 and the Reporting Requirements. Such as: The manual needs to state whether the type of approval needs to be verbal or written. The manual needs to provide a specific timeframe when the Forms 1558 and the Biannual Summary Reports are due to GSD Administration The manual needs to include a detail process for informing GSD when an employee is removed from the eligibility list. The manual needs to include clear, direct and specific instructions for the completion of the Form 1558 in the event of an emergency (hurricane, flood, fire, etc.) when the Governor gives a directive to respond. The policy needs to include a section for divisions who have employees who are in a constant travel status with no home base (Bridge and Railroad). Report of 6 January 14, 2011

5 The manual needs to specifically address the approval process and provide that the DE must sign the form prior to or on the same date the approval is effective. The manual needs to state that all blanks on the Form 1558 must be completed and the Type Vehicle to be Driven must be specific in details. Suggest adding a line on the Form 1558 for the Vehicle Unit Number to show the DE/DD/OD/RD gave authorization to drive a specific vehicle. This vehicle unit number should match the number identified on the Biannual Summary Report. Management Response and Action Plan GSD agrees with the AUD findings in Item No. 2, as well as the recommendations. GSD will take the following actions to ensure Chapter 1, Section 3 of the GSD Equipment Manual gives specific directions for filling out and submitting Form 1558 and requisite biannual Reporting Requirements: A thorough review of the Austin District s Best Practices for vehicle usage record keeping and maintaining documents will be performed and any lessons-learned will be included in the procedures for managing, documenting and reporting on after hours use of state vehicles. Responsible Party: GSD Fleet and Division Staff, AUS Implementation Date: A thorough review of the current GSD Equipment Manual (Chapter 1, Section 3 Use of Equipment, Commuting) procedures making changes and updates as necessary. Responsible Party: GSD Fleet and GSD Division Staff Implementation Date: GSD will ensure each of the AUD recommendations detailed above (in Item No. 2) are included in the updated GSD Equipment Manual to include roles and responsibilities of Districts, Divisions, Offices and Regions. Responsible Party: GSD Fleet and GSD Division Staff Implementation Date: Best Practices The Austin District s Business Office employee has developed two vehicle usage record keeping practices and a cost saving process for maintaining documents. One of the spreadsheets was not in the scope of this audit but warrants being mentioned. The one spreadsheet is formulated to automatically calculate totals by Unit. This spreadsheet gives the employee, DE and District Director of Operations an overview of the amount of usage within the district and identifies who has not responded within the district. Report of 6 January 14, 2011

6 The second spreadsheet reflects her results of her audit of the Form 1558s. Once she has reviewed and proofed the 1558s she will scan the documents, then place a copy of the scanned documents in a folder on the Y:drive. She has set up a folder in the Y:drive to eliminate the cost of making hard copies. She has given a security access code to the DE, Supervisors, Office Managers and the accounting office to this folder so they can have access to the records. This process has eliminated the cost of employee s time and supplies to print hard copies for the Area Office, maintenance offices and the accounting office which are a cost savings to TxDOT. Closing Comments The results of this audit were discussed with the GSD Division Director in an exit conference held on December 9, The results were provided by to the Assistant Executive Director for District Operations on December 23, We want to give a special thanks to the GSD staff and the OGC staff for their assistance and cooperation during this audit. Report of 6 January 14, 2011