The Interior Business Center’s Procurement Preaward Practices Did Not Always Adhere to Federal Regulations or Internal Control Standards

We audited the U.S. Department of the Interior’s (DOI’s) Interior Business Center (IBC), which manages procurements for over 50 Federal and State client agencies, to determine whether its internal control system was sufficient to ensure that it followed the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) or other applicable regulations when awarding procurements on behalf of its clients. We found that the IBC had deficiencies in the internal controls designed to ensure that procurement files are complete and accurate. Due to these deficiencies, the IBC did not have an adequate internal control system to ensure that it followed the FAR when awarding procurements. Thirty-three percent of the 85 procurement files we reviewed for our audit had missing or incomplete supporting documentation, or the files themselves were missing. Our report offers four recommendations to help the IBC improve its preaward practices and oversight.