I, along with our Senior Inspector in our OIG Katerina Pelic and the Miami-Dade Clerk’s Assistant Director Phillip Rincon, gave a presentation at the Florida Court Clerk and Comptroller (FCCC) Winter Conference about the contract oversight function, and how that process yields taxpayer savings. Mr. Rincon presented his approach to contract oversight in Miami-Dade and Ms. Pelic and I discussed Collier’s method of contract oversight for the Board of County Commissioners.
Statewide, most Clerks do not have a formal Contract Oversight function within their Office of Inspector General. Ms. Pelic explained that Contract Oversight consists of varying levels of assessments, inspections and evaluations of the County’s public contracts, grants, programs, and procurements. This section of the OIG performs real-time monitoring of selected County contracting and program activities, providing contemporaneous feedback to County stakeholders. Contract Oversight is meant to support transparency and accountability in the County’s expenditure of monies, and to help detect and prevent fraud, waste, and abuse of public resources.
Between 2020 through 2023, the Contract Oversight function yielded the highest taxpayer savings for the OIG.
The Clerk’s OIG produced more than double the number of Contract Oversight reports during that same period, as the process is more nimble and less formal than what is required for audits or investigations.
The Contract Oversight function is supported by the Association of Inspectors General (AIG) through their Certified Inspector General Inspector/Evaluator (CIGE) program, and the function is subject to the AIG’s peer review process. The OIG has two CIGE staff and a part-time analyst who support the Contract Oversight function.
The 62 attendees from Clerk’s offices around the state, were very complimentary of the presentation, with comments such as:
- “I found this course very helpful! I plan to connect with Collier County in the future.”
- “…this topic was awesome and I would have loved more time on the subject and to be able to discuss with peers.”
Our Office continues to work with other Clerk’s Offices to ensure the best possible practices and processes for detecting issues in contracting.