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Cabinet: Watermelons, travel hot items of discussion

Governor Lolo Matalasi Moliga says the purchase of the watermelons by the school lunch program (SLP) should have gone through the government procurement process. The governor was referring to the money SLP spent on imported watermelons — half a million dollars — in the span of five months.

 

Assistant Director for the School Lunch Program, Christina Fualaau had downplayed the payment, calling the amount “peanuts” (full details in SN May 19, 2015 edition), when compared to their purchases for the SLP overall.

 

The governor’s remarks were made during the latest cabinet meeting, in which he pointed out that he has instructed the Treasury and the Procurement Office to review thoroughly what the offices are trying to purchase, and if there are any red flags, it should be returned.

 

Lolo said the violation of procurement laws is continuing, and it needs to stop.

 

The governor said the current policy is that if it's $10,000 or more, it needs to be put out for bid, however the directors continue to make orders just under $9,000 so they can “chose” their vendor.

 

He told the directors they need to get three quotes from three different vendors and not try and deviate from the procurement policy to give the order to the vendor that they want to give the business to. Lolo said it’s incidents like these that continue to occur which take the government back to high risk, adding that when auditors conduct their audits, this is one of the major issues that they bring up.

 

The governor said the order of watermelons amounted to hundreds of thousands of dollars yet when Procurement was asked about this, they were not aware of it. He pointed out that these are government properties and they must be procured. Lolo said the government will be liable if anything happens, so despite the quantity, if it's government property it needs go through the procurement process.

 

Lolo reiterated that this is one of the reasons the government continues to get cited as "high risk" — it is because the procurement laws are not being followed. The watermelons, he pointed out, were those which Samoa News reported on last month from leaked documents showing they were purchased from only three vendors, from November 2014 to April 2015, with payments received up to May 6, 2015.

 

According to the documents, one of the watermelon vendors received a total of $101,727 from SLP; the second a total of $185,982; and the third received $221,377.50. The total amount paid out by the SLP over a period of five months is $509,086.50.

 

Looking at the documents, Samoa News noted that weigh-ins for watermelons sometimes occurred 3 times a day, with the largest amount paid out at one time for weight (pounds) — was for $4,500. The smallest payout being for $750.00. And all were under the $10,000 ceiling the governor noted about the government procurement policy.

 

TRAVEL

 

Another issue the governor spoke to his directors about was his concerns about their signing off on travel authorizations. He pointed out that there are directors who do not review the TA’s that are submitted to him for his approval.

 

He said in Samoan “there are a lot who are not aware of the problems that are occurring from the TAs that are being passed to his office and have been returned because of the inconsistencies of information provided on the TA.”

 

Lolo said another issue he’s come across is that the days of the meetings, which the employee attended, are done, yet the government employee does not return back and stays for additional days, and the government is paying for it. He said there are times when the government has paid up to $5,000 for one trip.

 

The governor said it appears that the directors are just signing the TAs and are not reviewing it properly to determine if the TA is accurate, such as comparing where the employee is heading for meetings and trainings. The cabinet members were made aware that from now on they will have to submit their TAs 30 days prior to the time of travel, and the governor said he will not make any exceptions.

 

He said some TAs show travel for up to 30 days, and that is not right. He said those are being returned back to the directors. Lolo made it clear that it does not matter if these meetings are part of the grants, and reminded the directors that it's local funding that is being used for travel.

 

The governor further urged directors to make sure that prior to allowing an employee to attend meetings, to make sure it's necessary for the employee to travel, then allow it. He also advised them to use the latest technology so the office can be a part of that meeting — the one the employee has been authorized for travel.