Item - 2024.AU4.4

The Audit Committee:

1. Received the report (February 8, 2024) from the General Manager, Transportation Services for information.  

In 2017, the Internal Audit Division (IAD) issued a report of their analysis on a complaint received from the City's Fraud and Waste Hotline. The complaint was in regard to contracted services for the installation and maintenance of traffic signs and outlined four recommendations to improve divisional oversight and vendor performance for Transportation Services (TS). In 2022, the Auditor General's Office (AGO) issued a report of their analysis on a second complaint they received, regarding the same vendor's practices. The Auditor General's Office was then informed by Transportation Services that some of the recommendations from 2017 Internal Audit Division report were not fully implemented. In response, the Auditor General's Office outlined additional recommendations, including recommending that the Corporate Compliance Unit (CCU) within Transportation Services conduct a review on the initial 2017 Internal Audit recommendations and report back to the audit committee.

This report provides an overview of the recommendations received from the Internal Audit Division in 2017, outlines the implementation actions taken by Transportation Services staff, which continue to be practiced, includes actions underway to fully implement the remaining partially implemented recommendations and presents the current status of the recommendations under the new contract for the installation and maintenance of traffic signs.

In the forth quarter of 2023, the Corporate Compliance Unit conducted a review and found, when counting sub-parts of the recommendations (e.g. 1a to 1e), that of the ten Internal Audit recommendations, six have been fully implemented, while the remaining four remain partially implemented. The reasons for partial implementation include:  

- limited capabilities of the current work management system (TMMS),

- Global Positioning System devices installation and operational challenges,

- contract photo submission issues, and

- proper documentation for work completed.

Corporate Compliance Unit intends to conduct a follow up review with the respective Transportation Services unit in the third quarter to the forth quarter of 2024 to further evaluate the feasibility to fully implement the remaining partially implemented recommendations.