January 21, 2025
Auditor faults Office of Equal Business Opportunity record keeping

Palm Beach County’s Office of Equal Business Opportunity (OEBO), an agency created to ensure that small, minority, and women-owned business enterprises obtain at least 20% of all county contracts, has failed to properly monitor the program, according to the county’s internal auditor.

The agency’s internal controls were so lacking and its reporting so incomplete that it is difficult for county commissioners to “draw accurate conclusions” about its performance, a report by Auditor David Zamora concludes, noting inaccurate and/or incomplete data cannot be relied upon for making business decisions.

The audit found that the agency overreported the value of small, minority, and women-owned business enterprises (S/M/WBE) contracts awarded from fiscal year 2019 through fiscal year 2022 by more than $6.7 million, a difference of about 6%. The agency was aware of the “discrepancy” but failed to disclose it in its annual report, according to the audit.

link

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *