| Organization: | Office of the State Auditor |
|---|---|
| Date published: | December 23, 2024 |
Executive Summary
In accordance with Section 12 of Chapter 11 of the Massachusetts General Laws, the Office of the State Auditor has conducted a performance audit of the Supplier Diversity Office (SDO) for the period January 1, 2021 through December 31, 2022.
In this performance audit, we determined the following:
- to what extent SDO met the goal of maintaining consistent and measurable progress in expanding access and equity of opportunity to state contracting, in accordance with Section 61(a) of Chapter 7 of the General Laws;
- how SDO’s Compliance Unit monitored the purchasing performance of each state agency participating in the Supplier Diversity Program (SDP) to ensure that these agencies met benchmarks established in Section 61(m) of Chapter 7 of the General Laws;
- how SDO monitored contracts between statewide contractors and SDP partners to ensure that statewide contractors were in program compliance, as required by Section 61(m) of Chapter 7 of the General Laws; and
- to what extent, if at all, SDO devised equitable policies and procedures to provide training and other services for all SDO programs, as required by SDO’s final budgetary language for line items 1775–0200 for fiscal year 2021 and 1780–0100 for fiscal year 2022.
Below is a summary of our findings, the effects of those findings, and our recommendations, with links to each page listed.
| Finding 1 | The Supplier Diversity Office was unable to provide complete evidence that it monitored Supplier Diversity Program–participating state agencies to ensure that they met Supplier Diversity Program spending benchmarks. |
| Effect | Although SDO has made progress reaching out to SDP-participating state agencies to help them meet spending benchmarks since it was first established as an independent state agency in January 2021, if SDO does not monitor SDP-participating state agencies to ensure that they meet SDP spending benchmarks, then it cannot ensure that state procurement and contracting incorporates diversity and equity practices or the inclusion of diverse and small Massachusetts businesses. |
| Recommendations |
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| Finding 2 | The Supplier Diversity Office did not settle overstated Supplier Diversity Program indirect spending discrepancies reported by statewide contractors. |
| Effect | As a result of not resolving overstated indirect SDP spending, SDO’s Compliance Unit could not confirm indirect spending by SDP partners against the reported amounts by statewide contractors. If SDO does not confirm SDP indirect spending, then opportunities for diverse and small businesses in the Commonwealth may not be met and SDP-participating agencies may not be meeting spending benchmarks to which they agreed. |
| Recommendation | SDO should implement penalties to statewide contractors that are not accurately reporting their SDP spending and always resolve overstated indirect SDP spending. |
In addition to the conclusions we reached regarding our audit objectives, we also identified issues not specifically addressed by our objectives. For more information, see Other Matters.
Table of Contents
Downloads
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Open PDF file, 1007.85 KB, Audit Report - Supplier Diversity Office (English, PDF 1007.85 KB)
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