DEEP Commissioner Dykes ducking contract audit for ten months

The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) appears to be ducking the State Contracting Standards Board (SCSB), by not responding to the board’s statutorily required audit requests over the last ten months, according to letters and emails received by Inside Investigator.

Contracting with outside vendors makes up billions of Connecticut’s budget each year and the SCSB conducts triennial audits of state agencies to ensure they are following best practices when it comes to contracting with outside vendors.

However, DEEP has not responded to a request for contracts and information related to those contracts since October of 2023, when Commissioner Katie Dykes received a Procurement Audit Engagement Letter from the SCSB informing her that they hoped to receive the requested information and begin their work by December of 2023 and that the audit period concludes June 30, 2024.

The letter requests the agency fill out a contract questionnaire and provide the contract file, which will be examined by the SCSB before writing and issuing a report. Dykes initially responded to the letter via an October 27, 2023, email to SCSB Chief Procurement Officer Jonathan Longman, saying she looked forward to working with them.

According to the audit request, the SCSB is looking to examine five contracts, including a $4 million contract with Northern Construction Service LLC to repair the Pachaug Pond Dam; a $7 million contract with the International Center for Appropriate & Sustainable Technology for “energy efficiency intervention;” a $1 million consulting contract with Siemens Industry Inc.; and a $990,000 consulting contract with Engie Impact, an organization focused on decarbonizing large companies, according to a 2022 and 2023 Personal Services Report to the General Assembly by Office of Policy and Management (OPM) Secretary Jefferey Beckham.

After the initial letter and response regarding the audit, however, it was radio silence until SCSB Accounts Examiner Maritza Lopez reached out in February of 2024 — well past the December date initially posited in the audit letter — asking for the information again. DEEP Chief of Staff Andrew Hoskins said they would get the information to them “ASAP,” according to emails .

Lopez then emailed Hoskins again in March, receiving no response; Longman then emailed again April, June and the end of July with no response from DEEP staff, and well past the expected completion date of June 30, 2024. Commissioner Dykes was CC’d on most of the emails.

“I am reaching out because we have not received any information for DEEP so we can move forward with this audit,” Longman wrote in an April 25, 2024 email to Hoskins and Dykes. “I appreciate your assistance in the past and I am confident that you will be able to provide an update soon. Our original notice was sent in October of last year. Please provide an update so I can properly inform our audit board chair.”

Reached for comment, Longman said he cannot comment on an ongoing audit, but did confirm the multiple requests made to DEEP with no response thus far.

The SCSB has veto power over private contracts entered into by state agencies, something that is often seen as a thorn in the side of executive branch officials and politicians, particularly when it comes to agencies skipping the competitive procurement process. Gov. Ned Lamont’s administration has attempted to sideline the SCSB in the past by limiting funding, removing board members, and delaying new appointments to the board.

According to the latest staff report in July of 2024 , the SCSB was auditing eleven different agencies. Staff had completed their reports for six of them, including one pending draft, and had received data from all other agencies except DEEP; the Department of Administrative Services (DAS) was forwarding data related to “inherited contracts” for which there was no longer a usable code.

According to the SCSB’s report, DEEP has a total of 91 contracts worth $37.2 million over the last two years, a drop in the bucket compared to the $8.5 billion in contracts under DAS. DAS sent over data related to 20 contracts to SCSB for the audit in May.

According to state statute , the SCSB shall conduct triennial audits of state contracting agencies to ensure contracting is consistent with state statutes and regulations, and issue reports to the agencies indicating any corrective measures.

“In conducting each such audit, the board shall have access to all contracting and procurement records, may interview all personnel responsible for contracting, contract negotiations or procurement and may enter into an agreement with the Auditors of Public Accounts to effectuate such audit,” the state says.

DEEP did not return request for comment.

The post DEEP Commissioner Dykes ducking contract audit for ten months appeared first on Connecticut Inside Investigator .