Another negative audit of the Blagojevich administration.
State auditors said Tuesday the Illinois Department of Central Management Services remains rife with waste and mismanagement a year after they first uncovered major problems at the agency.
Many of the problems uncovered in the latest audit mirror those documented in 2005, including contracts awarded without explanatory documentation, failing to monitor expenses submitted by contractors for reimbursement, and paying contractors at rates higher than stipulated in contracts.
However, the agency’s response is markedly different than a year ago, when it challenged virtually all of the findings of Auditor General William Holland’s auditors. This time, CMS said it accepts the recommendations made by auditors to improve operations and is in the process of implementing them.
Last year, Holland turned his findings over to Attorney General Lisa Madigan for investigation of possible criminal wrongdoing. Holland said Tuesday he did not turn the current audit over to Madigan because it did not uncover anything new.
It did note 17 problems repeated from last year, meaning they had not been resolved during the period reviewed by auditors.
“There are significant problems with CMS in this audit,” Holland said. “We had 22 findings, of which 17 are repeated. This is certainly not good news.”
The AP story is here. A brief list of findings is here. The full audit can be found here.