State Education Department

St. Mary's School for the Deaf: Procurement and Contracting Practices (Follow-up)

St. Mary's School for the Deaf, which is located in Buffalo, is one of 11 private schools in the State that receives almost all its operating aid directly from the State while providing educational services to disabled students. In audit report 2008-S-126, we examined the School's procurement and contracting practices and found widespread noncompliance with the State's requirements. For example, only one of the 20 procurement transactions (totaling $1.9 million) in our sample was in full compliance with applicable competitive bidding requirements. As a result of this noncompliance, there was little assurance the School was obtaining goods and services at the lowest available prices. When we followed up on these matters, we found that school officials made some progress in correcting some of the problems we identified. However, additional improvements are needed.

For a complete copy of Report 2010-F-35 click here.
For a copy of the 30-day response click here.