AUDIT COMMITTEE MEETING 10-13-26

The Baltimore County Board of Education Audit Committee met virtually on October 13, 2026. Its consultant-agreement audit covered agreements totaling approximately $1.5 million and 161 invoices totaling about $370,000. Auditors found that 15 of 40 sampled agreements were not submitted at least 10 business days before services began, and three were not fully executed until after work commenced. The committee was also told that a prospective consultant who was a BCPS employee had not been identified for ethics review. Recommendations included reinforcing advance-submission and no-work-before-execution requirements and checking prospective consultants against employee records. Purchasing reported that it uses automated late-submission notices and is adding a submitter checkbox to flag BCPS employees; existing BCPS contracts are to be used when they cover the requested services. No procurement vote or contract award was taken.

The committee also reviewed an HR pre-employment screening audit, which identified gaps in timely background checks, physical examinations, references, and required Maryland forms; HR described planned procedure updates and a move of some processes from Frontline to Rival. The FY27 first-quarter update reported 18 approved audit projects, with three completed during the quarter. A committee member raised a question about auditing ERP project expenditures and deliverables, which was referred for follow-up by email. No other spending or purchasing action was identified.