Okaloosa County BOCC — December 4, 2012 — Internal Auditing Services — reading text

OKALOOSA COUNTY REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS FOR INTERNAL AUDITING SERVICES FOR THE OKALOOSA COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PROPOSAL #: BCC 11-13 PROPOSAL CLOSES: February 22, 2013 @ 4:00 P.M.  REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS TO PROVIDE INTERNAL AUDITING SERVICES FOR THE OKALOOSA COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS The Board of County Commissioners of Okaloosa County, FL announces that professional services are requested from Certified Public Accountants to provide Internal Auditing Services for the Okaloosa County Board of County Commissioners. Copies of the RFP package for this project may be obtained from the Okaloosa County Purchasing Department, 602-C North Pearl St, Crestview FL 32536; Phone 850-689-5960 or they may be downloaded from our website @ www.co.okaloosa.fl.us (Departments, Purchasing, Vendor Registration & Opportunities); this links you to the Florida Panhandle Purchasing Group website where our bid specifications will not be posted. Selection will be pursuant to Chapter 287, Florida Statutes and Board policy. Firms or individuals desiring consideration should request a copy of the RFP package from the Purchasing Department and furnish all information requested in the RFP. The County reserves the right to award the contract to the firm or individual submitting a responsive proposal with a resulting negotiated agreement which is most advantageous and in the best interest of Okaloosa County and to waive any irregularity or technicality in proposals received. Okaloosa County shall be the sole judge of the proposal and the resulting negotiating agreement that is in its best interest and its decision will be final. CPA firms desiring consideration should provide an original and seven (7) copies of their proposal, which should include a description of the firm’s organization, key personnel, experience and approach to the project. All RFP’s should be delivered to the Okaloosa County Purchasing Department at the address listed below no later than 4:00 p.m. (local time), February 22, 2013 in order to be considered. All RFP’s must be in sealed envelopes reflecting on the outside thereof the proper’s name and “RFP on Internal Auditing Services for the Okaloosa County Board of County Commissioners. All proposals should be addressed as follows: Okaloosa County Purchasing Dept Attn: Richard L Brannon 602-C North Pearl St Crestview FL 32536 Richard L Brannon Date Purchasing Director BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OKALOOSA COUNTY, FLORIDA Don Amunds Chairman  TABLE OF CONTENTS I. Nature of Services to be Provided II. Description of Government III. Proposal Format and Submittals IV. Proposal Evaluation and Selection Criteria V. RFP Procedures Appendices A. Insurance Requirements B. List of Subcontractors C. Company Data D. Indemnification and Hold Harmless E. Conflict of Interest Disclosure F. Drug-Free Workplace Certification G. Local Preference Data Sheet H. Okaloosa County Government Organizational Chart I. Finance Department Organizational Chart J. Pricing Structure K. Ranking Sheet L. Sample Contract I. Nature of Services to be Provided A. Introduction Okaloosa County, Florida Board of County Commissioners has many internal controls in place in each department that seek to impact the daily conduct of our business, protect our employees/customers/clients, safeguard our assets, mitigate our risks, and allow for accurate financial reporting to help ensure a viable, sustainable government that is able to serve its citizens now and in the future. Per Florida Statutes, the Clerk of Circuit Court is charged with maintaining the books and records of the County. As such, the accounting and financial reporting functions of Okaloosa County, Florida Board of County Commissioners are centralized within the County Finance Department operated by the Clerk of the Circuit Court. However internal controls over all transaction cycles involve operations and personnel of the Board and the Clerk. Over the years, the Okaloosa County Finance Department has performed some amount of monitoring of the internal controls of the Board of County Commissioners functions. This effort has been primarily focused on cash receipting processes in place, grant sub-recipient monitoring, inventory controls and other matters as they arise and as time permits. The Board of County Commissioners has requested that Okaloosa County begin in a greater way to review their internal controls. Given that sufficient staff time is not available for this work to be done in house, it was recommended that a request for proposal (RFP) be done to solicit bids from qualified firms to perform this work as directed by County management and approved by the Board of County Commissioners. It is anticipated this work would begin with a review of the entity-wide controls in place to enable the auditor to better understand our governing and operating structure and also to assess the “tone at the top,”, since this is often the foundation for all of the other components of internal control. The review should include a formal fraud risk assessment by the auditor. This would be followed by a control risk assessment to identify the areas of highest risk so these areas could be reviewed first. The risk assessment process would include collaboration with the Board of County Commissioners, the Clerk of the Circuit Court, the County Administrator, Finance Director, external auditors, the Clerk’s internal auditor, and department heads. It is anticipated at the conclusion of the risk assessment that a one to two year audit plan would be developed. The audit plan would need to be approved by the Board of County Commissioners on an annual basis and the execution of the audit plan is dependent on the availability of monies to pay for this work. Okaloosa County, Florida recently had an operational audit performed by the Florida Auditor General on the Oversight of the Tourist Development Department (TDD) and the use of Tourist Development taxes and funds received from British Petroleum. It is further anticipated that the control risk assessment will be heavily weighted towards activities of the TDD in the initial period due to identified findings by the Florida Auditor General. A draft of the Preliminary and Tentative Findings and the County’s responses should be reviewed by the interested parties. A copy can be obtained from Richard L Brannon, Purchasing Director at rbrannon@co.okaloosa.fl.us or by calling 850-689-5960. 3  The purpose of this RFP is to solicit proposals from qualified firms to provide internal auditing services for Okaloosa County, Florida Board of County Commissioners for a period of three (3) years with the possibility of a three (3) year extension if agreed to by both parties. This would be subject to the annual review and recommendation of County Administration and Clerk of the Circuit Court, the satisfactory negotiation of terms (including a price acceptable to both the County and the selected firm), the concurrence of the Board of County Commissioners and the availability of an annual appropriation. These services are to be performed in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards issued by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and the Standards for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditing issued by the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) as well as any applicable guidelines prescribed by the State of Florida Auditor General. B. Scope of Work to be Performed 1. Perform a review of the entity-wide control environment in place at Okaloosa County including a fraud risk assessment. For the purposes of this RFP, Okaloosa County is defined as operations of the Board of County Commissioners which includes accounting activities for the Board performed by the Clerk of the Circuit Court. It excludes operations of the Clerk in its judicial and recording functions, the Tax Collector, the Sheriff, the Property Appraiser and the Supervisor of Elections. 2. In conjunction with key County staff and the Clerk of the Circuit Court, perform a risk assessment of County operations in order to prioritize the area for internal audit work to be performed. In the initial period it is anticipated the control risk assessment will be heavily weighted toward the activities of the TDD. From this prioritization, develop an annual internal audit plan. Review the risk assessment and audit plan with County management and Clerk and adjust accordingly to reflect any changes in the internal or external environment that affect the risks the County is facing. The annual audit plan is to be approved in advance by the Board of County Commissioners. 3. Perform internal audits according to the prioritized schedule. Analyze the data obtained for evidence of deficiencies in controls, fraud, lack of compliance with federal, state or local laws/regulations and rules of the Florida Auditor General, or failure to follow management policies/procedures. While not integral to the objective, observations concerning duplicative effort or unnecessary spending are welcome. 4. Assist TDD management and the Board with review and implementation of the corrective action plan set forth by the Board in its response to the Florida Auditor General. 5. Review other areas when requested by County Administration or the Board of County Commissioners. 6. Provide recommendations for strengthening internal control in order to lower identified risks to the County and improve fraud detection and prevention. 7. Submit written audit reports, with management’s responses and corrective action plans, to County management, the Clerk of the Circuit Court, and the Board of 4  County Commissioners at regularly scheduled meetings. Monitor compliance with recommendations where necessary. II. Description of the Government A. Background Information Okaloosa County is a non-charter County established under the Constitution and the Laws of the State of Florida. The reporting entity of the County includes the funds of the primary government, which includes funds of the Board of County Commissioners, the Clerk of the Circuit Court, the Property Appraiser, the Sheriff, the Supervisor of Elections and the Tax Collector and one component unit, The Emerald Coast Bridge Authority. However, the internal audit services in this proposal only relate to activities performed by the Board of County Commissioners as previously defined in the scope of work. The County Manager/Council form of government was instituted in 1993. The County population is 187,700 and is located in the northwestern part (the “Panhandle”) of Florida. The Board of County Commissioners employs some 817 employees and has total assets of over $375 million and revenues of over $204 million for the year