Kern County Grand Jury
• 2025-2026
Kern County General Services Procurement / Purchasing / Auditing - How Are We Doing?
⚠️ Translation Notice: This content has been automatically translated. The original English text is the official version. Translation may contain errors.
⚠️ Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.
Findings 9 findings
F1
Kern County procurement offers local vendors, who did not provide the lowest bid, but came within 5% of the lowest bid, an opportunity to submit a new bid within 48 hours. “Such new bids must be in an amount less than or equal to the low bid announced by the Purchasing Agent.”1This provides preferential treatment to local vendors.
F2
To expedite purchases of needed supplies/services, the KCGS issues P-cards with a limit set by individual departments, generally $5,000. Limits may be adjusted depending upon the department’s needs.
F3
If a P-Card user splits one large transaction into several smaller transactions for the purpose of evading the spending limit, it is a violation of the County Purchasing Card policy.
F4
The Kern County Accounts Payable Section does not use Purchase Orders on all invoices, thereby making corrective action difficult.
F5
The Audit and Special Accounting Section of the Auditor-Controller-County Clerk’s office is short three Auditors; thus, it is unable to complete the required audits for all departments.
F6
The Accounts Payable Section of the Auditor-Controller-County Clerk’s Office does not have enough Fiscal Specialist Technicians to stay current with workload.
F7
To meet deadlines and stay current with workload, some County department staff have been electing to work through their lunch and rest breaks.
F8
Some Kern County departments do not record time-in/time-out on employee timesheets. Without accurate record keeping, hours worked are not shown. This creates a risk of underpayment, overpayment, inaccurate record keeping, and exposure in audits and grievances.
F9
The Grand Jury has found that adding needed staff to the Auditor-Controller-County Clerk Office and the Accounts Payable Section saves money by highlighting and controlling departmental errors and eliminating mistakes in processing invoices (e.g., duplicate invoices, overpayments, unmatched invoices, and tracking difficulties). County of Kern - Invitation to Bid for Services. Appendix C, Local Vendor Preference
Recommendations 5
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R1By August 31, 2026, to prevent errors the Kern County Accounts Payable Section should require the use of purchase orders on all invoices. This would reduce errors in: • Duplicate invoices • Unmatched invoices • Overpayment to vendors • Invoice tracking difficulties (Finding F4)
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R2By June 30, 2026, the Board of Supervisors should ensure all County departments adhere to P-card policies and procedures. (Findings F2 and F3)
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R3The Auditor-Controller-County Clerk Office should secure funding and hire three Auditors to fully perform audits for all County departments by January 31, 2027. (Finding F5)
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R4The Auditor-Controller-County Clerk Office should secure funding to hire additional Fiscal Specialist Technicians to keep accounts payable current by January 31, 2027. (Finding F6)
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R5By June 30, 2026, the Kern County Human Resources Department should request approval from the Board of Supervisors to include the following line items to the Kern360 - Time Tracking Workstream, which would allow accurate tracking of: • Start time • End time • Meal in/out Kern County is planning to go live with Kern360 Human Resources module in FY 2026-2027 (Findings F7 and F8). COMMENTS: The Grand Jury commends the Kern County General Services Department and the Auditor-Controller- County Clerk Office for their continued dedication conducting County business efficiently, while upholding the principles of transparency and accountability. The Grand Jury further expresses its appreciation to all staff members who participated in interviews and provided detailed information regarding the daily operations of the accounting and auditing divisions. Their professionalism, cooperation, and subject-matter expertise were essential to the Grand Jury’s review of internal processes, financial controls, and departmental practices. NOTES: • The Kern County Board of Supervisors and Kern County General Services should post a copy of this report where it will be available for public review. • People wishing to receive email notification of newly released reports may sign up at: www.kerncounty.com/grand-jury • Present and past Kern County Grand Jury Final Reports and Responses can be accessed on the Kern County Grand Jury website: www.kerncounty.com/grand-jury RESPONSE DEADLINES: • REQUIRED WITHIN 90 DAYS FROM: Board of Supervisors