Feds look into Port of Seattle’s bidding practices

Audit report recommends hiring chief procurement officer

By Dave Hannon -- Purchasing, 1/9/2008 7:02:00 AM

The port congestion in Long Beach and Los Angeles has been a boom for other ports up and down the West Coast, including The Port of Seattle. But according to recent audit report, the building boom at the Port of Seattle has wasted as much as $97 million in poor bidding and contracting practices, which has prompted interest from Federal investigators.

The solution, according to a recent report released by the Washington State Auditor’s office: Hire a chief procurement officer for the port to oversee awarding of contracts.

An audit report from State Auditor Brian Sonntag found that contract awards were being administered by mid and low-level staff and that “All procurement authority, including contract awards, approval of contract change orders and amendments and other related activities should be re-assigned to the chief procurement officer.”

The report continues to recommend that the CPO should be able to hire procurement staff members to review and approve all procurement-related transactions. “All current delegation of authority related to procurement, including contract awards, approval of contract changes and amendments, and related activities should be rescinded and reassigned to the CPO.”

At a public hearing this week, port officials came under fire from angry residents and outlined some its proposed reforms.

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