Report 2015-116 Recommendation 1 Responses

Report 2015-116: City of Irvine: Poor Governance of the $1.7 Million Review of the Orange County Great Park Needlessly Compromised the Review's Credibility (Release Date: August 2016)

Recommendation #1 To: Irvine, City of

To ensure that local government audits are conducted with independence and rigor, beginning immediately Irvine should incorporate into its RFPs and contracts the requirement that consultants follow appropriate, sufficient audit standards when performing audit services.

60-Day Agency Response

Irvine has implemented Recommendation No. 1. When applicable, future requests for proposals ("RFPs") for auditing and consulting services will expressly identify the specific standard that Irvine intends for the contractor to apply. Further, Irvine will require contractors to perform work in accordance with GAGAS when appropriate. To date, Irvine has included this requirement in the RFP for the Auditing Services contract, issued February 2016, which requires compliance with GAGAS standards for financial audits.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Fully Implemented

We acknowledge that Irvine has included language related to audit standards in a past RFP for audit services; however, as we note in the section of the report beginning on page 18, Irvine did not specify in its RFP for services related to the Great Park review that the firms associated with the review needed to follow standards and procedures that would result in the thorough, independent evaluation of Great Park contracts that the city council members had described to the public.

While we consider this recommendation fully implemented, we caution Irvine to continue to follow this practice in all cases where the city desires an audit.

All Recommendations in 2015-116

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.