Government

Following Scathing Audit, Waste Management Will Adopt New Policies to Ensure Compliance, Director Says

V.I. Waste Management Authority Director Roger Merritt said Thursday that the authority will adopt new internal procurement policies and procedures to ensure compliance with all applicable rules and regulations both locally and federally. The document is set to be presented to the board next month and follows an Office of the Inspector General audit concluding that WMA expended at least $15,593,860 without ensuring that it obtained the best price for services. That's because the authority did not always follow its procurement policy requiring competitive bidding; in some cases operated its solid waste collection services with expired contracts and verbal/informal agreements; continued at least ten contracts on a month-to-month bases up to six years after contracts had expired; and received services from at least two vendors based on verbal/informal agreements, according to the audit. Testifying before the Committee on Disaster Recovery and Infrastructure, Mr. Merritt told lawmakers t...