A former city of Berkeley employee purchased a $286,000 ambulance without proper authorization from the Berkeley City Council, according to an investigation report released Wednesday by the Berkeley City Auditor’s office.
The unauthorized purchase was initially reported to the Berkeley City Auditor’s Whistleblower Program, which then investigated and substantiated the allegation.
“Purchases made outside of the City’s established procurement process expose the City to financial and operational risks, including reduced oversight and lack of transparency in committing public funds,” said Berkeley City Auditor Jenny Wong in an email.
According to the investigative report, the incident — which initially occurred in late 2022 — violated internal purchasing procedures, the Berkeley Municipal Code and the City Charter.
Per city policy, purchases of more than $100,000 are required to follow a standardized process in which the department — in this case, the Berkeley Fire Department — identifies a need, coordinates with the Public Works Equipment Maintenance Division, obtains approval from the City Council and submits a Purchase Requisition.
The request then goes to the Finance Department’s General Services Division, which reviews the request and submits official authorization through a purchase order.
In this case, the former employee initiated the purchase without following the required procedures. Despite the lack of an official purchase order, the vendor began production on the ambulance, which had to be built to order.
The report added that the Finance Department was not aware of the purchase until about 10 months later, when the ambulance’s construction was near completion. This limited their ability to intervene earlier in the procurement process, the report added.
When the ambulance arrived, the city could not promptly issue payment due to the lack of prior approval. This led the vendor to withhold the title of the vehicle for several months, preventing the city from putting the ambulance into service, the report said. The City Council retroactively approved the purchase more than a year after its initiation; however, the council was not aware that it was approving a purchase that was outside the established procurement requirements.
While authorization was eventually granted, the report noted that the situation “highlighted gaps in communication and oversight and demonstrated the need for a clearer process for notifying City Council when required purchasing steps have not been followed.”
The report also makes several suggestions to ensure clarity within purchasing processes, including updates to the city’s purchasing manual and targeted departmental training.
However, the report does note that purchasing procedures and oversight mechanisms exist already, emphasizing that this incident was the result of an individual employee acting outside their scope of authority. Despite the bypass of existing procedures, the whistleblower system was able to alert management to the violation and eventually obtain council approval.
As of press time, the BFD and the City of Berkeley have not responded to requests for comment.