Follow-Up Audit of Sarasota County Area Transit (SCAT) Liberty Pass Program, December 2017

4. Duplicate Liberty Passes . Current Status, Follow-Up Audit dated June 2017: The auditor was notified that the proposed single database for tracking and monitoring of Liberty Pass sales for all locations has not been fully developed or implemented, and that there remains a lack of policies and procedures in place to prevent and/or detect duplicate Liberty Pass sales. Even though it was determined that controls were not implemented to ensure the prevention and detection of duplicate Liberty Pass sales, the auditor obtained and tested available sales data to identify instances where duplicate passes appear to have been distributed. The Suncoast Partnership to End Homelessness (Suncoast) provided data from the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) indicating that 1,923 Liberty Passes were distributed to individuals for the period of October 1, 2016 through April 30, 2017. The data was incomplete due to third party agenicies being advised by SCAT that as of October 1, 2016, reports from HMIS would no longer be required [see OFI No. 1, Compliance by third party agencies, page 9]. Data from the SCAT database indicated that 5,406 Liberty Passes were distributed by SCAT Administration and the Downtown Transfer Station (DTTS) for the period of October 1, 2016 through April 30, 2017. Internal Audit evaluated the data, observing that there appears to have been 15 instances where an individual obtained a Liberty Pass from a third party agency and from SCAT Administration or the DTTS for the same month. Additionally, the data indicates that there appears to have been duplicate Liberty Passes sold within SCAT Administration and the DTTS 20 times and within third party agencies 43 times. Original Audit Observation, Report dated September 2016: Third party agencies use HMIS to record and track Liberty Passes distributed to clients while SCAT Administration and the Downtown Transfer Station (DTTS) use a separate database to record and track distributions. Data from the two sources is not compared, making it possible for a client to purchase two Liberty Passes (duplicate passes) each month, one from a third party agency and one from SCAT or the DTTS. Per the Enrollment Form, third party agencies agree to, “distribute only one pass per client listed in HMIS every 25-30 days, regardless of which agency distributed the client’s last pass.” SCAT management advised that the same guidelines apply to Liberty Passes sold at SCAT Administration and the DTTS locations, which use the SCAT database for tracking. 7 | F o l l o w - u p o f S C A T L i b e r t y P a s s P r o g r a m D e c e m b e r 2 0 1 7