AUSTIN, Texas -- Austin's Fleet Officer says one letter resulted in a $45,000 mistake.
An audit of that department found the problem is not isolated; it also revealed employees tried to orchestrate a cover-up.
In early 2014, Austin Police Department requested a replacement for one of its Chevrolet Tahoes. Instead of ordering the Police Pursuit Vehicle, or Tahoe PPV, the Fleet Services employee ordered a Tahoe LS.
"Pursuit rated means it is built for certain speeds, as well as reinforcement of the doors for accidents and things of that nature," said Jennifer Walls, Deputy Fleet Officer for the City of Austin.
The original cost estimate for the Tahoe PPV was $37,838. The Tahoe LS arrived in mid-2014 at a cost of $43,843, but it failed to meet the safety requirements for use by APD.
An audit by the City Auditor found the city's vendor flagged the original discrepancy, but a city employee insisted on buying the incorrect model.
"We found that during the quote request process, the vendor contacted the specification writer to clarify that the vehicle he was ordering was an LS model, instead of a police pursuit rated vehicle," the audit report said. "In response, the specification writer told the vendor to process the vehicle as an LS model."
MORE | Austin Fleet Services Audit
Fleet Services has been trying to find a permanent home for the Tahoe.
"Austin Energy has Tahoes, the Police Department has Tahoes," Walls said. "However, at this particular time we weren't able to place it with another department."
Instead, the vehicle's been used as by Walls' boss for more than two years. Auditors found two Fleet Services employees fudged rental pool records to make it look like the Tahoe was available to other departments.
Two of the Fleet staff interviewed did not cooperate with the Office of the City Auditor when they modified records provided to the Auditor so that the vehicle in question would appear in their rental pool list, when in reality, the vehicle had not been formally designated as a rental pool vehicle," the audit said. "By modifying the records prior to providing them, these employees failed to 'fully cooperate with an investigation' as is required of all City officers and employees."
A city spokesman said the investigation is ongoing. Walls said Fleet Services made changes recently to prevent future mistakes.
"We have built internal controls and controls to mitigate to the extent possible any kind of errors that may arise along the way," she said.
The audit found the Fleet Services employee who ordered the incorrect vehicle in 2014 has made similar mistakes prior to and after that purchase.
APD used the vehicle it planned to replace an additional two years. Money to buy its replacement is in the 2017 budget.
The 2014 Tahoe still does not have a permanently assigned department. It will be used until it reaches 100,000 miles, which is city protocol for light duty vehicles, Walls said.