09-20 and 09-21-10 Special Called Regular Meeting of Fiscal Affairs Committee

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CITY OF LA PORTE, TEXAS Agreed Upon Procedures - Five Points Town Center Project (Continued) September 21, 2010 The Project proposal (Exhibit 20) also specifies that certain categories of expenses are reimbursable. Categories which may be reimbursed include: "copies, photos, models, renderings, express mail, supplies, travel (site trips, meetings), lodging, meals, printing, and long distance phone calls in connection with the project. " Expenses submitted for reimbursement appear to meet these criteria. The total amount of reimbursable expenses submitted totaled $11,401.35 (see Exhibit 21). This amount is well under the "do not exceed" amount of $19,900 in the Project proposal (Exhibit 20). However, this amount includes the following fees that were not enumerated in the contract documents: . On the 2/20/2009 invoice, there was a surcharge (5.676%) added to travel expenses for Charles Wardrop and William O'Brien. These fees totaled $33.50. . On the 2/20/2009 invoice, there was a surcharge (3.348%) added to copy and courier fees. This fee, according to the contract, should have been ten percent (under services subcontracted). The fee was $7.36, which is lower than the $21.98 that would have resulted using the higher fee amount. . On the 10/14/09 invoice, there was a surcharge (9.077%) on travel expenses for William O'Brien totaling $28.02. We also compared the dates on expense report forms submitted for reimbursement to time sheets submitted to ensure that, for dates where travel, mileage, or meal reimbursements were submitted, there was a time record corresponding to the same date. The results can be seen on Exhibit 21. Two items were noted for which no corresponding time sheet was provided: . On the 2/20/09 invoice, William O'Brien, Jr. submitted a request for reimbursement for meal and mileage for 1/12/09. No timesheet was provided showing that he billed hours for that Project on that day. . On the 5/11/09 invoice, Charles Wardrop submitted a request for reimbursement of mileage for 3/25/09. No time sheet was provided showing that he billed hours for that Project on that day. URS also submitted a summary of direct/indirect costs associated with the Project (Exhibit 22) in the amount of $5,131.27. These costs do not appear to have been directly billed to the EDC as they are not found on any of the invoices submitted for payment. The majority of the amounts included are for mileage ($2,884) and printing/plots ($2,013.72). We reviewed the support documentation provided and found that the travel dates on the employee expense reports did correspond to dates the employee billed time to the Project. The printing log also tied to the summary on page one of Exhibit 22 and dates corresponded to the ongoing dates of the Project. When we attempted to tie the submitted toll statements to the expense report, we were unable to do so. Toll amounts submitted on expense reports rarely tied to the tolls accumulated on that date. It appeared that the tolls indirectly charged to the Project were charged based on toll plazas rather than on date of travel. The amount of tolls indirectly submitted were $233.55, which account for about one percent of direct and indirect costs and much less than one percent of the Project. Total reimbursable costs including costs submitted on invoices ($15,470.77) and URS Intemal/Direct Costs ($5,131.27) total $20,602.04. This total is approximately 3.5% more than the total estimated reimbursable costs of$19,900 in the contract. The costs submitted by URS of $15,470.77 in Exhibit 22 is 14