An internal audit of Dallas’ newly merged Department of Transportation and Public Works has identified significant shortcomings in contract oversight, payment processes, and recordkeeping nearly two years after the consolidation. The audit, covering fiscal years 2023 through 2025, highlights ongoing challenges in integrating the former departments and ensuring effective management of city infrastructure projects.
City officials announced the merger in July 2024, aiming to improve coordination, reduce inefficiencies, accelerate decision-making, and establish a single point of contact for transportation-related work. The city also projected savings of approximately $1.5 million, with potential for further reductions in operating costs over time.
However, the audit reveals that the combined department continues to rely on disparate systems and processes inherited from its predecessor agencies, limiting its ability to function cohesively. Among the findings, auditors noted that invoices were sometimes paid before verifying that contracted work had been completed, raising concerns about payment approvals and project monitoring. Inspection records were frequently incomplete, hard to read, or missing, and equipment and fleet documentation was unreliable.
Contract oversight remains fragmented, with responsibility spread across different teams leading to inconsistent reviews and control weaknesses. Auditors recommended centralizing contract management and establishing clearer protocols for documentation, payment authorization, and approvals. The review also identified gaps in purchasing practices, including missing approval records and instances where a single individual had excessive control over transactions, thereby increasing risks of error or misuse.
Warehouse inventory management and maintenance records were found to be error-prone, partly due to manual tracking methods and inadequate logging of item usage or removal. Overtime approvals and fuel use monitoring also lacked consistency or thorough documentation.
The audit issued 42 recommendations addressing these issues, emphasizing improved contract oversight, stronger purchasing controls, better inspection procedures prior to payment, and tighter equipment and inventory tracking. City officials have agreed to implement 40 of the recommendations but withheld agreement on two involving reviews of large contractor invoices and tracking of unfinished work. They indicated additional evaluation is needed to determine the feasibility of proposed solutions in these areas.
City Manager Kimberly Bizzor Tolbert, responding to the audit, acknowledged that considerable work remains to address identified weaknesses but noted that corrective measures are already underway. The department had requested the audit, which was conducted by the external firm Baker Tilly. Many of the planned improvements are scheduled for completion or reassessment by 2027, as part of ongoing efforts to enhance operational efficiency and oversight within the newly formed department.