IRVINE, Calif., Jan. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Transportation Corridor Agencies (TCA) released the results of an external audit of their communications and outreach contract with Venture Strategic, Inc. (VSI). Flatly contradicting false statements made by politically motivated actors and reported in certain news articles, the audit found no malfeasance, a 99.88% billing accuracy rate, a net underbilling to the TCA of $5,761, and a satisfactory review of assigned task orders and corresponding deliverables and work product.
The audit was conducted by Crowe LLP, which, in the course of the audit, reviewed VSI’s compliance with the contract, billing records and invoices, and work product in comparison to required deliverables.
The audit noted that the complex billing process required under the TCA contract, which involved 12,000 individual lines of billing entries over a four-year period, was susceptible to clerical and input errors. Nonetheless, VSI’s transparent and accountable internal procedures resulted in only a 0.12% error rate and a net underbilling of $5,761, which cut in the favor of TCA. These results were consistent with the findings of two previous TCA internal audits and an additional external audit.
TCA awarded VSI the contract in October 2015 following a competitive procurement process, that was open, transparent, vetted by multiple committees, and unanimously approved by the F/ETCA Board of Directors in public. All tasks, billing rates, and billing procedures were stipulated by, and received regular oversight from, TCA management and board members. It has been reported that the false accusations contained in the above-referenced news articles were precipitated by a VSI competitor who had unsuccessfully bid on the contract.
Contrary to those false claims, and due to VSI’s outstanding work, the TCA Board of Directors voluntarily extended the contract on three separate occasions over the course of a nearly four-year period. Near the conclusion of the contract on April 4th, 2019, the TCA sent a letter to VSI that stated the following:
“We appreciate your service to the Agencies over the last few years, working with us to implement a robust and innovative communications, media and outreach effort; this effort has made it possible to engage many members of the public in Orange County, especially Southern Orange County, to be involved in the effort to explore traffic congestion relief solutions.”
Venture Strategic spokesperson Tim Lineberger commented: “We are extremely proud of our entire team’s work on the TCA project and are pleased that the internal and external audits completely vindicate us from the baseless political attacks and wrongful insinuations made by self-interested actors throughout the past year. We will consider any further statements that intentionally or recklessly run counter to the facts reported in these audits as defamatory.”
Contact: Tim Lineberger 714.676.4317