Project Information

Bid Title

forensic rfp district revised

Issuing Agency

Mount Vernon City School District

Location

New York

Published Date

Mar 4, 2026

Closing Date

Mar 17, 2026

Government Level

State & Local

Status

Closed

Original Source

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Bid Documents

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Project Description

forensic rfp district revised

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MOUNT VERNON CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT

165 North Columbus Avenue

Mount Vernon, New York 10553

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

RFP# 25/16-10 FORENSIC AUDIT SERVICES

The objective of this request for Proposals (“RFP”) is to solicit proposals from experienced,

qualified, independent and certified fraud examiners, forensic auditors, or certified public

accountants to perform a forensic audit of [purpose of the audit] . Under this solicitation, the

Board of Education intends to select a qualified individual or firm to conduct a forensic audit

of key aspects of the District’s finances as more specifically outlined below.

General Information:

Mount Vernon City School District serves approximately 6,500 students across thirteen (13) school

buildings with the following grade configurations:

 Two (2) schools serving grades 7-12

 One (1) school serving grades 9-12

 Four (4) schools serving grades Pre-K-6

 Two (2) schools serving grades Pre-K-8

 Two (2) schools serving grades K-8

The District currently operates on an budget of approximately $272,206,615 as approved by the

voters for the 2025-2026 fiscal year.

Background and Need for Forensic Audit

The District is seeking a comprehensive forensic audit of several areas of fiscal and operational

concern. The fiscal audit shall be aimed at identifying financial irregularities, misallocation or

misuse of funds. The School District has identified the following areas for audit:

1. State Fiscal Oversight The District currently maintains a State Comptroller monitoring score of

85.0, indicating fiscal stress requiring enhanced oversight and monitoring through June 2027.

2. General Fund: The General Fund has been impacted by several irregular transfers and

expenditures that require investigation, including transfers to cover the school lunch fund deficit,

subsidization of costs that should be covered through Medicaid reimbursement, accounts payable

obligations, and service provider costs.

3. School Lunch Fund: In April of 2025, the District’s food service management company

reported a return of approximately $1.5 million to the District. In December of 2025, the District

received notice of a negative lunch fund balance of $959,053, necessitating a transfer from the

general fund.

4. Capital Fund: Despite investment into the District’s facilities, the District's thirteen (13) school

buildings’ condition raises concern about capital project expenditures, fund utilization, and project

management including whether projects were properly bid and executed, if expenditures align with

approved capital plans, and why building conditions do not reflect the level of capital investment. A

comprehensive review of capital project accounting, vendor payments, change orders, and project

close-out procedures is necessary.

5. Procurement and Contracting Compliance: The School District is required to make

procurements in accordance with New York Education Law and New York General Municipal Law

as reflected in the District’s purchasing policies and regulations. The District requires investigation

into whether:

 Employees have circumvented or improperly manipulated procurement processes

 Contracts have been awarded outside of required competitive bidding or RFP procedures

 Potential conflicts of interest exist between District employees and vendors/contractors

 Personal or professional relationships have influenced vendor selection or contract awards

 Purchase splitting or other methods have been used to avoid procurement thresholds

 Proper documentation and justification exist for sole-source or emergency procurements

A thorough review of vendor relationships, contract awards, purchase order patterns, and employee

financial disclosures is necessary to ensure compliance with all applicable procurement laws and to

identify any improper relationships or self-dealing.

6. Payroll The District's payroll department experiences recurring operational challenges including:

 Frequent overpayments and underpayments to employees each pay cycle

 Errors in tax withholding calculations

 Time and attendance recording inconsistencies

 Excessive overtime required for routine payroll processing functions

 Potential irregularities in payroll processing requiring investigation

7. Medicaid Reimbursement: With over 21% of students classified as students with disabilities,

the District provides extensive related services that should generate substantial Medicaid

reimbursement. However, current Medicaid reimbursement rates are disproportionately low relative

to the volume of billable services provided. General fund and IDEA allocations are being used to

subsidize costs that should be covered through Medicaid reimbursement, suggesting potential issues

with billing, documentation, or claims submission processes.

8. Accounts Payable: The District experiences chronic delays in processing vendor payments,

resulting in strained relationships with critical service providers. Given that many providers serve as

the sole source for essential services, these payment delays jeopardize the District's ability to

maintain necessary partnerships. Investigation is needed to identify systemic issues preventing

timely payment processing and to ensure proper internal controls are in place.

9. Student Activities Fund: The Student Activities Fund has been cited repeatedly in the District's

annual audit reports, indicating ongoing compliance issues, internal control deficiencies, or

accounting irregularities. A forensic review is needed to examine student activities fund

management, including cash handling procedures, deposit documentation, expenditure

authorization, reconciliation practices, and adherence to established policies and procedures

governing extracurricular account management.

10. Tax Office: Mount Vernon City School District is one of the few districts in New York State

that collects its own property taxes. Reconciliation issues have been identified between the Infotax

system records and actual cash flow, requiring investigation to ensure accurate tax collection,

proper accounting, and appropriate internal controls over revenue collection and deposit procedures.

For each of the identified areas, the forensic audit shall be limited in scope to a period of three

or five year period (i.e. 2023-present or 2020-present), as determined by the District. Cost

proposals should account for this audit timeframe. Should there be a cost difference,

proposers should include cost proposals for each timeframe.

Scope of Work: The successful proper’s services shall plan and conduct a thorough forensic

audit of the identified areas to include but not be limited to:

 General Fund

 School Lunch Fund

 Capital Funds;

 Payroll;

 Accounts Payable;

 Student Activities Funds;

 Tax Office;

 Medicaid Reimbursement;

 Ability to meet with the Board of Education and/or the administration to obtain the relevant

information needed either virtually or in person.

The forensic audit shall be performed in accordance with the specifications set forth below and

applicable law , rules and regulations and professional standards governing the work of this

engagement. The District anticipates completion of the forensic audit within six months of

award of the contract by the Board of Education. The successful proposer shall provide detailed

report to the Board of Education upon completion of the engagement with all findings and

recommendations.

PROPOSAL SUBMISSION REQUIRMENTS

Three (3) copies of the proposal include a USB drive, and other required documents must be

submitted in a sealed envelope clearly labeled “RFP #25/26-10: Mount Vernon City School

District – Forensic Audit Services” with the name and address of the proposer and

submitted to:

Hillary Thompson

Purchasing Agent

Mount Vernon City School District

165 No. Columbus Avenue

Mount Vernon, New York 10553

One copy of the proposal must be titled ‘ORIGINAL’ and each of the other two copies titled

“COPY”. Each page of the proposal must bear the follow information: Name of Proposer,

Mount Vernon City School District – Forensic Audit Services RFP, and the page number. All

materials submitted in response to this request for proposal shall become the property of this

School District.

If the District is closed on the day the proposal is due, the proposal due date will be extended

to the next day the District is open at the same time .

All proposals must be received on or before March 17, 2026 at 10:00 a.m.

There is no express or implied obligation for the School District to reimburse responding

individuals or organizations for any expenses incurred in preparing proposal or attending any

interview in connection with responding to this RFP. Proposals submitted after the stated

time and date will not be considered and will be returned to the organization unopened. Any

questions or request for clarification concerning this RFP must be addressed to the School

District’s Purchasing Agent, Hillary Thompson in writing via email at

hthompson@mtvernoncsd.org prior to March 11, 2026 at 11:00 a.m. Responses to any

questions will be sent to all prospective proposers in writing as an addendum to this RFP.

Proposals:

All proposals must be submitted in parts and will be evaluated as such. Part I must consist of

responses to organization and qualification items. Part II must include the cost of proposal to

provide the auditing services described herein. All aspects of this RFP shall be addressed in

the proposal. Incomplete submissions will not be considered for award. Proposals should

not be excessively long, and should be submitted in a format that permits copying for review.

Organizational and Qualifications:

 Each proposer must describe the overall make-up of the project team, and a

detailed statement as to how the proposer intends to meet the needs of the

School District.

 Proposers should include a chart depicting the management structure envisioned

for the forensic audit.

 Proposers should provide an affirmation stating that it is independent and there

are no conflicts of interest between the firm and the School District.

The Board of Education reserves the right to reject forensic audit team members who do

not have appropriate experience or qualifications to conduct the audit.

Proposer must provide information about the proposer (e.g. addresses, telephone/fax

numbers, names of contact person and lead person.)

 Individual resumes for each of the individuals on the forensic audit team must be

included in this section.

Proposers must provide an affirmation stating that each assigned individual has met all

of the continuing professional education (CPE) requirements necessary to satisfy the

United States General Accounting Office (GAO) standards.

Proposers shall provide information on the Proposer’s most recent federal or state desk

reviews or field review of its audits. The Proposer shall also disclose any disciplinary

action taken or pending against the Proposer by a regulatory or enforcement agency or

professional organization in the last five (5) years.

Each proposer must describe the prior relevant experience of the Proposer and members

of the audit team. For each include the information listed below:

1. Customer’s name

2. Total audit cost

3. Name s telephone number of reference for the project.

4. Brief description of the forensic audit’s scope of services and

status (including type of facility at which the forensic audit was conducted and whether

the audit was timely completed.) The right to call the reference provided by the proposer

will be presumed by the School District.

Proposers must include any additional information about the forensic audit team, its

personnel, financial condition, or qualifications regarded as being pertinent.

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