HomeMy WebLinkAboutM-83-0892AA
�
CITY OF MIAMI. FLORIDA
INTER -OFFICE MEMORANDUM
TO THE HONORABLE MEMBERS OF THE DATE October 24, 1983 FII�
TY COMMISSION
SUBJEZ, Auditing Services on the night
of City of Miami Election.
FROM, RALPH G. 014GIE l y REFERENCES
City Clerk
ENCLOSURES
Reference my memorandum to you of October 17, 1983.
Please be advised that we have been successful in obtaining the services
of Deloitte, Haskins & Sel]s,Certified Public Accountants, in order to
accomplish the basic audit controls of the computer program to be utilized
by Metropolitan Dade County in the tabulation of City of Miami Election re-
sults on the night of November 8, 1983. (Copy attached).
David Leahy, Supervisor of Elections, Metropolitan Dade County Elections
Department, has restated to us that they shall be happy to provide their
fill rrnnnera*ion and assistance to whichever auditing firm is selected in
connection with the task at hand.
Due to the extreme shortness of time, the above -referenced firm must begin
their work immediately, and it is now in order for the City Commission to
authorize the City Clerk to enter into an agreement with the firm of Deloitte,
Haskins & Sells in order that they may proceed with the their task.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call.
RGOmh
Encl.a/s
cc: Howard Gary, City Manager
Jose Garcia -Pedrosa, Esq., City Attorney
l $` tivv i 9 V,a'
Delowe
Haskins -Sells
Certified Public Accountants
Mr. Ralph On gi e
City Clerk
City of Miami
3500 Pan American Drive
Miami, Florida 33133
Dear Mr. Ongie:
0
One Southeast Third Avenue
Miarn�, Florida 33131
(305) 358-4141
Telex 441521
October 20, 1983
On October 19, 1983, Ms. Jane Finley and Mr. David
Rosenstein of our firm met with Ms. Matty Hirai, Assistant
City Clerk, to discuss your needs for the upcoming
election. This letter is to confirm our understanding of
the services we will render the City of Miami (the "City")
in connection with the Miami Primary and Special Elections
to be held on November 8, 1983 and, if applicable; the
Miami Regular Election on November 15 , 1983.
Scope of Services
As we discussed in our meeting on October 19, 1983, we will
perform the following procedures to provide the City with
reasonable assurance that the ballots processed by the
Alpha Ballot Tab System (the "System") are counted
accurately.
We will contact the office of the Secretary of State
of the State of Florida to acquire information
available regarding that office's prior review of
the System provided by the vendor, Computer Election
Systems, Inc. (CES) of Berkeley, California. We
were informed by CES that election software must
pass the State's inspection prior to being used in
the State.
We have arranged with CES to acquire a copy of the
System user manual and an independent version of the
computer program as originally distributed to the
Dade County Election Department. It is our intent
to utilize our audit software, Auditape 2 and/or
various IBM system utilities to compare our
independent version of the master program to the one
actually utilized to tabulate the election results.
83-8g2-
Using the System documentation as reference, we will
review the various parameters utilized by the Dade
County Election Department to "set-up" the system
for this particular election in order to determine
their accuracy. During our discussion with CES, we
were given the names of programmer and customer
service personnel to contact should we need
additional technical information.
We will observe the process of loading the System
software on election day. This will include the
breaking of seals, insertion of passwords and any
other type of control procedure that may be
applicable to this process.
We will observe the formal "Logic and Accuracy
Tests" of the program and equipment used to tabulate
the precinct and absentee ballots to verify that
they are done in accordance with the vendor's
instructions and that the results are in accordance
with those expected. These tests will take place on
Monday, November 7, 1983 at 3 :00 p.m., and on
Tuesday, November 8, 1983 at 6:30 p.m. for the Miami
Primary Election, and the following Monday and
Tuesday, November 14 and 15, 1983, at the
corresponding times for the Miami General Election.
We will observe the actual tabulation of ballots to
verify that the system is operated and maintained in
a controlled fashion.
Our procedures will be limited to those described above,
which are directed toward the computer processing of the
election ballots, and will exclude all handling and
controlling of the ballots prior to entering the computer
system and those procedures that are associated with the
official presentation of the final election results. We
will be present at the Commission meeting to respond to
appropriate questions as necessary.
Timing and Professional Fees
This engagement will be staffed by our Miami Computer Audit
Service staff under the direction of Mr. Howard Kershaw,
Partner, and Mr. David Rosenstein, Manager.
We anticipate beginning our procedures on October 25 and
completing our work in time to provide the City Clerk with
our report within the timeframe required to respond to the
City Commission.
- 2 - 83-89k
1
When performing work of this nature, our fees are based on
the number of hours worked. Given the timing of our being
offered this opportunity, and the possibility of our need
to perform these procedures and tests for 1 or 2 elections,
we have determined that our fees will range from
$8,500-$12,500. Our fee for a single election will not
exceed $10,000, and the fee for performing the procedures
outlined above for both the Primary and the Regular
Election Cif required) will not exceed $12,500.
! R* Q R A* A A R
We are pleased to be of service to the City in this very
important matter. If this letter agrees with your
understanding of our services to be performed, please sign
the enclosed copy and return it to us. If you would like
to discuss this letter in further detail, please call
Howard Kershaw or David Rosenstein at 358-4141.
Yours truly,
'aUA6A Vi"4-
UtLOITTE HASKINS & SELLS
Enclosure
.3 _ 83-89A.
A
CITY OF MIAMI. FLORIDA
0
INTEROFFICE MEMORANDUM
To COMMISSIONER JOE CAROLLO
RALPH G. ONGIE
FROM City Clerk
DATE October 17, 1983 FILE.
SUBJECT Engagement of Outside Auditing
Firm for Computer Process.
REFERENCES
ENCLOSURES
Please be advised that I have, this date, cancelled the proposed working
agreement with Coopers & Lybrand, Certified Public Accountants, concerning
the rendering of their services in connection with the monitoring of the
computer program used for the elections results on November 8, 1983.
I am enclosing a copy of their proposal to me for your reference. As you
can see, it contains nothing but a series of disclaimers about all of the
things that they would refuse to certify. I have had several telephone
conversations with Mr. Leonard Gilbert, Principal -in -Charge of the Computer
Audit Assistance Group's Southeast Region of said firm, and he has refused
to guarantee that the program written for use with the alpha tab mini -computers
would be devoid of error. I stated to him that the entire thrust of this ex-
penditure (which would have been a minimum of $10,000) was that he would,
precisely, state to me in writing, the authenticity of the computer program.
As Supervisor of Elections for the City, I have no reason to distrust any
one connected with the election process at the Dade County level and I am
satisfied that the results of the two Logic and Accuracy tests which precede
and follow the tabulation of election results will indicate that the programs
have been accurately written.
Due to the extremely short notice of the request for this outside audit,
Coopers & Lybrand was the only organization that was willing to render this
service.
If you have any questions, please call.
RGO:mh
cc: Honorable Members of the City Commission (w/encl.)
Carlos Garcia, Finance Director (w/encl.)
Randy Rosencrantz, Assistant City Manager (w/encl.)
83-892
12
Ej
Coo
ybrand
certified public acwumants
Mr. Ralph Ongie
City Clerk
City of Miami
3500 Pan American Drive
Miami, Florida 33133
C
1 S. E 3rd Avenue
(Ameri" Buikimq)
SuMe M
Miami, Florida 33131
telephone (305) 358.6383
in prindpei areas of " world
October 11, 1983
Re: Election System Review
Dear Mr. Ongie:
In accordance with your request, we are setting forth our estimate
of our fees for the review of the ALPHA TAB computer program
procedures that will be utilized for the November 8, 1983, City of
Miami election:
Fee Estimate - 167 hours @ $60 per hour = $10,000.00
ShculO circumstances arise which would alter our fee estimate, or
our timetable, we will discuss such with you prior to continuing
our work.
As Mr. Leonard Gilbert, Principal -in -Charge of the Computer Audit
Assistance Group's Southeast Region, discussed with you by tele-
phone, we would expect to review the program procedures and to
observe the election night processing. In order to accomplish
our review, we will need full access to records and documentation
and the cooperation of key personnel at both the Dade County Board
of Elections and the Dade County Data Center.,
We will issue a report outlining the procedures performed and our
findings and recommendations within thirty days of completion of
our field work. Our procedures do not constitute a study and
evaluation of internal controls for the purpose of expressing an
opinion or any other form of assurance with respect to the effec-
tiveness of the internal controls over the Election Systems as a
whole. Our report on the results of the procedures will relate
only to the items specifically tested. Our procedures cannot be
relied upon to disclose errors, irregularities or illegal acts
that may exist, however, we shall advise you of any such circum-
stances if noted furing the performance of,our procedures.
The distribution of our report should be limited to City management
and those directly involved in the election process.
83-892
O
Mr. Ralph Ongie
City of Miami
- 2 -
October 11, 1983
We look forward to working with you on this project. If this meets '
with your approval, please sign and return one copy of this letter
to Mr. Leonard Gilbert. If you have any questions or need further
information, please feel free to contact Mr. Gilbert at 358-6363.
Very truly yours,
LG:dn
cc: Ms. Mattie Hirai
Approved:
Name
Title
Date
8?-892
I
Coopersrlihud puhhc accountants
&LY brand
1 S.E.3rd Avenue Ak
(AmeriFirst Budding)
Suite 2900
Miami, Florida 33131
in pnnapat areas of the world
Mr. Ralph Ongie
City Clerk
City of Miami
3500 Pan American Drive
Miami, Florida 33133
telephone (3051 358 6363
October 11, 1983
Re: Election System Review
Dear Mr. Ongie:
In accordance with your request, we are setting forth our estimate
of our fees for the review of the ALPHA TAB computer program
procedures that will be utilized for the November 8, 1983, City of
Miami election:
Fee Estimate - 167 hours @ $60 per hour = $10,000.00
Should circumstances arise which would alter our fee estimate, or
our timetable, we will discuss such with you prior to continuing
our work.
As Mr. Leonard Gilbert, Principal -in -Charge of the Computer Audit
Assistance Group's Southeast Region, discussed with you by tele-
phone, we would expect to review the program procedures and to
observe the election night processing. In order to accomplish
our review, we will need full access to records and documentation
and the cooperation of key personnel at both the Dade County Board
of Elections and the Dade County Data Center.
1
we will issue a report outlining the procedures performed and our
findings and recommendations within thirty days of completion of
our field work. Our procedures do not constitute a study and
evaluation of internal controls for the purpose of expressing an
opinion or any other form of assurance with respect to the effec-
tiveness of the internal controls over the Election Systems as a
whole. Our report on the results of the procedures will relate
only to the items specifically tested. Our procedures cannot be
relied upon to disclose errors, irregularities or illegal acts
that may exist, however, we shall advise you of any such circum-
stances if noted furing the performance of our procedures.
The distribution of our report should be^limited to City management
and those directly involved in the election process.
83-892
A
OR
Mr. Ralph Ongie
City of Miami
- 2 -
October 11, 1983
We look forward to working with you on this project. If this meets
with your approval, please sign and return one copy of this letter
to Mr. Leonard Gilbert. If you have any questions or need further
information, please feel free to contact Mr. Gilbert at 358-6363.
Very truly yours,
LG:dn
cc: Ms. Mattie Hirai
Approved:
i
Name
Title
Date
to 83-892