The City of Chicago Office of Inspector General (OIG) has completed a follow-up to its April 2015 audit of the Department of Streets and Sanitation’s (DSS) Garbage Collection Performance Measurement. OIG concludes that DSS has begun to implement corrective actions related to the audit findings.
The purpose of the 2015 audit was to determine DSS’s ability to measure the performance of, and to exercise quality control over, garbage collection operations. Our audit found that,
- gaps in DSS’s performance data and measurement significantly limited the Department’s ability to measure performance in support of maximizing utilization of resources; and
- the supervisory process established in DSS’s “Quality Control” Order 14-001 did not provide reasonable assurance of compliance with all of the Order’s goals.
Based on the results of our audit, OIG recommended that DSS systematically assess data on garbage collection operations that are not captured by GPS, review its 40-minute time per alley performance standard and the number of assigned alleys per route, create an inventory of carts per household, and update Order 14-001 to clarify the Department’s expectations for Division Superintendents’ quality control responsibilities.
In April 2016, OIG inquired with DSS regarding the status of the corrective actions the Department had committed to implementing in its response to OIG’s audit, as well as any other actions it may have taken. Based on the Department’s response, we conclude that DSS has begun to implement the corrective actions related to the first audit finding and fully implemented the corrective actions related to the second finding. OIG urges the Department to continue working to resolve the findings noted in our original audit.