University of Nevada audit sought

An Assembly measure introduced Monday calls for an audit of the state's higher education system -- in part due to allegations of bid-rigging for maintenance work at the University of Nevada, Reno.

AB148 was sponsored by Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, and 55 other lawmakers -- Democrats and Republicans in both the Assembly and Senate. Only seven of the state's 63 legislators didn't sign on.

"We're spending $1 billion (in the current, 2-year budget cycle) on the university system," Perkins said after the audit plan was introduced. "We need to know, when we appropriate that money, what it's being used for."

The $90,000 proposal, which calls for a completed audit by early 2005, follows up on a similar measure sought by Perkins that was shelved late in the 2001 Legislature.

The last legislative audit of the University and Community College System of Nevada was in 1996. By the time a new legislative audit is done, the previous audit will be nine years old.

Chancellor Jane Nichols has said she's open to a new audit -- as long as the Legislature pays for it.

The bill calls for an examination of the university system's capital construction projects, athletic programs, personnel, travel and other administration costs, the use of host accounts, investment income and enrollment data.

Also covered are contract and bidding procedures, including contracts for construction, retrofit and repair projects and energy conservation jobs.

Lawmakers who didn't cosponsor Perkins' bill include Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno. However, Raggio has told the university system to look into complaints about alleged bid-rigging at UNR.

Raggio directed the state's higher education system to respond after Reno small business owner Greg MacRenaris raised the issue at a joint Senate-Assembly money committee hearing.

MacRenaris' earlier allegations of UNR bid-rigging led to an internal audit and changes to the university's bidding process.

But that internal audit failed to investigate more than a dozen no-bid contracts totaling nearly $5 million that went to Reno-based Gardner Engineering for energy conservation work, and MacRenaris has said that problems continue.

MacRenaris did several small solar-screening projects at UNR but was turned down when he proposed a $590,000 project for university buildings several years ago.

He claimed that UNR posted several recent "open bids" for energy efficiency projects in newspapers but allowed companies only four days to respond.

Jim Gardner of Gardner Engineering has called MacRenaris' allegations "sour grapes" and denied his firm was involved in any wrongdoing.