Guam education agency bought more textbooks than needed; $7m worth of excess supply ended up in landfill

By Pacific Island Times News Staff

The Guam Department of Education procured more books than needed, with hundreds of them ending up in the landfill, according to the Office of the Public Accountability.

"The audit determined that textbook purchases significantly exceeded actual enrollment needs, resulting in an estimated $7 million in excess inventory," states the OPA's audit report. "English textbooks exceeded projected needs by 152 percent while high school math textbooks exceeded needs by 87 percent."

The OPA found that excess textbooks were discarded without following legal procedures.

"Materials were disposed of without proper documentation or approvals, including instances where textbooks were sent to landfills. Required processes, such as offering surplus materials to other agencies, schools, or eligible recipients, were not followed," the OPA said.

Besides excessive purchases, the OPA found that the department sole-sourced supplies without justification and completed purchase transactions without the attorney general's review, resulting in $29 million in questioned costs involving federal funds.

Sen. Chris Barnett said the OPA's investigation was prompted by his request, following a complaint from the department's employees.

"I saw for myself the rampant waste and abuse relative to the excess textbook concerns, and that’s why I asked the OPA to conduct an audit," he said.

Chris Barnett

"Teachers and staff frustrated with a lack of resources and supply shortages for our students watched as thousands of excess textbooks were delivered to schools that already had thousands of textbooks collecting dust in storage rooms. When we all saw hundreds of textbooks being thrown in the dump, GDOE tried to spin it," Barnett added.

The OPA's investigation into the agency's textbook procurement revealed "significant systemic deficiencies" and raised "serious concerns over financial management and accountability of public resources."

The OPA also noted that the flagged transactions involved federal funds.

"Despite receiving $7.5 million in local appropriations for textbooks between fiscal years 2020 and 2024, GDOE did not utilize these funds after 2021," the OPA said. "Instead, the department relied heavily on federal grants, raising concerns about potential supplanting and lack of alignment between expenditures and documented instructional needs."

The OPA collaborated with the education department's Internal Audit Office to scrutinize the agency's accountability for textbooks. 

The audit found that the education department's failure to follow procurement rules resulted in the following deficiencies:

• Missing executed contracts approved by required authorities for purchase orders exceeding $500,000, totaling approximately $16.3 million.

• Lack of documented Attorney General involvement for procurements exceeding statutory thresholds, including one purchase order totaling $1.5 million.

• 19 sole-source procurements totaling approximately $1.7 million were conducted without required justification or supporting documentation.

• Missing procurement files for 34 of 67 purchase orders tested, representing approximately $23.9 million in federally funded expenditures.

ADVERTISEMENT

The Guam education department has a history of wasting federal funds.

In 2024, the OPA found that the department purchased an excessive amount of laptops, several of which were lying around unused.

The department purchased 34,503 laptops worth $24.6 million in fiscal years 2021 and 2022, in addition to 14,285 functioning units it had in inventory before the new acquisitions.

ADVERTISEMENT

Auditors found that the education department lacks a fully implemented inventory audit management system capable of tracking textbooks at an itemized level.

"Although a system is in place, it remains largely unused due to insufficient planning, training and standard operating procedures," the OPA said. "These weaknesses increase the risk of loss, waste, and misappropriation and reflect longstanding issues previously identified since 2008."

 The OPA recommended immediate corrective action, including strengthening internal controls, ensuring compliance with procurement laws, aligning purchases with actual enrollment needs, implementing a functional inventory management system, and improving governance oversight.

Subscribe to

our digital

monthly issue