BATON ROUGE — For the third consecutive engagement, the Louisiana Legislative Auditor has reported that Thrive failed to obtain proper approval for contracts prior to incurring expenditures associated with the contracts.

The audit—released on Monday and looking at the boarding school for July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2026—notes that failure to obtain required contract approvals before paying for them increases the risk of procuring unauthorized services.

A review of active contracts and expenditures for the period July 1, 2024, through February 28, 2026, disclosed the following:
-Thrive made two payments totaling $9,900 to one vendor without obtaining contract approval from the Division of Administration, Office of State Procurement (OSP), after a change order increased the total contract amount over Thrive’s delegated purchasing authority.
-Thrive incurred expenditures for one consulting services contract prior to obtaining OSP approval. Specifically, services associated with one $3,600 invoice were provided 20 days before OSP approved the contract. Although the invoice was not paid until after OSP approval was received, the services were performed before the required approval was obtained.

Auditors write in their report that Thrive management indicated that the ongoing issues were due to agency personnel having an incomplete understanding of how the state’s contract processing system operates and miscommunication with a vendor.

Auditors suggested that management should ensure state procurement laws and regulations for contracts are followed, ensure that employees responsible for contracting activities are adequately trained, and establish timelines to ensure contracts can go through the required approval process prior to the vendor providing services.

Management concurred with the finding and provided a plan of corrective action.

“Thrive concurs with this finding,” said Superintendent Paul Sampson in a letter to auditors, noting that as a part of the school’s corrective action plan, Thrive management has completed training with procurement and contract staff emphasizing that any contract amendment that causes the total contract amount to exceed Thrive's authority must receive separate approval from the Office of State Procurement.

“Thrive staff will also communicate to prospective vendors during the contracting process that contracted services may not begin prior to receipt of all required approvals and a fully approved purchase order, and management will not authorize vendors to begin services until the required approval has been obtained and the purchase order has been issued to the vendor.”

The ongoing monitoring of the new procedures will be overseen by the school’s chief operating officer.

The school did address some previously-identified issues, with auditors noting that prior-report findings related to Inadequate Controls over Leave Records and Inadequate Controls over Movable Property have been resolved.

Legislative Auditors previously reported in March that the school skirted contract regulations by repeatedly skipped vital steps in obtaining and vetting contracts that opened the school to potential fraud and inaccurate financial records. 

Read the full audit report released on Monday.