Houston Audits Office Depot Finds Overcharges of $6.6m

2012-12-18T08:38:59-05:00

Houston Audits Office Depot Finds Overcharges of $6.6million over four years By Emily Roach Palm Beach Post Staff Writer The city of Houston has joined the list of governments who claim Office Depot failed to honor the best-pricing guidelines provided for in their contracts. Houston revealed the results of an extensive audit Friday covering the years 2006-2010, the estimated overcharges of $1.7 million to $6.6 million. The city is a member of the U.S. Communities Government Purchasing Alliance, which had a group-purchasing contract with Office Depot. The Boca Raton-headquartered office supply superstore chain has settled complaints from the city of San Francisco, as well as the state of Florida. It is being investigated by the Justice Department and is the subject of a whistleblower lawsuit out of California based on the same group-purchasing agreement. An Office Depot response included in the audit said the contract didn’t guarantee the lowest price on each individual item, as the audit calculated, but rather a “basket of goods purchased by an average customer over time.” Office Depot Monday issued a statement on the auditor’s report saying it “rehashed old claims.” The company’s statement says those claims were “expressly rejected by the Florida Attorney General’s office back in 2010, after it conducted a two-year investigation into the same allegations.” The company paid $4.5 million in refunds in the Florida settlement.

Tonernews.com, December 18, 2012. USA

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Houston Audits Office Depot Finds Overcharges of $6.6million over four years
By Emily Roach 
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer 
The city of Houston has joined the list of governments who claim Office Depot failed to honor the best-pricing guidelines provided for in their contracts. Houston revealed the results of an extensive audit Friday covering the years 2006-2010, the estimated overcharges of $1.7 million to $6.6 million. 
 
The city is a member of the U.S. Communities Government Purchasing Alliance, which had a group-purchasing contract with Office Depot. The Boca Raton-headquartered office supply superstore chain has settled complaints from the city of San Francisco, as well as the state of Florida. It is being investigated by the Justice Department and is the subject of a whistleblower lawsuit out of California based on the same group-purchasing agreement. 
 
An Office Depot response included in the audit said the contract didn’t guarantee the lowest price on each individual item, as the audit calculated, but rather a “basket of goods purchased by an average customer over time.” 
 
Office Depot Monday issued a statement on the auditor’s report saying it “rehashed old claims.” The company’s statement says those claims were “expressly rejected by the Florida Attorney General’s office back in 2010, after it conducted a two-year investigation into the same allegations.” The company paid $4.5 million in refunds in the Florida settlement.
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December 18, 2012 at 8:38 AM

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