In Sierra Leone, fraud, collusion and non-compliant procurements involving staff at a grant Principal Recipient, sub-recipients and suppliers resulted in significant losses, including a US$558,802 overcharge for vocational training.

The Principal Recipient engaged four sub-recipients to implement program activities for female sex workers, including vocational training. The sub-recipients then colluded with vocational institutes to inflate tuition fees and materials costs by US$558,802, so that the total matched the funds available in the grant budget. The sub-recipients discussed the procurement with prospective vocational institutes in advance of the tender, and outside of official national procurement rules and procedures.

Despite considerable variation in the nature, conditions and capacity of the vocational institutes, all of them charged identical amounts for tuition and training materials. OIG established that US$60 per student would have been a reasonable price for vocational institutions to charge, whereas the grant was actually charged US$489 per student.

You can read the OIG investigation here.