WASHINGTON (Map, News) - More than 130 new Montgomery County patrol cars and vehicles purchased by the county sat idle for up to six months because a contractor paid to prepare cars for street use failed to do so, according to the county’s chief auditor.

Thomas Dagley, Montgomery County’s inspector general, sent a letter to county leaders last week saying he will review the county’s management of its contract with First Vehicle Services to inspect new county vehicles and install the necessary equipment, decals and license tags to prepare the cars for the roads.

His memo says the company placed only 12 vehicles in service out of the 143 delivered between October 2007 and February 2008.

First Vehicle President J. Michael Bloss said the delays occurred because a large quantity of vehicles were delivered from the manufacturer earlier than expected and it was difficult to obtain the specialty parts required to prepare the vehicles for use.

Patrick Lacefield, spokesman for County Executive Ike Leggett, said the county pays the contractor $125,000 a year to prep vehicles for use, but also pays the firm millions each year for vehicle maintenance. First Vehicle Services was never penalized for the backlog.

“We’ve amended the contract so instead of having two mechanics we now have four doing vehicle prep and we have procedures in place to watch this like a hawk from now on,” Lacefield said. “Penalties will be assessed against the vendor if there is a future backlog.”

Dagley says he wants to investigate to ensure the county was not paying for work that wasn’t done and to review management controls. County officials say they were unaware of the backlog until Dagley alerted them to the situation, which he discovered through an anonymous tip to his office.

“The review will be conducted to assess compliance with contract provisions and the appropriateness of payments from mid-2006 through early 2008,” Dagley wrote. “It is our understanding that this contract was reviewed by the Chief, Internal Audit, Department of Finance, for the first year of operation (2001) but has not received a performance audit or other independent review in recent years.”

Dagley’s memo says Art Holmes, the director of Montgomery’s Department of Public Works and Transportation, told him the backlog came from a change in leadership at the department of fleet management.

Holmes told The Examiner the backlog occurred because the contractor was waiting for parts such as patrol car computer systems to be shipped. He acknowledged the previous backlog in prepping vehicles for use, but said the situation has been remedied and there are no longer any vehicles waiting to be prepped.

Lacefield, however, said Sunday that 37 patrol cars are awaiting police radios to be installed so they can be used.

 kmiller@dcexaminer.com