An audit released this week of the Colorado state government’s fleet administration shows a variety of questionable business practices, according to a report in the Rocky Mountain News. The audit indicates, among other things, the state paying more than $600 for an oil change and over $3,000 for a transmission service. Operated under the Department of Personnel and Administration, the fleet-management program handles about 6,000 of the approximately 12,000 registered vehicles owned by the state. Several state offices, including university, law enforcement and inspection agencies use the fleet of trucks, cars and passenger vans. Among the major findings from the audit: • Sixty-five hundred instances during a two-year period in which a duplicate item or service was purchased more than once for the same vehicle. • Sixty percent of the fleet vehicles have fuel economies between 10 and 20 miles per gallon, and nearly 14 percent of the vehicles average 10 mpg. This may indicate fraud or abuse. • Eighty-three hundred transactions totaling $46,400 on workers' fuel cards were for items and services found to be "questionable." • Although it is prohibited under state rules, workers bought premium fuels on 11,000 occasions during a six-month period totaling more than $212,000. • Possible "fraud or inventory theft" was found in more than 2,000 instances where goods or services were recorded twice for things such as shop supplies, repairs or car washes. • In violation of the law, 32 vehicles that failed emissions tests were sold to dealers in counties that have emissions testing. • Some 503 vehicles identified as inoperable were sold, although at least 21 of them didn't have identifiable mechanical failures. Scott Madsen, the state official in charge of the fleet, vigorously defended the system. "I disagree wholly with the characterization that this system is inadequate," he was quoted as saying in the Rocky Mountain News article. "The kinds of decisions you make are not at the spark-plug level." Lawmakers gave fleet officials six months to show they are addressing these issues.