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SPRINGFIELD - The Springfield Police headquarters at 130 Pearl St. is shown here.

(The Republican file)

SPRINGFIELD — The city has hired a Boston consulting firm for $120,000 to investigate allegations of missing money from the Police Department's evidence rooms.

Mayor Domenic J. Sarno and other city officials on Monday signed a contract with Marcum LLP to analyze evidence linked to 10,000 pending drug cases. The contract states a team of police cadets, sworn officers and the consultants will review evidence stored in 65 drawers or boxes with approximately 150 bundles of evidence in each.

The agreement estimates the review will take around 30 to 40 eight-hour work days.

In response to a public records request by The Republican in March, Police Commissioner John Barbieri disclosed that an unspecified amount of cash had turned up missing from the evidence rooms. He said the discovery came as a result of a review of that department he requested after being appointed last summer.

Barbieri's statement also indicated that no drugs, weapons, physical evidence or other valuables were unaccounted for.

However, the city has not responded to certain questions including who had access to the evidence room or when the last audit was conducted.

Marcum is one of the largest public accounting firms in the country, with 22 offices in the U.S., Grand Cayman, China and Hong Kong.

Marcum's proposal – which was unchallenged because it was not required to be publicly bid – states that the company will assist the city in evaluating its evidentiary procedures and accompanying documentation.

"Working collaboratively with Springfield Police, Marcum will complete the following tasks," the proposal reads, before going through a laundry list of chores including reviews of computerized records, seized evidence inventory sheets, comparisons of those two and reviews of individual cases.

Each of the 10,000 cases will merit at least five minutes of review, according to the contract. Marcum's review will conclude with a final report of findings and recommendations.