Three weeks after she mysteriously announced plans to step down, a secret review into the office of FOI commissioner Lynne Bertolini​ has exposed a litany of problems, including "unusual" procurement practices, unmet targets, and "poor conduct" towards some staff.

The state government review, obtained by Fairfax Media, makes it clear the FOI office was not meeting Parliament's expectations. Part of the problem, it found, was the reluctance of Ms Bertolini to deploy resources to improve its performance, including the use of two assistant commissioners who had been appointed to help deal with the massive backlog of FOI reviews.

According to the report, Ms Bertolini would instead rely on selected staff who worked with her in previous roles at the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation, and also spent large sums of money on expensive legal services linked to the same organisation, rather than using in-house counsel or a more competitive purchasing process.

"The  [office] has operated somewhat outside the usual procurement practices to purchase legal services. Spending of more than $800,000 on external services appears to reflect a high value placed on a personal confidence of relationships, and is not in accordance with usual purchasing requirements," the report says.

Ms Bertolini was appointed by the former Baillieu government to end the "culture of secrecy" surrounding FOI in Victoria by reviewing department decisions and handling complaints from the public. But the office has consistently struggled to meet its own deadlines, resulting in Parliament appointing two assistant commissioners last year.

In April, Premier Daniel Andrews' department quietly commissioned an investigation into the FOI office after series of allegations were raised.

The final report, now with Parliament's joint accountability and oversight committee, paints the picture of a dysfunctional office, with "poor conduct" towards the two assistant commissioners; a backlog of reviews and complaints by people seeking FOI documents; and favouritism towards some staff, with "considerable anxiety and stress" among others.

It also reveals:

• Since December 2012 the FOI office spent $825,946 on contracts with two selected legal service providers when equivalent organisations in NSW, Queensland and the  federal sphere use little or no external legal advice.
  
• A further $55,000 was spent to hire the Agenda Group for three days of work, including a former executive and colleague from the gambling regulator.
• The average time taken to complete an FOI review was 90.4 days – well in excess of the government's 30-day target. Ms Bertolini completed 130 reviews between last October and April this year, but her assistant commissioners Michael Ison​ and Rachel Westaway​ had only been assigned a combined 19 reviews over the same period.

"Rather than effectively deploy resources made available to assist the performance of the office, the FOI commissioner appears to rely on several staff who share a history of working with her in previous roles at the Victorian commission for gambling and liquor regulation," the report says.

Ms Bertolini did not return calls from Fairfax Media. However, the findings of the report come three weeks after she announced she would resign – effective next Saturday – three months before her contract was due to expire.

A statement released at the time gave few clues as to why she was stepping down, other than to say it was time for "new challenges" given the government planned to overhaul her office and create a new Office of the Public Access Counsellor.

The Office of the Public Access Counsellor was a promise Labor took to the election with legislation to be introduced in the first half of next year. The government has vowed it will have extra powers, including the ability to review decisions to withhold documents based on cabinet-in-confidence exemptions, and a requirement for agencies to progress and respond to FOI requests more quickly.

The investigation of the FOI commissioner is not the only inquiry into Victoria's accountability regime this year. Earlier this month, Parliament announced it would investigate Auditor-General John Doyle after a serious grievance complaint was made by a staff member.