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September 23, 2016      5:27 PM

House budget chair urges greater use of outside contract reviews

LBB: “… we have a responsibility to do our best to protect the treasury, to ensure the proper use of taxpayer dollars, and also to ensure your directives, as legislators, are being carried out by state agencies.”

The chair of the Texas House budget-writing committee is urging agencies to take advantage of the contract review functions triggered by the failure of the Attorney General’s T2 contract.

Of late, two scenarios have emerged with larger state contracts plagued with problems: The self-dealing scandals such as the Health and Human Services’ 21CT contract; or, more often, problematic delivery of a contract such as the AG’s child support overhaul, which is unlikely to go live before the end of 2017.

Both House Appropriations and Senate Finance sat down with the agencies charged with deploying the changes under Senate Bill 20. And while Chairman Rep. John Otto, R-Dayton, will soon by ceding his chair because he is retiring, he remained emphatic about improving contracting processes.

By Kimberly Reeves