An Audit Report on the State Office of Administrative Hearings
August 2006
Report Number 06-063
Overall Conclusion
The State Office of Administrative Hearings (Office) does not have adequate contracting and financial processes to ensure that it manages cases and bills agencies in accordance with contract requirements. We could not establish the reliability of information in two of the Office's automated systems. However, we selected and tested a sample of billing statements and cases and did not identify any errors in billing statements or instances in which the Office gave preference to cases.
Although we did not identify any errors in our testing, we identified significant weaknesses in two of the Office's automated systems. These weaknesses prevented us from verifying that information in those systems was complete and accurate. These weaknesses could potentially affect whether:
- The Office produces accurate billing statements.
- The Office initiates, processes, and schedules general docket cases objectively in accordance with its rules of practice and procedures.
In addition, the Office:
- Does not consistently follow its policies and procedures for billing agencies. However, the inconsistencies we identified did not result in errors on billing statements.
- Does not always ensure that access to certain automated systems is restricted to only those individuals who require access.
- Does not always comply with Texas Government Code, Section 2003.024, which requires it to enter into lump sum contracts with state agencies that have "referred matters to the office during any of the three most recent state fiscal years." Instead, the Office maintains hourly contracts with some agencies.
Although we identified the issues discussed above, we also determined that the Office's methodology for monitoring agencies' compliance with riders in the General Appropriations Act was appropriate to (1) identify agencies that exceeded their workload and (2) bill those agencies the correct rate.
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