Audit Reports Affecting Multiple Agencies
A Review of Contract Monitoring of Purchased Services
Report Number 95-007
Agency oversight of contractor performance does not provide sufficient information to determine if taxpayers' funds are allocated to contractors who consistently provide the best services. During fiscal year 1993, the health and human service agencies we reviewed paid over $2.5 billion to contractors who are responsible for providing services to protect and enhance the health, well-being, and productivity of Texans.
Most contractors are held accountable by judging whether their activities follow the procedures laid out in regulations, rather than the outcomes or results they produce. None of the 225 contracts we reviewed contained specific outcome measures requiring the contractor to perform at a certain level of success.
No standardized contract monitoring process exists within the State or even within the individual agencies. Most agencies have not established standardized criteria to evaluate contractor performance. As a result, it was difficult to determine if the performance of the contractor had been adequately monitored or not.
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