By: West S.B. No. 1240 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT 1-1 relating to the state's purchasing of services for state agency 1-2 clients. 1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: 1-4 SECTION 1. Subchapter B, Chapter 531, Government Code, is 1-5 amended by adding Section 531.0275 to read as follows: 1-6 Sec. 531.0275. PURCHASING CLIENT SERVICES. (a) The 1-7 commission shall coordinate and adopt rules to govern the 1-8 purchasing by state agencies of services for their clients, 1-9 including agencies that are not health and human services agencies. 1-10 The commission's rules adopted under this section apply directly to 1-11 health and human services agencies. Other state agencies shall 1-12 adopt rules governing purchases of services for their clients that 1-13 are consistent with the commission's rules. 1-14 (b) The commission's rules must ensure consistent practices 1-15 in the procurement of services for clients, efficient and effective 1-16 monitoring of contract providers, and improved accountability for 1-17 contract providers. The rules must: 1-18 (1) describe various contracting arrangements and 1-19 provide information to guide agencies in determining which 1-20 arrangements are most advantageous in particular situations; 1-21 (2) provide clear definitions of contracting terms; 1-22 (3) list minimum requirements and standard language 1-23 for the contracts; 2-1 (4) prescribe mandatory or describe sample performance 2-2 and outcome measures for the contracts; and 2-3 (5) prescribe procedures for efficiently coordinating 2-4 audits of contractors who contract with more than one agency or 2-5 more than one division within an agency. 2-6 SECTION 2. Subchapter C, Chapter 2101, Government Code, is 2-7 amended by adding Section 2101.040 to read as follows: 2-8 Sec. 2101.040. INFORMATION ON SERVICES PURCHASED FOR AGENCY 2-9 CLIENTS. To the extent feasible, the comptroller shall use the 2-10 uniform statewide accounting system to compile and make available 2-11 to the Health and Human Services Commission useful information 2-12 about state agencies' purchases of services for their clients. The 2-13 commission shall indicate to the comptroller the information that 2-14 the commission needs to monitor, improve, and coordinate those 2-15 purchases. 2-16 SECTION 3. The Health and Human Services Commission shall 2-17 preside over a working group to research the laws that govern the 2-18 purchasing of services by state agencies for their clients and to 2-19 develop recommendations on the feasibility and advisability of 2-20 merging those laws into a single comprehensive statute or otherwise 2-21 clarifying the law that governs those purchases. The working group 2-22 is composed of representatives of the commission, the governor's 2-23 office, the General Services Commission, the comptroller, the state 2-24 auditor, the Texas Legislative Council, and each agency that in the 2-25 opinion of the Health and Human Services Commission spends a 3-1 significant amount of money purchasing services for its clients. 3-2 The working group shall report its findings and recommendations to 3-3 the legislature not later than November 1, 1998. The working group 3-4 is abolished June 1, 1999. 3-5 SECTION 4. The comptroller with the assistance of the Health 3-6 and Human Services Commission shall study the costs and benefits of 3-7 developing a statewide contract management information system for 3-8 managing the purchasing of services by state agencies for their 3-9 clients. As part of the study, the comptroller and the commission 3-10 shall examine the extent to which the uniform statewide accounting 3-11 system could feasibly be modified to serve as the contract 3-12 management information system, whether it is feasible to use the 3-13 information in the uniform statewide accounting system to create a 3-14 separate contract management information system, and whether it 3-15 would be cost-effective to request proposals from private vendors 3-16 to create an entirely new contract management information system. 3-17 The comptroller shall report the findings and conclusions of the 3-18 study to the legislature not later than October 1, 1998. 3-19 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the 3-20 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an 3-21 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the 3-22 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several 3-23 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended, 3-24 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its 3-25 passage, and it is so enacted.