1-1 By: West S.B. No. 1240 1-2 (In the Senate - Filed March 12, 1997; March 17, 1997, read 1-3 first time and referred to Committee on State Affairs; 1-4 April 24, 1997, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 13, 1-5 Nays 0; April 24, 1997, sent to printer.) 1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1-7 AN ACT 1-8 relating to the state's purchasing of services for state agency 1-9 clients. 1-10 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: 1-11 SECTION 1. Subchapter B, Chapter 531, Government Code, is 1-12 amended by adding Section 531.0275 to read as follows: 1-13 Sec. 531.0275. PURCHASING CLIENT SERVICES. (a) The 1-14 commission shall coordinate and adopt rules to govern the 1-15 purchasing by state agencies of services for their clients, 1-16 including agencies that are not health and human services agencies. 1-17 The commission's rules adopted under this section apply directly to 1-18 health and human services agencies. Other state agencies shall 1-19 adopt rules governing purchases of services for their clients that 1-20 are consistent with the commission's rules. 1-21 (b) The commission's rules must ensure consistent practices 1-22 in the procurement of services for clients, efficient and effective 1-23 monitoring of contract providers, and improved accountability for 1-24 contract providers. The rules must: 1-25 (1) describe various contracting arrangements and 1-26 provide information to guide agencies in determining which 1-27 arrangements are most advantageous in particular situations; 1-28 (2) provide clear definitions of contracting terms; 1-29 (3) list minimum requirements and standard language 1-30 for the contracts; 1-31 (4) prescribe mandatory or describe sample performance 1-32 and outcome measures for the contracts; and 1-33 (5) prescribe procedures for efficiently coordinating 1-34 audits of contractors who contract with more than one agency or 1-35 more than one division within an agency. 1-36 SECTION 2. Subchapter C, Chapter 2101, Government Code, is 1-37 amended by adding Section 2101.040 to read as follows: 1-38 Sec. 2101.040. INFORMATION ON SERVICES PURCHASED FOR AGENCY 1-39 CLIENTS. To the extent feasible, the comptroller shall use the 1-40 uniform statewide accounting system to compile and make available 1-41 to the Health and Human Services Commission useful information 1-42 about state agencies' purchases of services for their clients. The 1-43 commission shall indicate to the comptroller the information that 1-44 the commission needs to monitor, improve, and coordinate those 1-45 purchases. 1-46 SECTION 3. The Health and Human Services Commission shall 1-47 preside over a working group to research the laws that govern the 1-48 purchasing of services by state agencies for their clients and to 1-49 develop recommendations on the feasibility and advisability of 1-50 merging those laws into a single comprehensive statute or otherwise 1-51 clarifying the law that governs those purchases. The working group 1-52 is composed of representatives of the commission, the governor's 1-53 office, the General Services Commission, the comptroller, the state 1-54 auditor, the Texas Legislative Council, and each agency that in the 1-55 opinion of the Health and Human Services Commission spends a 1-56 significant amount of money purchasing services for its clients. 1-57 The working group shall report its findings and recommendations to 1-58 the legislature not later than November 1, 1998. The working group 1-59 is abolished June 1, 1999. 1-60 SECTION 4. The comptroller with the assistance of the Health 1-61 and Human Services Commission shall study the costs and benefits of 1-62 developing a statewide contract management information system for 1-63 managing the purchasing of services by state agencies for their 1-64 clients. As part of the study, the comptroller and the commission 2-1 shall examine the extent to which the uniform statewide accounting 2-2 system could feasibly be modified to serve as the contract 2-3 management information system, whether it is feasible to use the 2-4 information in the uniform statewide accounting system to create a 2-5 separate contract management information system, and whether it 2-6 would be cost-effective to request proposals from private vendors 2-7 to create an entirely new contract management information system. 2-8 The comptroller shall report the findings and conclusions of the 2-9 study to the legislature not later than October 1, 1998. 2-10 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the 2-11 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an 2-12 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the 2-13 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several 2-14 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended, 2-15 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its 2-16 passage, and it is so enacted. 2-17 * * * * *