| TO: | Honorable Steve Ogden, Chair, Senate Committee on Finance |
| FROM: | John S. O'Brien, Deputy Director, Legislative Budget Board |
| IN RE: | SB12 by Zaffirini (Relating to contracting and ethics issues of state agencies; providing a civil penalty.), As Introduced |
The bill would amend the Government Code and establish guidelines for training contract managers and governing bodies of state agencies and require the development of a uniform set of definitions to be used in state contracts and a uniform set of forms for use in the contracting process not later than March 1, 2006.
In coordination with the State Auditor and the Texas Building and Procurement Commission (TBPC), the University of Texas at Austin (UT-Austin) would be required to develop a training program by March 1, 2006. UT-Austin would have to develop an abbreviated version of the training program for members of governing bodies of state agencies. All members of governing bodies would be required to complete at least one course of the training developed under this bill by September 1, 2007. The executive director of a state agency would have to complete the ethics and contracting course annually.
Each state agency would have to maintain contracts in a central location and provide the Department of Information Resources (DIR) with electronic copies of contracts. Upon completion or termination of a contract, a state agency would be required to submit a written review of the contractor's performance to DIR. DIR would store all contracts and contractor performance reviews in a database.
The bill would require state agencies to develop a plan to incorporate performance measures into all contracts entered into by the agency, and report such measures to the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Speaker of the House of Representatives not later than March 1 of each year. In addition, TBPC would be required to solicit a contract to track and compare prices that state agencies pay for similar products or services. State agencies would be required to give the contractor information needed for the purpose of tracking and comparing prices.
The bill would require that each contract includes a provision that holds the contractor responsible for the conduct of all subcontractors and requires each subcontractor to disclose all potential conflicts of interest. A contractor or subcontractor would be required to disclose if any services performed under the contract are done so outside of the United States. A contract entered into by a state agency would have to contain a provision to allow the state agency to terminate the contract and solicit a new contractor if a service is performed outside of the United States that was not initially disclosed in the contract.
The bill would establish guidelines for determining if an appointed officer, executive head of a state agency, member of the governor's executive staff, legislative employee, state agency legislative liaison, state agency procurement agent, or legislative consultant has a conflict of interest and penalties if the person does not disclose the conflict in writing and abstain from further participation in the decision or action. The penalty would be at least $500 and would not exceed the value of a monetary gain the person receives because of the decision or action.
It is assumed that any additional duties or responsibilities associated with implementing the provisions of the bill could be absorbed within existing state resources.
The bill would take effect September 1, 2005.
| Source Agencies: | 303 Building and Procurement Commission, 304 Comptroller of Public Accounts, 313 Department of Information Resources
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| LBB Staff: | JOB, SD, JM
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