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                                  * * * * *