Guinn panel releases first audits

Tuesday, May 9, 2000 | 4:36 a.m.

Contracting out the 10,000 reports per year, required for every person convicted of a felony or gross misdemeanor, also would mean better supervision of parolees and probationers, the audit said Monday.

A separate audit of the Division of Child and Family Services recommended that the process of contracting out services be streamlined, a proposal that could improve the agency's efficiency by 30 to 40 percent.

"This is the greatest news we've had in some time," agency Administrator Steve Shaw said.

Audit recommendations to Shaw's office include using existing procedures to extend contracts and consolidating smaller contracts.

The audit also recommended that fewer employees be involved in the process. The audit found that 48 employees with varying job descriptions developed about 556 independent contracts and amendments worth about $99 million.

Not all of the employees had expertise in contract development, resulting in about 83 percent of the contracts containing errors that required corrections, the audit said.

Four audits were presented to the Executive Branch Audit Committee, comprising Guinn and the other constitutional officers in state government.

Guinn, who got the 1999 Legislature to create the Internal Audit Division, said the audits are not meant to be punitive but to look at ways to run programs better.

He added the audits will be used in performing additional reviews of state programs. For example, he wants to know whether the sentencing reports prepared by Parole and Probation should be done by county officials, instead of state employees, for District Court judges.

The two other audits looked at the Department of Prisons maintenance programs and the services provided cooperatively by the Division of Environmental Protection and the Health Division.

Becky Moody, chief of the Internal Audit Division, said other audits being performed include reviews of the Department of Education, the Department of Prisons medical program, the Division of Forestry and the Compliance Enforcement Division of the Department of Motor Vehicles and Public Safety.