Report 2009-103 Recommendation 5 Responses

Report 2009-103: Departments of Health Care Services and Public Health: Their Actions Reveal Flaws in the State's Oversight of the California Constitution's Implied Civil Service Mandate and in the Departments' Contracting for Information Technology Services (Release Date: September 2009)

Recommendation #5 To: Public Health, Department of

To vet more thoroughly the Section 19130(b) justifications put forward by the departments’ contract managers, to ensure the timely communication of board decisions to the contract managers, and to make certain that disapproved contracts have been appropriately terminated, legal services in both departments should review the Section 19130(b) justifications put forward by the contract managers for proposed personal services contracts deemed high risk, such as subsequent contracts for the same or similar services as those in contracts disapproved by the board.

1-Year Agency Response

Public Health issued a policy effective November 3, 2009, that requires its program staff to obtain approval from its legal services before entering into personal services contracts. Public Health stated that it has developed procedures to ensure that contract managers receive timely notification of board decisions and to maintain documentation for all notices of contract terminations in legal services’ case files. (2011-406, p. 87).

California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Fully Implemented

All Recommendations in 2009-103

Agency responses received after June 2013 are posted verbatim.