Report 2013-302/2013-303 Recommendation 2 Responses

Report 2013-302/2013-303: Judicial Branch Procurement: Semiannual Reports to the Legislature Are of Limited Usefulness, Information Systems Have Weak Controls, and Certain Improvements in Procurement Practices Are Needed (Release Date: December 2013)

Recommendation #2 To: Administrative Office of the Courts

To improve the usefulness of the Judicial Council's semiannual reports until a statutory requirement is enacted, the AOC should work with the Judicial Council to pursue a cost-effective method to provide the semiannual reports in an electronic format that can be read by common database and spreadsheet software products that allow users to readily sort and filter the data, beginning with the semiannual report covering the July 1, 2013 through December 31, 2013, reporting period.

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From November 2016

The Judicial Council of California (Judicial Council) has posted on its website vendor contract and payment data in Microsoft Excel, thus allowing the public to search for specific information such as vendor name, payment amount, and general purpose. This information from the website can be accessed at "www.courts.ca.gov/7466.htm." These contractor and payment reports pertain to both the activities of the trial courts, as well as the courts of appeal, the Habeas Corpus Resource Center, and the Judicial Council.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Fully Implemented

1-Year Agency Response

The Phoenix report has multiple lines for each contract that CSA has requested be changed to one line for sorting. The Phoenix team met with CSA on October 30 in Sacramento and a new sortable summary layout was agreed upon, is in development, and will be delivered going forward starting with the report to be issued on Feb. 1, 2015.

The Oracle report will have the blank fields filled in for the February 1, 2015 reporting as the change is minor to accomplish.

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

6-Month Agency Response

The semiannual report was provided on the California Courts web site in an excel format starting with the Feb. 1, 2014 report covering the period July 1, 2013 through December 31, 2013. While awaiting pending changes in legislation regarding additional data reporting requirements, no programming changes were made in the reporting to make them more readily sortable. As the legislation was suspended, programming changes will be initiated for the sorting for the Feb. 1, 2015 reporting.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Partially Implemented

60-Day Agency Response

The semiannual report covering the July 1, 2013, through December 31, 2013 reporting period is on the California Courts web site in an Excel format. The web address is www.courts.ca.gov/7466.htm.

Please note that the narrative report provides specific tables for 1) large contracts (over $650K for the AOC) and 2) payments by type for the trial courts.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Partially Implemented

Although the AOC has provided the semiannual report covering the July 1, 2013, through December 31, 2013 reporting period in an electronic format on the California Courts web site, several issues still limit the ability of users to readily sort and filter the data. For example, the report for trial court contracts describes aspects of each contract, such as the total amount, duration of contract, or service provided, on multiple lines. Thus, if a user sorted trial court contracts by total amount from highest to lowest, and became interested in learning more about one particular contract, the user would be unable to see additional information about that contract. Fixing these issues would not take an inordinate amount of time or effort, and would greatly increase the usefulness of the semiannual reports.

All Recommendations in 2013-302/2013-303

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.