Workforce Commission, Texas
An Audit Report on Management and Fiscal Controls at the Texas Workforce Commission
December 1996
Report Number 97-022
Overall Conclusion
We are encouraged by the progress the Texas Workforce Commission (Commission)
has made during the six months following the transfer of the first programs
on March 1, 1996. However, when we completed our audit work on September 30,
1996, we were concerned that management had not established all the necessary
processes to minimize the risks related to the creation of a new agency and
the new workforce development delivery system.
Key Facts and Findings
The Commission has not finalized contract provisions, procurement guidelines,
or oversight processes for local workforce boards. The Commission will
contract with and provide funding of about $429 million to local workforce
boards during fiscal year 1997. These local workforce boards will then
contract with vendors to provide the services. Other state agencies have
already experienced problems with contracting program activities to the
local level. Given other state agency experiences, the Commission should
address this high-risk situation by completing the implementation of an
effective contract administration process.
To reduce risk and ensure effectiveness of operations and programs, the Commission should plan for and implement additional management control systems. The Commission did not have a formal risk assessment process to identify and manage risks associated with the changing operations.
The process for documenting, tracking, and reporting the status of action plans for developing operations needs to be improved. Commission staff stated that there had not been adequate time for short- and long-term planning and that the Commission had been operating in a reactive mode.
The Commission has not completed the development of policies and procedures for key processes such as federal reporting and program and fiscal monitoring. Thus, there is an increased risk that Commission personnel may not fully understand how the new processes operate, making them more likely to perform their work inconsistently or inefficiently.
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