Tag Archives: Texas Health and Human Services Commission

A new state audit has found that Texas’ health agency may have awarded more than $3.4 billion in contracts erroneously — another scandal at an agency that has lost six of its top leaders over the last several months in a wave of contracting disasters.

The Texas State Auditor’s Office said Tuesday it had identified errors in the procurement formulas used by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission in all 28 procurements it examined — and in five of the biggest contracts it looked at, totaling over $3 billion, it could not confirm that the agency had awarded contracts to the best applicants.

Every year, the agency spends billions of taxpayer dollars on contracts with private companies whose work ranges from technological support for programs like Medicaid to carrying out medical services. One of the flawed procurement processes auditors identified was the contract for the Children’s Health Insurance Program Rural Service Area, which provides services to poor Texas children in remote areas.

Auditors said Tuesday they found errors in the evaluation processes for all 28 procurements it examined, totaling $4.6 billion in state money. For five of those procurements, those errors were more extreme: “auditors identified significant evaluation scoring errors and missing documentation” in procuring contracts worth over $3 billion.

In the other 23 procurements, auditors said, the errors “did not have a significant effect on the award recommendations.” But all 28 procurements included “formula errors such as omitted scores, incorrect scores, and inappropriate application of best value weights.” The majority of procurements, the audit found, did not use the “standardized evaluation tool” for comparing applicants.

In an unsigned “management response” to the audit, the agency said it has already taken steps to improve its procurement procedures, including by engaging a consultant to redesign the procurement operation and creating a “compliance and quality control team” to review procedures.

“Management has either taken steps to address the recommendations included in your report or set deadlines for remediating issues related to those recommendations,” the agency wrote.

In April, the state auditor released a 30-page report detailing how both HHSC and the Texas Department of State Health Services mishandled a major contract. Gov. Greg Abbott wrote to the agency criticizing its “failure to ensure the integrity” of the state’s procurement process and telling officials “mistakes like this are unacceptable.”

HHSC’s former director, Charles Smith, retired in May after weeks of intense scrutiny on the agency’s flawed contracting process. That news came weeks after three health commission employees were fired and two other top procurement officials resigned.

And the agency’s contracting woes stretch back yet further. During the 2017 legislative session, lawmakers called out agency officials for failing to report dozens of contracts worth at least $100 million to the Legislative Budget Board in a timely manner.

Author: EMMA PLATOFF – The Texas Tribune

Thanks to a partnership between EHN’s Veterans One Stop Center, El Paso Community College and the Texas Health and Human Services Commission several El Paso area veterans or their qualifying dependent recently completed a free, 60-hour course where they learned how to build and operate their own computer, then are able to call it their own.

“We are so proud to be a part of this initiative. Computer technology is priceless in our day and age, so the fact that these veterans not only learned how to build a computer, but also learned the ‘ins and outs’ of operating that computer is such a valuable tool for these individuals,” said Noe Vargas, EHN Veterans Services Manager.

“What made this program even better is the participants were able to keep the computer and have it for their personal use.”

The Texas Health and Human Services Commission provided the funding for the three week course offered by EPCC as Computer Hardware, Employability Skills Training.

“We want to thank everyone involved in this program because these are skills that can be used out in the workforce, and we also want to recognize our veterans who committed to investing in their future,” added Vargas.

Participants received a Certificate of Completion from EPCC and displayed their newly-constructed computers at a ceremony held Friday afternoon.