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FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS, AND
RECOMMENDATIONS
EFFICIENCY INITIATIVE
PAYMENTS
The Guardianship and Advocacy Commission (Commission) made
payments for efficiency initiative billings from improper line item
appropriations
The State Finance Act details that the
amount designated as savings from efficiency initiatives implemented by the
Department of Central Management Services (CMS) shall be paid into the
Efficiency Initiatives Revolving Fund.
“State agencies shall pay these amounts…from the line item
appropriations where the cost savings are anticipated to occur.”
Four billings to the Commission from CMS
for savings from efficiency initiatives totaled $83,012. We found that the Commission made
payments in FY04 for these billings not from line item appropriations where
the cost savings were anticipated to have occurred but from line items that
had available funds. The Commission
paid the FY04 procurement billing from contractual services and
telecommunication line items.
However, without specific guidance from CMS regarding the nature and
type of savings initiatives, it is unclear whether these were the appropriate
lines from which to make procurement savings payments. (Finding 1, page 9)
The FY05 billing contained more detail
and it appears the Commission paid this from proper appropriations.
The Commission reported it did not
receive guidance or documentation with the FY04 billings from CMS detailing
where savings were to occur nor did CMS provide evidence of savings for the
amounts billed. Additionally, staff
reported that any savings from the efficiency initiatives were limited.
We recommended that the Commission only
make payments for efficiency initiative billings from line item
appropriations where savings would be anticipated to occur. Further, the Commission should seek an
explanation from the Department of Central Management Services as to how
savings levels were calculated, or otherwise arrived at, and how savings
achieved or anticipated impact the Commission’s budget.
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