HBA-SEP H.B. 3032 77(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 3032
By: Pitts
State Affairs
3/21/2001
Introduced

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Payment for results rather than for performing a process can increase the
benefits of contracting and lower the associated costs for services, thus
performance-based and contingency-based contracting have improved services
and saved money.  The comptroller of public accounts recommends that the
General Services Commission (GSC) be required to develop boilerplate
performance contracts and design contract-drafting guides for various types
of contracts.  The comptroller also recommends that certain state agencies
be required to convert their contracts to a performance or contingency
basis as they are renewed or executed and to report their progress in the
agencies' strategic plans.  House Bill 3032 requires GSC to develop sample
contracts and requires certain agencies to convert their contracts to a
performance or contingency basis.  

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does
not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state
officer, department, agency, or institution. 

ANALYSIS

House Bill 3032 amends the Government Code to require the General Services
Commission (GSC), in cooperation with the comptroller of public accounts,
to develop, not later than March 1, 2002, sample contracts for state agency
purchases and to recommend standard terms for use in state agency contracts
for the purchase of goods and services.  The bill also requires GSC to make
available on its Internet website the standard contract terms and a guide
to drafting state agency contracts.  A state agency that determines that a
performance-based or contingency-based contract will provide the best value
for the state may enter into such a contract to purchase the service or
acquire the goods and services. When entering into such a contract a state
agency is required to follow the competitive sealed proposals procedure.
However, the Texas Department of Health, Texas Department of
Transportation, Texas Department of Human Services, Texas Department of
Mental Health and Mental Retardation, Texas Department of Criminal Justice,
and the Department of Protective and Regulatory Services are required to
use such contracts for each purchase and may acquire goods or services
through these contracts without the oversight of GSC.  These agencies are
required to report in each agency's 2004 strategic plan the agency's
progress in converting to performance-based or contingency-based contracts.
Before January 1, 2003, at least 25 percent of the contracts for services
or for goods and services entered into or renewed by these agencies on or
after September 1, 2001 must be performance-based or contingency-based
contracts.  

The bill authorizes GSC and the comptroller to complete an inventory of
state agency contracts for services that are for an amount greater than
$50,000 and in effect on September 1, 2002.  The bill sets forth provisions
regarding details the inventory may include.  The bill requires GSC and the
comptroller to evaluate, before December 1, 2003, the effects of converting
to performance-based and contingencybased contracts in state agency
purchases of goods and services and to report the results to the
legislature.  

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2001.