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Florida Legislature 2005 (click for ongoing coverage)

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Gov. Bush pans deal to rein in contracts

He threatens to veto compromise legislation passed by the House Tuesday that would give lawmakers greater sway over state contracts.

By JONI JAMES
Published April 27, 2005

TALLAHASSEE - A standoff between Gov. Jeb Bush and the Florida Legislature is threatening a deal between the House and Senate that would increase oversight of state contracts in light of a string of recent controversies.

As the Florida House of Representatives approved a proposal Tuesday to require state agencies to notify legislators about plans to hire outside contractors to do government work, Bush said the bill would usurp the authority of his office and the agencies he runs. He has threatened a veto.

"The requirements have become so burdensome they go beyond oversight to meddling," Bush said Tuesday. "To handcuff our abilities to (to carry out the law) doesn't do them any good and it certainly makes it harder for us."

Under a compromise worked out between Senate and House sponsors, agencies would have to make contracting plans worth $10-million or more known to the Legislature before its annual session begins in the spring. Though the Legislature would not have to approve those plans, seeing them would give lawmakers a chance to influence contract proposals they don't like.

The bill would require agencies to notify legislative leaders any time a contract amendment increased costs by $1-million or more.

And it would build upon a vetting process for contracting that Bush implemented last year by creating a seven-person governor-appointed board of state employees and private sector business people to review agencies' business plans before contracts are signed.

Requiring state agencies to notify the Legislature would be a radical departure from the past, when Bush and his agencies launched outsourcing initiatives, sometimes even signing initial contracts, without legislative input.

The most significant example: The Department of Management Services chose vendor Convergys to take over the state's personnel services months before lawmakers approved the plan. The resulting People First system was riddled with problems when it came online last year, including miscalculations of paychecks and benefits status for thousands of state employees.

"I can't tell you what the end result will be" this session, Bush said. "But I'm hopeful we'll be able to work out compromise language."

Bush has argued that steps he has taken in recent months to improve the state's procurement process - such as requiring agencies to produce business case studies that are reviewed by several department heads - has gone a long way toward improving the system.

But Senate sponsor Nancy Argenziano, R-Dunnellon, said Tuesday the Senate isn't interested in further changes, saying lawmakers have been remiss in the past for not seeking oversight.

The compromise bill the House approved 116-2 must go to the Senate floor for a vote. It is less stringent than an earlier plan approved there that would have required agencies to get lawmakers' formal approval before launching any major outsourcing or procurement initiative.

"He's not happy? We made sure we were not micromanaging the executive branch," Argenziano said. "In light of all the malfunctioning contracts and all the problems we are still having, I can't understand what he would want us to do."

A sign of lawmakers' resolve Tuesday: When Bush's staff told Democratic Sen. Walter "Skip" Campbell on Monday that a similar oversight bill dealing just with Department of Children and Families contracts would be vetoed if it wasn't changed, the Senate and House agreed to add much of Campbell's measure to the bill approved in the House Tuesday.

"After all this he's wanting contracting without accountability," Campbell said. "That's what got us here in the first place."

Bush, along with a handful of legislative leaders, has talked of overhauling the state's contracting process for more than a year.

But a string of missteps prompted Bush in January to acknowledge "We're not very good at procuring," and spurred this year's legislative effort.

The most recent embarrassment came last month when a law enforcement investigation concluded insider information may have helped BearingPoint win a $126-million technology contract to run the state's bank of computer servers.

Before the contract award, the head of the State Technology Office had allowed a BearingPoint employee to serve as a de facto chief of staff for the agency and had sought her input on bidding materials.

The seven-year contract was canceled after a new agency head realized the potential conflict of interest. BearingPoint won a portion of a new one-year replacement contract, worth $1.4-million.

Also in the past year: DCF secretary Jerry Regier and two other top officials resigned after acknowledging they took favors from lobbyists whose clients won contracts with the agency; and errors forced the state elections division to scrap a felon voter list a company was paid millions to compile.

Joni James can be reached at 850 224-7263 or jjames@sptimes.com

[Last modified April 27, 2005, 01:05:39]