AN ACT CONCERNING PERSONAL SERVICE AGREEMENTS.

The law establishes two types of contracts that state agencies execute when procuring services from private providers—personal service agreements (PSA) and purchase of services (POS) contracts. PSAs are written agreements defining the services or end product to be delivered by a contractor to a state agency. A POS is a contract between a state agency and a private provider organization or municipality for the purchase of ongoing direct health and human services for agency clients. This bill:

1. requires the Office of Policy and Management (OPM) to provide two reports to the legislature annually on PSA activities;

2. eliminates (a) the requirement that state agencies submit semi-annual reports on their PSA activities and (b) other reporting requirements;

3. prohibits state agencies from hiring certain health or human service providers without first executing POS contracts; and

4. clarifies the POS definition.

The bill also deletes an obsolete reference to purchase orders and makes technical and conforming changes.

EFFECTIVE DATE: Upon passage, except the provision requiring the annual reports on PSAs is effective October 1, 2009.

Beginning October 1, 2009, the bill requires the OPM secretary annually to submit a report to the General Assembly on PSAs executed during the preceding fiscal year. This information includes the names of the personal service contractor and amounts paid for each contract. Under current law, OPM must submit a summary report on PSA activity annually. The bill removes this requirement.

Currently, the Department of Transportation (DOT), every six months, must report to OPM on PSAs it executed with (1) persons or entities performing consultant services or (2) federal or state agencies. The bill instead requires OPM to provide a separate annual report to the General Assembly on PSAs for these specific types of contracts executed during the preceding fiscal year, as well as those for contractual services, as defined in state law.

By law, personal service contactors are people or entities that state agencies hire to provide services to the agency. They do not include those performing contractual or consultant services, as defined above.

The bill eliminates the requirement that every six months each state agency submit reports to the OPM secretary on PSAs executed during the previous six months, including contractor names, service descriptions, costs, and payments made.

It also eliminates a requirement that each agency with proposed PSAs costing between $ 20,001 and $ 50,000 submit information about the PSAS to OPM at the same time it submits the information to the commissioner of administrative services or the attorney general.

The bill codifies current practice by prohibiting state agencies from hiring a private provider organization or municipality to provide direct health or human services to the agency's clients without executing a POS contract with them.

The bill explicitly subjects POS contracts to the same competitive procurement requirements as the law requires for PSAs. The law already authorizes the OPM secretary to waive these requirements for POS contracts.

The bill specifies that POS contracts are generally not for administrative or clerical services, material goods, training, or consulting services and do not include a contract with an individual.

The bill also defines terms currently in the POS law. For example, it defines a “private provider organization” as a nonstate entity that is either a for- or nonprofit corporation or partnership that receives funds from the state, and may receive federal or other funds, to provide direct health and human services to agency clients.

The law governing general state purchases defines “contractual services” as any and all (1) laundry and cleaning, pest control, janitorial, or security services; (2) the rental or repair or maintenance of equipment, machinery, and other state-owned personal property; (3) advertising, photostating, and mimeographing; and (4) other service arrangements where the services are provided by someone other than a state employee.

“Consultants” are defined in the state law governing the construction and alteration of state buildings as (1) architects, professional engineer, landscape architects, land surveyors, accountants, interior designers, environmental professional, or construction administrator registered or licensed to practice their profession or (2) planners or financial specialists.

CORE-CT, the state's central financial and administrative computer system, encompasses central and agency accounting functions for executive branch agencies. Since 2005, agencies have been required to enter their contracting data into CORE-CT, and OPM has the ability to generate reports about agencies' PSA and POS activities. OPM requires agencies to enter all contract data with CORE-CT and can access this data to get the reports that the law currently requires the agencies to provide. OPM's annual report on PSAs includes POS contract activity.

In 2005, the attorney general issued a formal opinion (No. 031) that there is no legal distinction between a PSA and POS contract, and that both are subject to competitive procurements.

Yea

Nay

(03/17/2009)