Staff Reports
New language upping records requirements for state contracts could slip into the 2020-21 state budget.
The late add has two provisions.
First, public agencies would have the right to review “financial records and documents directly related to the performance of the contract or public expenditures.”
Second, the record reviews would extend to “programmatic records and documents of the contractor which the public agency determines are necessary to monitor performance of the contract to ensure the contract terms are being met.”
Contractors would be required to turn over those documents within 10 days after the state asks for them. The requirements would go into effect when the fiscal year begins on July 1.
The requirements aren’t entirely new — the were included in HB 1111, a bill crafted by the House State Affairs Committee.
The overall goal is routing out abuse of state funds, which became a focus of the Legislature mid-Session due to the scandal surrounding the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence.
The Legislation made it through all of its committee stops in the House before getting postponed on third reading earlier this week.
That bill would have gone further by establishing a Florida Integrity Office under the Auditor General. Its directive would be to “promote integrity in government and identify and eliminate fraud, waste, abuse, mismanagement and misconduct in government.”
