The state’s umbrella health and social services agency has fumbled yet another contract, allowing huge cost overruns on a telecom contract with Dallas-based AT&T Inc., according to an audit released Tuesday.
State Auditor John Keel, who reports to the Legislature, said the Health and Human Services Commission “did not adequately monitor and enforce the terms of the contract or adequately review payments” made to AT&T, which he said vastly have exceeded original estimates.
Keel also sharply questioned why former AT&T employees who now work for the state took part in evaluating bids, and whether the commission strictly enforced safeguards against conflicts of interest.
His audit follows disclosures suggesting that former commission general counsel Jack Stick steered business to a company he once lobbied for, 21CT, a data analytics company the commission hired to help with Medicaid fraud investigations. Stick, a former Republican House member from Austin, has denied any wrongdoing.
via Audit: Texas health and welfare agency fumbles AT&T contract | Dallas Morning News.