By Constitution Staff

Recent reforms in government purchasing have already resulted in more than $1.2 million in savings and additional reforms could result in state government being more cost efficient and effective. Members of the House Government Modernization Committee recently studied how better tools and the use of new technology can result in more efficient purchasing practices and enable the public to keep better tabs on how taxpayer dollars are spent.

"The presentations at this study document that recent modernization legislation is already allowing state government to save taxpayer dollars," said state Rep. Jason Murphey, a Guthrie Republican who chairs the committee. "The concepts presented provide new ideas for another round of cost-saving and transparency enhancing legislation. In another down revenue year it will be more important than ever for the Legislature to take action and incorporate some of these cost saving suggestions into new legislation."

Officials with the Department of Central Services (DCS) updated lawmakers on the impact of House Bill 1032, the Oklahoma State Government Modernization Act of 2009, which they said is already generating savings. DCS Deputy Director Randy Ross said that the provisions of HB 1032 have allowed DCS to make better use of state spending patterns to negotiate the best possible terms and prices for the state. The result has been "a better skill set, better personnel, and we"re able to do better things," said Ross. DCS officials said those reforms have already allowed them to save an estimated $1 million on a food services contract and another $229,000 on a contract involving work on culverts.

The agency is stretching state dollars by installing more energy efficient fixtures and reducing usage, using new technology to monitor the condition and use of the state's fleet of vehicles, expanding online auctions of state surplus equipment, and negotiating cost-saving vehicle lease agreements for state agencies. Ross said a recent lease agreement is projected to save one state agency more than $1 million for this fiscal year.

Lawmakers also heard from several other presenters. Tom Daxon discussed two recent Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs reports on enhanced financial reporting for state government and encouraged officials to shift the focus of governmental accounting from budget compliance to comparing the cost of providing services to the value of the services provided.

In the July 2009 paper, Enhanced Financial Reporting for State Government: Comparing Cost to Performance, Daxon wrote that "improved accounting and financial reporting practices can make current transparency initiatives more potent. A citizen seeking to hold government to account for its performance will have far better information with which to do so, and find what is currently available on transparency websites more relevant and understandable." The research paper contends that for a government financial reporting system to be truly accountable to the citizens it serves, it must report what it does, what it costs to do it, and what it provides.

Brian Downs, executive director of Oklahomans for Responsible Government (OFRG), discussed his organization's recent report, Blueprint for Transparency: A Review of Oklahoma School District Websites, which examined the web presence and level of transparency of information available for the state's more than 530 public school districts.

Among OFRG's findings was that 79 districts had no website at all or simply a domain name registered with a site still under construction, and that no district fully met all criteria for transparency of information. Downs said the agency would eventually like to examine higher education and other state agencies in a similar manner.

Logan County Commissioner Mark Sharpton urged legislators to alter state and local mandates that require the use of newspapers for the purpose of legal postings by allowing officials to post those items on the ok.gov portal in order to drive down costs and increase visibility. Sharpton said local county and city governments spend thousands of taxpayer dollars each year on required legal postings in the newspaper, and that the notices run for a limited amount of time, are usually in small print, and are not readily accessible to those outside of the community. He said that centralized posting of notices could generate more interest and result in better prices.

Legislators also heard from representatives from two private companies who discussed tools available to help governments manage information technology staff and resources, and a product that allows for electronically-sealed bidding on contracts, which the company reported as increasing competition and driving down contract costs.