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CHARLESTON -- A 2020 law requiring state agencies exempt from oversight by the West Virginia purchasing watchdog to submit reports on their procedures was ignored, and part of the law could hinder agencies during states of emergency.
The Legislature's Post Audit Division released a report Friday reviewing state agency compliance with House Bill 4042. The 2020 law requires state agencies exempt from some or all of state purchasing requirements to adopt procedural rules.
The purpose of the law was to require state agencies with certain exemptions to make public their purchasing procedures. The West Virginia Purchasing Division handles purchasing for all non-exempt state government agencies.
Those purchasing rules were due to the West Virginia Secretary of State's Office by Sept. 1, 2020. Agencies that did not comply with the deadline would then lose their exempt status and return to the oversight of the Purchasing Division.
According to the legislative auditors, the state agencies with 14 exemptions submitted purchasing rules for their exemptions by the Sept. 1 deadline. Since the deadline, agencies with 13 exemptions submitted purchasing rules to the Secretary of State, leaving agencies with 12 exemptions that have not complied with HB 4042.
Reasons for the delay by some agencies in complying with the purchasing law included the COVID-19 pandemic. Six agencies within the Department of Health and Human Resources did not meet the Sept. 1 deadline but are in compliance.
Much of DHHR's focus the last 11 months has been on combating the coronavirus, including the DHHR Office of Lab Services and direct patient care at state-owned hospitals.
Other state agencies cited a failure of communication on whether the rules were supposed to be filed. The State Treasurer's Office cited an executive order from Gov. Jim Justice that suspended all new rules.
The state agencies that have not complied at all were the Department of Environmental Protection, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Revenue, the Department of Transportation and the Parkways Authority. According to the report, most of these agencies planned to file the appropriate rule as soon as possible, other agencies were not definitive in their plans to do so.
The Post Audit Division also found an issue with HB 4042 that could hinder the state's COVID-19 response if enforced. The way the law is written, any state agency given an emergency exemption from Purchasing Division rules would have to file a procedural rule before the emergency exemption could be exercised.