6202. Monitoring Contracts Policy

Approval: Jennifer Strus, Asst. Secretary

Original Date: February 15, 1998

Revised Date: July 1, 2017

Sunset Review: July 1, 2020

Purpose 

Establish requirements for monitoring Children’s Administration (CA) contracted providers on the delivery of goods and services so that:

  1. Delivery of goods and services meet the scope of the work, identified outcomes and other relevant terms and conditions. 
  2. Funds are allocated as defined in the contract.
  3. Fiscal and program risk is identified early and reduced.

Scope

This applies to CA contract and program managers who monitor contractor performance.

Laws

RCW 39.26

RCW 39.34

Policy

Regional and Headquarters (HQ) contract managers will be the lead staff for all contract monitoring activities, including Compliance Agreements.  Additionally, the Regional and HQ Contract Managers will coordinate these activities with program and financial staff to develop and schedule a yearly monitoring plan. Staff from the CA Contracts Unit, in coordination with program managers, will:

  1. Monitor contracts according to Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) Administrative Policy No. 13.11 Monitoring Contractor Performance.
  2. Conduct contract monitoring by:
    1. Performing an on-site visit, at a minimum, once every three-years for all in-state contractors;
    2. Performing an on-site visit annually for all contracts that score high on  the annual risk assessment form; and
    3. Performing an on-site visit, when deemed necessary, if a contractor has a medium score on the annual risk assessment form, has frequent CPS intakes, has a critical incident, is a new contractor, or has newly  identified concerns.
  3. Perform annual contract monitoring using CA standardized tools including:
    1. Contracts Risk Assessment and Analysis DCYF 15-466
    2. CA Annual Monitoring Plan
    3. CA Annual Contract Tracking and Annual Contract Monitoring Report
    4. CA monitoring tools for monitoring activities
  4. Issue a Compliance Agreement DCYF 15-467  or Immediate Action Plan Compliance Agreement DCYF15-468, as necessary, to correct issues identified during on-site monitoring activities or other times deemed necessary,  e.g.  frequent intakes, critical incidents, contractor complaints, data breach, or newly identified concerns.
  5. Conduct an annual risk assessment of each service and contract for which CA is responsible.
  6. Submit a completed Contracts Risk Assessment and Analysis DCYF 15-466 form on all current contractors to HQ, CA Contractors Unit, no later than June 30 of each year.
  7. Submit a monitoring plan to HQ, CA Contracts Unit, no later than June 30 of each year.
  8. Submit a Contract Monitoring Report summarizing all monitoring activities conducted during the previous fiscal year (July 1 – June 30) to HQ CA Contracts Unit, no later than August 31 of each year.
  9. Enter into the Agency Contract Database (ACD), monitoring activities as specified in the Annual Monitoring Plan.
  10. Conduct a comprehensive review in coordination with the Department of Licensed Resources (DLR) per the Comprehensive Review policy.
  11. CA HQ Contracts Unit must submit a summary of all statewide contract monitoring activities performed during the previous fiscal year to Central Contract and Legal Services (CCLS) no later than October 31 of each year

Forms

  • Contracts Risk Assessment and Analysis DCYF 15-466
  • Compliance Agreement DCYF15-467 (located in the Forms repository on the DCYF intranet)
  • Compliance Agreement Desk Review Final Report  DSHS 15-463 (located in the Forms repository on the DCYF intranet)
  • Compliance Agreement On-Site Review Final Report DSHS 15-464  (located in the Forms repository on the DCYF intranet)
  • Immediate Action Plan Compliance Agreement Contracts DCYF 15-468 (located in the Forms repository on the DCYF intranet)
  • Monitoring Report for Compliance Action Notification DSHS 15-465 (located in the Forms repository on the DCYF intranet)
  • Monitoring Review Report - On-Site Visit DCYF 15-462

Resources

  • CA contract monitoring procedures are located on the CA Contracts Unit SharePoint. For contract policy and procedure questions, contact CAPolicy@dshs.wa.gov.
  • CA staff should report contract violations, late reports, and any other problems with a contractor through the Contract Complaint Tool located on the CA intranet or https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/J2NSZMT
  • To locate the following policies, go to the DSHS Intranet titled Inside DSHS, Click Resources, Other Employee Resources and Administrative Policies and Rules.
    • DSHS Administrative Policy 13.10, Central Contract and Legal Services
    • DSHS Administrative Policy 13.11, Monitoring Contractor Performance
    • DSHS Administrative Policy 13.13, Insurance Requirements for Contracts
    • DSHS Administrative Policy 13.16, Performance-Based Contracting
    • DSHS Administrative Policy 19.50.30, Sub recipient Monitoring, Fiscal Process