Council committee backs legislation calling for increased accountability

July 8, 2009

Summary

Motion in response to state audit requests stricter reporting requirements and addresses findings on cash and asset management

Story

The Council would consider legislation that releases funds in phases for capital construction projects deemed to be of higher risk, and that would establish countywide standards for reporting on capital projects, under legislation recommended today by the Metropolitan King County Council’s Government Accountability and Oversight Committee.

The legislation sponsored by GAO Committee Chair Reagan Dunn and Councilmember Bob Ferguson responds to issues raised by a recent state audit of King County.

“We are taking the Auditor’s findings very seriously,” said Dunn. “King County has room for improvement and this legislation is a step in the right direction.”

“This legislation lays out how the County will address issues raised by the audit, particularly with regard to the need for greater oversight of capital projects,” said Ferguson, chair of the Council’s Committee of the Whole. “Ensuring greater accountability of public tax dollars is critical and this legislation establishes a game plan to do just that.”

The legislation asks County agencies to report to the Council on how they have tightened internal management of cash or assets in light of the findings raised in the state audit. An amendment adopted today added clarification of the information requested from various departments.

The Accountability Audit of King County released on June 22 by the state Auditor highlighted 12 areas where the Auditor believed the County could improve its safeguards over construction management and the management of cash and assets.

To ensure the Council provides the strongest possible oversight over countywide construction activity, the proposed motion calls for the Council to, by September 15, consider legislation to release funding for high-risk capital projects in phases, with requirements that must be met before funds are appropriated for each of the preliminary design, final design, and construction phases of a project. The proposal would also require:

• A standard report for all capital project appropriation requests including baseline estimates for scope, schedule, and budget,

• A standard set of estimating requirements that ensures every project budgets will include all known costs and risks along with estimates of how accurate those numbers are,

• Establishment and maintenance of a risk register for high-risk projects, with a formal risk assessment made before funds are released for final design, and

• Earned value forecasts to be used for high-risk projects as a best practice.

The motion also asks the Executive to develop standardized performance measures for construction projects to replace the current ad-hoc collection of measures used by different departments.

Accountability and transparency to the public on the actual progress of capital projects would be enhanced with a proposal to examine implementation of a comprehensive, countywide construction management information system that would track projects against their budgets and schedules.

The motion now goes to the full Council for final action. The Council is scheduled to discuss and possibly act on the motion at its meeting on Monday, July 13.


Read the legislation