Agency Responses to Audit Recommendations

Previous Audit Recommendations			Agency Updates as of July 2023
Audit Report	ID	Recommendation	Current Status	Description of Current Status
Kansas Department of Agriculture
Evaluating the Department of Agriculture’s Price Verification Inspection Process (2020)	1	KDA should do a staffing analysis to estimate the cost of implementing its desired inspection strategy. KDA should use that analysis to inform its future budget requests and discussions with the Legislature.	Expired	N/A
Kansas Department of Commerce
Economic Development Evaluation: STAR Bonds Financing Program (2021)	1	The Department of Commerce should use STAR bond districts’ visitation data to evaluate whether the STAR bonds financing program is meeting its goals and shape future decisions about whether to approve proposed attractions.	Have Implemented	Commerce appreciates the LPA recommendation related to using Project visitation data to influence the decision to approve a proposed attraction. Visitation is a key component of these projects. The decision to approve a project is based almost exclusively on projected visitation rather than historical since the latter doesn’t exist at the time a project is approved. A significant improvement to the process is that for new Districts and projects established after July 1, 2021, Commerce engages the visitation study rather than the developer. We believe this will provide more accurate visitation projections. Commerce issued a RFP and has entered into contracts with five vendors to provide these services. We will match a vendor with certain expertise to a project. For example, a vendor may have significant experience with sports facilities and will utilize that expertise on a sports related project. Tracking visitors is also important. Cities are now required as part of the application process to submit a plan as for how it proposes to track visitation to its attractions. Although no tracking method is perfect, a tailored project specific approach is best. Commerce believes these changes will provide more accurate visitation data to allow for better administration of the program.
Kansas Department for Children and Families
Reviewing Foster Care Services for the Health and Safety of Children (2022)	1	DCF, KDADS, and other partners should develop clear protocols and guidance for services, including timeliness standards for assessments and communication with service providers.	Have Implemented	Communication and collaboration between KDADS and DCF continue to provide opportunities for growth and improvements in health care oversight and coordination for children in DCF custody. One such change is with the SFY 2024 KDADS/CMHC contracts. With Kansas moving towards all 26 CMHC become provisionally certified CCBHC centers by Jan 2024, KDADS and DCF have aligned CMHC/CCBHC triage, assessment, and service timelines for foster children with the federal CCBHC timelines. This ensures foster children are being seen timely in their communities. Additionally, with the newest Foster Care RFP, the Child Welfare Case Management Providers will enter MOUs with the CMHC/CCBHC provider network to improve communication and service provision.
	2	DCF should consider conducting a service capacity study to determine what services are most needed in the system and how best to increase capacity.	Have Implemented	DCF considered this option and completed a similar capacity assessment as part of the federal Child and Family Service Review (CFSR) assessment and preparation Fall 2022 to April 2023. Service Array is a Federal systemic factor in CFSR and state are required to conduct and provide information on service array needs. Therapeutic Family Foster Homes were added to service array 7/1/22. KDADS continues to work on developing additional community mental health resources in partnership with KDHE and DCF. Changes are specific to improving access to the system of care, while other initiatives are focused on developing state infrastructure to support better outcomes for treatment and recovery. Additionally, a focus on improving the children’s system of care by strategically focusing on policy changes, budget enhancements, and federal technical assistance. DCF and KDADS use service array assessments to guide service development throughout Kansas. One such service is Behavioral Interventionists. This service is for youth aged 3-21 delivered through neuro-developmental activities for individuals/families that are struggling with behavioral and emotional dysregulation through a child and family centered treatment plan. The goal is for the child/youth to live safely in the home/community setting, increase their behavioral function appropriately in daily living activities, reduce placement disruptions and prevent hospital or institutional treatment.
	3	DCF should consider conducting a staffing study to determine what caseloads should be and what efforts they can make to lower them.	Will Not Implement	DCF grant awards require that foster care case management agencies be accredited by a national accrediting organization such as Council on Accreditation (COA) or Joint Commission. This accreditation requires they follow well- regarded caseload standards within accreditation standards of 12- 25 children. No staffing study is needed to determine what caseloads need to be. Efforts to reduce the number of children in out of home care and support a fully staffed workforce are on going.
	4	DCF should establish clear oversight expectations with their case management providers. This includes corrective actions and using performance data to identify systemic issues.	Have Implemented	Current grant awards include a penalty/incentive structure applicable after a period of program improvement planning. Quality assurance outreach phone call conversations to placement providers and parents have been implemented to understand in more depth and improve the quality and frequency of monthly worker/child visits.
	5	DCF should ensure the Comprehensive Child Welfare Case Management System they are developing has several key features, including, a robust comprehensive case management system; the ability to track services children need and are receiving; provide direct access to case management staff; a way to uniformly access customer service complaints and resolutions; and have clear data quality control measures.	Have Implemented	The CCWIS Planning Project has been completed as of 9/30/2022. The primary products of planning; Feasibility Study Report, RFPs (Implementation, Quality Assurance, and Independent Verification and Validation), Implementation Advance Planning Document are all complete and have been approved by ACF and are pending CITO approval. In addition, the High-Level Plan has been completed and submitted to DCF and KITO/CITO for approval. The CCWIS Design, Development and Implementation (DDI) Project commenced October 1, 2022 under the DCF and ACF approved Implementation Advance Planning Document.
Kansas Division of the Budget
Evaluating the Accuracy of Certain Economic Impact Statements (2022)	1	The Division of the Budget should ensure state agency officials understand how to complete economic impact statements so they are consistent across agencies.	Have Implemented	The Division of the Budget (DOB) published information regarding the revised rules and regulations process in May 2022 to the DOB website. This information outlines changes that were made to the rules and regulations process as a result of the enactment of 2022 HB 2087. The information that was published on the DOB website has been shared with agencies.
	2	The Division of the Budget should update its economic impact statement templates to ensure they comply with all requirements in state law.	Have Implemented	The Division of the Budget updated the state agency Economic Impact Statement forms on May 3, 2022, as a result of the enactment of 2022 HB 2087. The Division of the Budget confirms that these updates bring the template into full compliance with state law.
	3	The Division of the Budget should work with other agencies involved in the regulation process to explore an electronic alternative to the current paper-based approval process.	Have Implemented	As previously stated, the Division of the Budget’s role in the process has been diminished to the point that we have received no Rules/Regs that have met the statutory threshold for approval. However, we have partnered with DofA to revisit the topic of implementing an electronic process for the remaining parties. DofA reports that the decision was made some time ago that the word “stamp” was taken literally to mean a physical stamp. I have asked the DofA team to revisit this definition with the other agencies (AG/Sec of State) to see if a redetermination can be made. This item should be marked as “complete” from a DOB perspective, but could remain as “In progress” for the other entities (DofA/AG/SoS).
Kansas Department of Education
Evaluating Disbursements for the Tax Credit for Low Income Students Scholarship Program (2022)	1	KSDE staff should request and analyze monthly contributions and disbursement data needed to monitor SGOs’ compliance with the 90% distribution requirement in state law.	Have Implemented	The Scholarship Granting Organization (SGO) reports contributions received by month on the SGO annual report. They disburse funds by first in, first out. This allows KSDE to determine whether the SGO is meeting the requirement for disbursement of scholarships in a timely manner.
Trends in Social Workers Employed by School Districts (2022)	1	KSDE should develop and distribute guidance to districts on how to report their licensed mental health staff including how to define staff FTE for each category (social workers, psychologists, and counselors).	Have Implemented	The KSDE Licensure team maintains training information for the Licensed Personnel Report on the website below. The primary documents of interest are the Licensed Personnel Guide, the LPR-EDCSA User Manual, and the EDCS Basics Training Video. The documents are available via this link. Social Workers are not licensed by KSDE so they are reported through the Special Education Team and guidance is contained in the Special Education Reimbursement Guide on p. 27 and p. 40. The link to that guide may be found on this webpage.
Kansas Information Security Office
Availability, Cost, and Quality of Certralized IT Security Services (2022)	1	The Kansas Information Security Office should more proactively educate state agencies about cybersecurity and KISO’s available services.	Have Implemented	The KISO has taken numerous steps to boost our education efforts. We have created a Cyber Collaboration and Cyber Preparedness Division. In addition, the KISO will be adding additional personnel during FY24, as requested by the Governor and approved by legislature, that will be assigned to work with agencies and bring resources to them and help build a standard program across the enterprise.