Welfare Reform: Federal Oversight of State and Local Contracting Can Be Strengthened.

摘要

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996 dramatically changed the nation's cash assistance program for needy families with children. The former program, Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), was replaced with the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant, which provides states with $16.5 billion each year through 2002 to serve this population. As specified in PRWORA, TANF's goals include ending the dependence of needy families on government benefits by promoting job preparation, work, and marriage; preventing and reducing the incidence of nonmarital pregnancies; and encouraging two-parent families. While state and local governments have contracted out welfare services for quite some time, PRWORA expanded the scope of services that could potentially be contracted out, such as determining eligibility for TANF, which had traditionally been done by government employees. Moreover, with the large drop in TANF caseloads nationally, a greater share of federal TANF block grant funds and state funds, known as state 'maintenance-of-effort' funds, is now devoted to various support services that are typically contracted out. Contracting out social services can potentially result in several benefits, such as more efficient and effective delivery of services. While PRWORA expanded the flexibility of states to design and administer their TANF programs, it also limited the ability of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to regulate states' TANF programs. PRWORA also established new accountability measures, such as minimum mandated work participation rates for states and a 5- year lifetime limit on assistance for TANF recipients. These measures heighten the importance of holding TANF contractors accountable for performance. In light of the upcoming reauthorization of TANF, you asked us to review the procedures in place to manage TANF contracting and the problems that have been identified in this area, particularly with regard to for-profit organizations. We determined (1) the extent and nature of state and local government contracting with for-profit and nonprofit organizations, using federal and state TANF funds to provide services to eligible recipients; (2) what approaches are used by the federal government to oversee TANF contracting with nongovernmental entities and what problems have been identified in this area nationally; (3) what approaches are used by state and local governments to ensure compliance with bid solicitation and contract award requirements and what violations of these requirements have been identified involving the awarding of contracts funded by TANF in selected jurisdictions; and (4) what approaches are used by state and local governments to ensure that organizations contracted to provide services funded by TANF comply with the terms of their contracts and what major instances of noncompliance with such requirements have been identified in selected jurisdictions.