Comptroller will audit DPS contract procurement procedures
The Texas comptroller's office will conduct an audit of the Department of Public Safety's contract procurement procedures in response to questions surrounding a series of contracts awarded to a private firm hired to help the state set up its border security infrastructure.
In a letter Thursday to state Sen. José Rodríguez, an El Paso Democrat who had asked for an investigation into the contracts, Texas Comptroller Susan Combs said her office would "focus on, but not limit the audit scope" to, DPS's contract with Abrams Learning and Information Systems.
Beginning in 2006, the firm received about $20 million in no-bid contracts to set up the state's border security operations center and produce a number of border security strategies and campaigns, including an effort to shape the state's message on what's been called spillover violence from Mexico.
DPS officials said that the department used fact sheets and briefing materials for state leaders supplied by Abrams, but decided not to use the firm's suggested "themes and messages" about border violence after concluding it was "not necessary."
http://www.statesman.com/news/texas/comptroller-will-audit-dps-contract-procurement-procedures-2285933.html