An Audit Report on the Child Support Program at the Office of the Attorney General Page: 3 of 31
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An Audit Report on the
Child Support Enforcement Program at the Office of the Attorney General
SAO Report No. 04-024
because they cannot be linked to a specific case or were sent back for other reasons such
as an incorrect address. The Office keeps returned warrants in a vault while Office
employees attempt to determine the correct address or case. Weaknesses in the physical
security and tracking of these items increase the risk that they could be misappropriated
without detection.
The two major systems used to process child support transactions, TxCSES and
Stradus, appear to have controls in place to share data accurately; however,
insufficient access controls leave them vulnerable to unauthorized access.
Our review of the controls and processes involved in the exchange of information between
TxCSES and Stradus, two systems that maintain child support data, did not identify any
irregularities. However, during our review of users' access to TxCSES and Stradus, we
noted significant security risks such as easy-to-guess passwords and terminated employees
who still had system access.
The Office effectively manages its $130 million State Disbursement Unit contract
with the exception of not collecting in a timely manner $446,000 owed by the
vendor for processing errors.
The Office generally managed its $130 million SDU contract in fiscal year 2002 effectively.
This assessment is based on our audit of the SDU vendor's compliance with three key
contract provisions. These provisions are (1) "payments received by 2:00 p.m. shall be
processed and transmitted to TxCSES the same day," (2) "balance and deposit of
payments," and (3) "billing and invoicing."
The Office's Monitoring Division did not recoup in a timely manner at least $446,000 in
funds that the SDU vendor owed the Office for SDU processing errors. For errors that
occurred between July 2000 and May 2003, the Monitoring Division did not request
repayment from the SDU until September 2003, during our fieldwork. According to
management, the SDU vendor has since repaid the funds. These processing errors allowed
the vendor to keep State funds for six months to more than three years in some instances.
Summary of Management's Response
The Office generally agrees with our recommendations. However, the Office took
exception to some specific issues related to payment processing and monitoring of the SDU
contract. We provided auditor follow-up comments for the findings with which the Office
took exception.
Summary of Information Technology Review
The Office uses two systems to maintain child support data. Stradus is the SDU's collection
and disbursement system. This system receives and disburses child support payments and
manages case data for the State of Texas. TxCSES is the Office system that was certified
by the federal government in July 1999 and that maintains case information for cases in
which a guardian parent is receiving child support services offered by state and local
agencies.ii
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Texas. Office of the State Auditor. An Audit Report on the Child Support Program at the Office of the Attorney General, report, March 2004; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth517614/m1/3/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.