Board Seeks Transparency For Contracts After Health Care Fiasco

Milwaukee County Courthouse. Photo by Graham Kilmer.

After Milwaukee County found itself out of contract for employee health insurance in January, the Milwaukee County Board is moving to add new transparency to the county’s contracting process.

Sup. Justin Bielinski has drafted a resolution requesting a public-facing listing showing all the county’s existing contracts. The resolution proposes a digital dashboard, similar to ones the county has created in the past to provide public information on the spread and impact of COVID-19 or the rising and falling number of incarcerated juveniles.

“I’m just a huge believer in transparency in government,” Bielinski told Urban Milwaukee. “And having a one-stop shop where people can find out all the different contracts that we have has a number of advantages.”

Bielinski first raised the idea of a county contracts dashboard as the county board grappled with pressure from the administration to approve a new health insurance contract after the previous agreement had lapsed. The new deal was rushed to the county board, despite concerns about unverified financial projections and a potential violation of the county’s contracting rules. It remains unclear how the contract, among the biggest on the government’s books, was able to expire unnoticed. The blame has so far largely been laid on a single human resources employee who has since been fired.

The dashboard should prevent a similar situation in the future, as it would give everyone in county government and the public a timeline for existing contracts: when they began, when they expire. Bielinski’s proposed dashboard would also show the value of a contract, who the vendor is and how long they’ve held the contract. The transparency could make it easier for other firms to anticipate when a new contract will be bid and prepare, potentially giving the county a more competitive bidding process and driving down the price of contracted services, he said.

The dashboard will also provide the board more information about the county contracting process that largely excludes it. Under state law, the county has limited authority over contracts. Supervisors are unable to amend county contracts and can only vote for or against them.

The dashboard will allow supervisors to be more proactive in responding to county contracts, Bielinski said. While the board can’t alter contracts, having advance knowledge of which contracts will soon be up for bidding would give supervisors time to engage in high-level policy discussions, Bielinski said, asking questions like, “Should we even be doing this? Should we be trying to in-house it? Should we be trying to change the model?”

Bielinski’s resolution already has co-sponsorship from a majority of the board. It’s also not the only resolution taking aim at the county’s contracting process right now.

Sup. Shawn Rolland has also drafted a resolution asking the county’s attorneys for a report on the “policies, practices and internal controls” for the county’s contracts. Rolland told Urban Milwaukee it wasn’t drafted specifically in response to the health care contract fiasco.

“I’m bringing it forward so we can have a real conversation about the terms in our contracts,” he said. “Who is setting the expectations for performance? Who is setting the consequences for poor performance? And generally, are these expectations and consequences strong enough?”

Both resolutions will be considered by the board’s Committee on Judiciary, Law Enforcement and General Services in March.

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