Audit: OASIS Contractors Paid $24M for Work State Employees Should Have Done

An audit of the WVOASIS system says the state has wasted millions of dollars on consultants for the computer operating system.

The legislative audit was released to lawmakers during an interim committee meeting Tuesday. 

OASIS is a computer software system designed to streamline the processes of state government. It has taken more than 7 years to implement.

The audit found the state has paid over $24 million since 2010 in consulting fees for services that state employees were supposed to be trained to perform.  The findings show, however, that those trainings have not occurred and some critical functions handled by the system, like payroll, and could not continue without the oversight of contractors.

Auditors say over 76 months, one consultant alone billed a total of $2.5 million to the state, averaging $33,000 a month in payments.

The audit also questions whether a contract with the consulting firm Information Services GRoup, signed in March of 2016, is valid because the oversight board’s meeting minutes do not reflect an authorization of the contract.

The implementation of OASIS was overseen by the governor, treasurer and auditor’s offices.

State Auditor J.B. McCuskey told lawmakers Tuesday many of the issues, including the training of state employees, have already been or are currently being addressed.