The state of Oregon needs to do a better job of oversight of state contracts. (123RF)

The Oregon Department of Seeking Waste, Fraud and Abuse is kind of the Oregon Secretary of State’s Office.

It houses an audit division with staff dedicated to finding better ways for Oregon government to do Oregon government. It released a report earlier this month that found stuff wrong.

The state agency that has the power to review most state contracts, the Department of Administrative Services, “has not established a comprehensive, centralized compliance program to identify or prevent risky procurement and contracting decisions,” the lead finding of the audit says. “As a result, DAS may not effectively identify or mitigate agency contracting issues that can lead to inefficient spending or noncompliance with regulations or even jeopardize program initiatives. Establishing a compliance function in Oregon is aligned with best practice and ensures public dollars are well spent.”

Other states have such contracting compliance programs. Oregon doesn’t. It would make a lot of sense for state government to routinely review a sample of contracts. It doesn’t.

We contacted the Department of Administrative Services on Wednesday afternoon to find out what it was going to do or had already done. It was not able to get back to us by our deadline. It did, in its response to the audit, agree that it needed to start doing more. That’s exactly what Oregonians would want.