Bill Text: MS HB1133 | 2019 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Government contracts; authorize agency, department or political subdivision of the state to require the use of work verification software to verify hours worked for.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Republican 1)
Status: (Failed) 2019-02-05 - Died In Committee [HB1133 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2019-HB1133-Introduced.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2019 Regular Session
To: Accountability, Efficiency, Transparency
By: Representative Smith
House Bill 1133
AN ACT TO AUTHORIZE AN AGENCY, DEPARTMENT OR POLITICAL SUBDIVISION OF THE STATE TO REQUIRE THE USE OF WORK VERIFICATION SOFTWARE TO VERIFY HOURS WORKED ON COMPUTERS FOR GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS; TO PROVIDE CERTAIN REQUIREMENTS FOR THE SOFTWARE USED BY THE CONTRACTOR TO VERIFY WORK HOURS; TO PROVIDE THAT THE DATA COLLECTED BY THE SOFTWARE WILL BE CONSIDERED ACCOUNTING RECORDS BELONGING TO THE CONTRACTOR; TO REQUIRE THE CONTRACTOR TO STORE, OR HAVE STORED, THE DATA COLLECTED BY THE SOFTWARE FOR A PERIOD OF SEVEN YEARS; TO REQUIRE THAT THE CONTRACTOR PROVIDE ACCESS TO THE DATA COLLECTED BY THE SOFTWARE TO THE CONTRACTING AGENCY OR STATE AUDITOR UPON REQUEST; TO PROHIBIT A CONTRACTOR FROM CHARGING AN AGENCY OR AUDITOR OF AN AGENCY FOR ACCESS TO OR USE OF THE SOFTWARE, OR FOR ACCESS TO DATA COLLECTED BY THE SOFTWARE; TO REQUIRE THAT THE SOFTWARE USED TO VERIFY WORK HOURS BE PROCURED BY THE CONTRACTOR FROM AN INDEPENDENT ENTITY; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. The Legislature recognizes that an increasing number of government contracts require the use of computers, a virtual office, or online activity. The Legislature further recognizes the difficulty in verifying hours worked on computers for government contracts. Therefore, the Legislature intends to establish a secure and transparent process to verify hours worked on computers for government contracts to prevent abuse and overbilling.
SECTION 2. (1) This section applies only to a contract by or on behalf of any agency, department or political subdivision of the state, for professional or technical services in excess of One Hundred Thousand Dollars ($100,000.00).
(2) A contract subject to this section may require a contractor to use software to verify that hours billed for work under the contract that are performed on a computer are legitimate. The contract must specify that the agency or political subdivision will not pay for hours worked on a computer unless those hours are verifiable by the software or by data collected by the software. The software must do the following:
(a) Permit the agency or political subdivision or an auditor of the agency or political subdivision to have real-time or retroactive access to data collected or provided by the software;
(b) Automatically gather verification data of state-funded activity by tracking total keystroke and mouse event frequency and taking a screenshot at least once every three (3) minutes;
(c) Provide automated real-time cost status of each task to the agency or political subdivision or an auditor of the agency or political subdivision;
(d) Provide professional biographical information to the agency or political subdivision;
(e) Protect all individuals' data that is private or confidential, consistent with state and federal law; and
(f) Permit the agency or political subdivision to provide immediate feedback to the contractor on work in progress.
(3) The data collected by the software is considered accounting records belonging to the contractor. The contractor must store, or contract with another to store, the data collected by the software for a period of seven (7) years and provide access to the data to the contracting agency or political subdivision or auditors of the agency or political subdivision upon request.
(4) The contractor must not charge the agency or political subdivision or an auditor of the agency or political subdivision for access to or use of the work verification software, or for access to or retrievals of data collected by the software.
(5) Software used under this section must be procured by the contractor from an independent entity.
SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2019.
