Details, Details

Along with the budget, the legislature passes various requirements, i.e., things it wants recipients of funding to do. The $50 million for UC conditioned on meeting the terms of the recent state audit is an example. But there seems to be a (bad) case of micromanagement in the request below:

Item 6440-001-0001—University of California

1. University of California—Contracts With Medical Laboratories. On or before January 1, 2018, the University of California (UC) shall report to the Legislature on the following issues: (a) the number of outside medical laboratories for which UC currently contracts; (b) the value of each contract; (c) a summary of any efforts UC has made to date to consolidate its contracts with outside laboratories; and (d) a summary of Vizient’s recommendations to UC on consolidating contracts with outside laboratories.

From: http://www.lao.ca.gov/reports/2017/3696/2017-18-supplemental-report.pdf

page 22.

Vizient - the organization named above - seems to be a consulting firm in Texas dealing with the medical area. Yours truly first thought the provision was an attempt to discourage outsourcing. But on its face, it seems instead to favor more efficient outsourcing.