Report: Overall state contracting rose in fiscal year 2015

MADISON — A report from Gov. Scott Walker's administration shows overall state contracting increased during the last fiscal year.

The Department of Administration delivered a report to the Legislature's chief clerks and the Legislative Fiscal Bureau on Friday that found overall contracting increased 7.5 percent during the year that ended June 30, from $565 million to $607 million.

University of Wisconsin System contracting increased by 8.6 percent, from $114 million to $123 million. State agencies spent $483 million on contracting. The Department of Health Services spent the most of any agency at $191 million.

The report recommends agencies continue to examine using state workers before contracting for information technology services and consider using a common contractor across agencies for similar tasks, which could result in significant cost savings.