Task force hears workforce survey, auditors press for clear benchmarks

The Legislative Task Force on Government Efficiency heard a review of a statewide workforce-program survey and a briefing from the State Auditor's Office on the need for measurable benchmarks during the committee's meeting, members and staff said.

Auditor Josh Gallien and Dan Cox of the State Auditor's Office told the task force that while agencies supplied detailed program lists, the state lacks a consistent definition of what counts as a "workforce" program and — crucially — many programs lack pre‑specified outcome benchmarks auditors can evaluate.

"If you don't have criteria, you can't evaluate whether a program succeeded," Josh Gallien, North Dakota State Auditor, told the task force. "Benchmarks are one of the things we'd love to see more of in the development of these programs." Dan Cox, director of audit services, described the logic auditors use to judge results and said performance measures should be set up front so audits can compare expected outcomes to actual results.

The Department of Commerce told the panel how three programs track different kinds of outcomes. Katie How, deputy commissioner and workforce director for the Department of Commerce, described Operation Intern, a…