Primary Department: County Administration
Primary Department Head/Elected Official: Jesse Dickerman, Interim County Administrator
Secondary Department: Choose an item.
Secondary Department Head/Elected Official:
Regular or Supplemental RCA: Regular RCA
Type of Request: Policy
Project ID (if applicable):
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Justification for 0% MWBE Participation Goal: N/A - Goal not applicable to request
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Request Summary (Agenda Caption):
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Request for discussion and possible action on amendments to the Harris County Prompt Payment Act Policy.
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Background and Discussion:
On October 30th, 2025, the Office of County Administration (OCA), the Auditor’s Office, and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) presented the proposed Harris County Prompt Pay Act Policy. Harris County Commissioners Court directed OCA and the Auditor’s Office “to return to Commissioners Court in December with a proposed amendment to better align the incentive structure for invoices that require review by other departments. The amendment must define a reasonable number of days for departments to complete their reviews prior to assuming at least partial responsibility for any resulting interest payments and require a quarterly true-up of late invoices to determine what department is responsible for interest payments based on number of workdays that invoice remained in the department’s queue.”
The proposed amendments clarify how interest charges will be allocated for invoices funded by Commissioner Precinct Offices but managed by the Office of the County Engineer (OCE). Specifically, they apply to pay estimates (partial and final) and Professional Service Agreement invoices submitted or generated within eBuilder. The amended policy establishes a process to retroactively allocate interest expenses to the department(s) responsible for delays and establish reasonable review timeframes based on industry best practices and invoice data from January through November 2025.
To support development of these amendments, OCA and the Auditor’s Office collaborated with OCE and all four Commissioner Precinct Offices through the following engagement efforts:
1. Conducted three coordination meetings with OCA, Auditor’s Office, and OCE to review key workstreams and draft policy language and sent two follow-up status emails
2. Held two additional 1.5-hour meetings to investigate eBuilder data and begin development of a performance dashboard
3. Reviewed 1,220 invoices related to this process in collaboration with OCE to analyze processing timelines and identify trends
4. Benchmarked service-level agreements (SLAs) by engaging eight peer jurisdictions on comparable business processes
5. Held one feedback session with finance leadership within each Commissioners Court office to gather input on the draft policy
6. Distributed the draft policy and proposed SLAs via email to court offices for additional review and comment
Expected Impact:
The amended policy will strengthen accountability by assigning interest costs to the departments responsible for delays on invoices managed by the Office of the County Engineer and funded by Commissioner Precinct Offices. It will also promote timely invoice reviews through clearly defined timeframes and improve transparency across multi-department workflows.
Alternative Options:
If the amended policy is not approved, the Prompt Payment Act policy will lack a defined process for assigning responsibility for interest on invoices managed by the Office of the County Engineer and funded by Commissioner Precinct Offices. This may result in continued ambiguity, inconsistent handling of late payments, and limited accountability for delays in multi-department workflows.
County Strategic Plan Goal: 3. Make our economy more inclusive.
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Economy Initiative (Goal 3): J3: Strengthen enabling support and processes for MWBE programming.
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Additional notes related to the Strategic Plan:
Prior Court Action (if any):
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Date |
Agenda Item # |
Action Taken |
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9/8/2021 |
21-4943 |
Request for the Commissioners Court’s Analyst’s Office and Auditor’s Office to assess Harris County compliance with the Prompt Payments Act and assess payments processing times to vendors in the last five years. |
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11/17/2021 |
21-6572 |
Transmittal by the Commissioners Court’s Analyst’s Office of a memo responding to the Commissioner Precinct 2 request to assess Harris County compliance with the Prompt Payments Act and assess payments processing times to vendors over the last five years. |
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5/10/2022 |
22-2869 |
Transmittal by the Auditor of a Memo on Prompt Payment Act Policy Development. |
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10/30/2025 |
25-6776 |
The Prompt Pay Policy was approved with implementation delayed to February 9, 2026, and a directive to return with a policy amendment by December. |
Location:
Address (if applicable):
Precinct(s): Choose an item.
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County Attorney’s Office Legal Review (for Harris County Code Items only) |
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Anticipated Court Date: 12/11/2025
Anticipated Implementation Date (if different from Court date): Click or tap to enter a date.
Emergency/Disaster Recovery Note: Not an emergency, disaster, or ARPA related item
Contact(s) name, title, department: Rachel O’Connell, Sr. Project Manager, Office of County Administration
Attachments (if applicable): Amended Harris County Prompt Payment Act Policy