Case Study: State of South Carolina Office of First Steps

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Fiscal accountability and contract monitoring system for South Carolina’s “First Steps” school readiness program.

The Client:

State of South Carolina, Office of First Steps

The Project:

Fiscal accountability and contract monitoring system for South Carolina’s “First Steps” school readiness program.

The Challenge:

South Carolina’s then-Governor Jim Hodges wanted to initiate a statewide, county-based program
to prepare young, at-risk children for school in an effort to increase the state’s competitiveness. While
early childhood development programs made sense in theory, the governor was concerned about
how to achieve effective implementation of the programs while making the most efficient use of the
programs’ public and private funding.

The PCG Human Services™ Approach:

PCG Human Services™ set out to create an accountability system that could ensure proper stewardship of the funding while at the same time creating efficiency and data sets that could be used to measure return on investment and relative value. PCG Human Services™ developed an accountability system in which all spending was related to an outcome and a research-based model program. This design allowed the state to track and monitor the county system while at the same time setting the stage for proper evaluation of the models.

The Result:

PCG Human Services™ used its deep expertise in operations management consulting to provide South Carolina with a number of systems and services to ensure efficient operation of the First Steps programs, including:

Development of all required financial and accounting definitions for First Steps, such as
those governing in-kind expenditures, allowable capital expenditures, etc.
A procurement evaluation guide to help counties procure services locally.
Management of three statewide procurements, including 1) an accounting software
system, 2) employee benefits for all First Steps staff, and 3) selection of corporations to
serve as regional finance and accounting managers.
Development of a cash management system to allow the state First Steps office to
manage allocations to county partnerships.
Monthly training sessions to educate local partnerships on use of fiscal accounting system
forms and databases.
A coding system to allow program data to be matched against fiscal data in order to
allow measurement of outcomes, including cost benefit analysis.
Individual consulting to counties, as needed, to develop implementation work plans and
small business development assistance.

PCG Human Services™

   Child Welfare and Youth Services
   Early Education and Child Care
   Elders and Persons with Disabilities
   Finance and Operations
   GSA Federal Contract Vehicles
   SSI/SSDI

   Supplemental Nutrition Assistance
    Program (SNAP)

   Temporary Assistance for Needy
    Families (TANF)