Auditor closely reviews just 11 of 17,000 vendors to justify billions in increased spending
(The Center Square) – Annual vendor spending at Washington’s Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) jumped $2.9 billion in four years, but a state audit assuring taxpayers that the surge was “valid” relied on a small, hand-selected sample of just 11 vendors. Experts say the sample should not have been used to draw such broad conclusions. According to the Washington State Auditor’s Office, DSHS paid more than 17,000 vendors approximately $8.6 billion in 2025, up roughly 50% from $5.7 billion in 2021. Of those 17,000 companies, auditors identified more than 1,000 vendors whose payments showed unusually high or “exponential” growth. “When payments to a government vendor rise unusually fast, it can signal potential fraud, waste or other concerns,” acknowledged State Auditor Pat McCarthy. “Exponential growth in vendor payments can also be legitimate. We found the latter was the case.” But to reach that “legitimate” conclusion , just 11 vendors received an “in-depth” review, or “closer inspection,” according to the auditor’s report. Each vendor was handpicked – not randomly selected – through a process called judgmental selection. Even with the small sample size of 11 vendors, the in-depth review did not come back entirely clean. Auditors “found two cases in
