The state agency responsible for collecting overdue child support payments will continue to underperform national standards unless it improves its management, according to a state audit of the agency.

Hawai'i's Child Support Enforcement Agency ranks last in the country in collecting overdue child support payments, according to federal statistics.

Hawai'i collected just over 41 percent of overdue accounts, which totaled $574 million in 2005. That was a $40 million increase over 2003 levels.

The audit, released last week, concluded the agency needs to improve its strategic leadership or it "is likely to continue underperforming in national measures and miss out on improvement opportunities, all at the expense of Hawai'i's children."

The agency's work includes locating absent parents, establishing paternity, collecting and disbursing child support payments, and distributing and enforcing child support orders.

Attorney General Mark Bennett, who overseas the child support agency, said the numbers cited in the audit aren't a true measure of the agency's effectiveness in collecting child support money and said the audit's findings are "wholly and inaccurately one-sided" and apparently show evidence of "bias."

He said the agency has excelled in other federal performance categories, including the establishment of paternity for children born out of wedlock.

The audit balanced that fact by noting that the agency still lags many other states in establishing legal child support enforcement orders in cases where paternity had to be independently established.

The auditors noted improvements in customer satisfaction, but said definitive performance measures are not available.

This is the fourth audit of the Child Support Enforcement Agency, or CSEA, by the state auditor's office since 1998. An independent audit of the state attorney general's office in 2005 also reported negative findings about the agency's performance.

Bennett said the entire audit was flawed "due to the improper actions of an important member of the audit team."

Bennett said in an interview last week that while the audit was under way, a senior member of the audit team "applied for the then-vacant position of CSEA administrator."

The auditor's office removed that individual from the team. The audit's summary said, "As the impairment was limited to one auditor, it did not impact the remaining auditors' ability to maintain objectivity and impartiality in their findings and conclusions."

Bennett said the auditor-applicant did not get the agency administrator job, which went in December to Gary Kemp, an assistant administrator in the state Department of Human Services.

As for the accusation in the audit that the agency's management has been too "reactive," Bennett said the agency has been spending much time and money making improvements recommended by the previous state audit in 2003.

"We took very seriously the critiques made in 2003 and tried to address them. Now we get 'reactive management,' " Bennett said.

The audit said poor performance in federally-monitored categories of work has cost the agency as much as $8.7 million in lost federal incentive money since 2000.

Bennett said the auditors failed to note that enforcement agency has greatly improved the amount of federal incentives received since 2003.

Bennett agreed with one of the audit's findings: that the agency must improve its readiness and ability to function in the event of a disaster such as a hurricane or major earthquake.

"That's a very good point and valid criticism," Bennett said.

Reach Jim Dooley at jdooley@honoluluadvertiser.com.