The state will hire an independent firm to review its embattled worker's compensation agency, possibly as soon as January.

The board of directors for Workforce Safety and Insurance met Wednesday morning with Gov. John Hoeven's lawyer to shape a request for the services. The goal is to put out a request for proposal by early next week and have a consultant hired by January.

On Monday, the WSI board chose to have its chairman work with the governor's office to hire an outside auditor to review the agency's claims process and other issues. On Wednesday, Ryan Bernstein - Hoeven's legal counsel - said those other issues should specifically include management practices at WSI.

"If you wish to have managerial review, so be it, it'll be in there," Bob Indvik, chairman of the board, said.

Indvik said he wants the process to be as transparent as possible, and said the agency would work quickly to implement whatever the third-party consultant deemed appropriate.

The review stems in part from an allegation made by the agency's internal auditor, who said she thought WSI had improperly denied some job injury claims. Kay Grinsteinner is one of five agency employees who have sought "whistleblower" protection, saying they feared losing their jobs after revealing what they thought was the possible misuse of WSI resources.

Jim Long, chief of support services for the agency and a whistleblower who was recently put on leave, has perhaps been the most vocal about other legal problems within the agency. Long on Wednesday submitted a 30-page-document to the Bureau of Criminal Investigation and the office of the Burleigh County state's attorney.

Long and his attorney, Tom Tuntland, said the document contained perceived illegal activity; it had no supporting documents, but did refer to other documents, Tuntland said. Long requested reinstatement with WSI on Wednesday.

The saga at WSI - which includes perceived threats and the possibly comedic reference to "secret documents" - has dragged on for a month, and comes on the heels of the resolution of legal problems faced by the agency's CEO and another top official. Charges that CEOSandy Blunt and special investigations director Romi Leingang conspired to commit disclosure of confidential information were dropped in October.

On Wednesday, Bernstein and Indvik agreed that the independent audit should focus on the agency's claims process, and that the consultant should have expertise in human resources so that it can evaluate "management problems" at WSI.

"We don't want (the consultant) under any cloud of suspicion by us or by you or by anyone else," Indvik said. "… We want them to be truly independent."

The request for proposal will be drafted by the procurement office of the state's Office of Management and Budget, Bernstein said. The RFP will contain scoring criteria agreed to by Bernstein and Indvik. The governor's office wants the WSI board to choose the consultant, because it will be the board that works with the firm throughout the process.

"We will give the governor's office the opportunity to reject (our selection)," Indvik added.

The ad hoc committee wants to hire a firm by Jan. 2 and get recommendations on how to proceed by Feb. 1. The firm will set implementation deadlines.

"We want to do this fairly quickly," Bernstein said.

(Reach reporter Tony Spilde at 250-8260 or tony.spilde@;bismarcktribune.com. Crystal Reid contributed to this report.)

Click here to read an outline for a "request for proposals," i.e. an advertisement, for a consulting firm to look at problems at North Dakota's Workforce Safety and Insurance agency. Ryan Bernstein, Gov. John Hoeven's staff attorney, and Robert Indvik, chairman of the agency's board of directors, agreed to the outline Wednesday. This pdf file was provided by the Associated Press.