The Contract & Business Services Division (CBS) is a sixteen-member team of the Office of Public Defense Services (OPDS). CBS’s purpose is to provide the most effective and efficient delivery of public defense within the state court system. CBS effects this purpose through four primary functions:

• assists the OPDS in establishing, revising, and monitoring compliance with statewide public defense policies and procedures for the payment of and qualifications of public defense providers and the operation of the indigence verification program;  
• negotiates and monitors public defense services contracts for both attorney and non-attorney providers;
• serves as a resource for the Public Defense Services Commission (PDSC), public defense providers, trial and appellate courts, other state and local agencies involved in the criminal and juvenile justice system, and the legislative assembly; and
• performs research and provides consultation on public defense-related legal and budgetary issues.