A Look at CDT’s Spend on IT Goods Since 2019

How has a key area of IT spend fluctuated during the COVID-19 pandemic?

The California Department of Technology’s (CDT) five most expensive IT goods purchases during 2021 grew exponentially in cost relative to 2019 and 2020, but the department’s overall number of purchases rose only slightly by comparison during that same three-year period.

CDT made 443 purchases of IT goods in 2021, 393 such purchases in 2020, and 362 purchases in 2019. But the value of its five most expensive purchases of IT goods in 2021 more than tripled, from $49,096,358 in 2020 to $156,750,516 last year. Conversely, from 2019 to 2020, the value of CDT’s five most expensive IT goods purchases declined by about one-third from $76,817,798 in 2019. Information on past state purchases is available through the State Contract and Procurement Registration System. Here, with rounding, is more on those purchases.

Last year saw CDT doing a great deal of business with Crayon Software Experts LLC, a well-known vendor. As Techwire has reported, each of those top five purchases looked to be through Microsoft Volume Licensing, most likely for Microsoft Office 365 government community cloud E5 shared servers for all language. Three of the purchases happened March 1 and are for a five-year term ending Feb. 28, 2026. They range in value from $23,121,372 to $29,909,685. The fifth and largest, at $41,810,982, is for nearly as long a term. It took place June 1 and ends March 31, 2026.

In 2020, two of CDT’s top five most expensive IT goods purchases were also with Oslo, Norway-based Crayon Software: $16 million and $8.5 million for what were most likely volume purchases of Microsoft 365 E3 government community cloud shared servers, on three-year contracts. The department spent $10 million with PCMG Inc. for what was probably a Microsoft volume purchase of the company’s Enterprise Mobility and Security E5 suite for government community cloud shared servers on a roughly 14-month contract; and $8.2 million with International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) for “Hardware & Services – Gold Camp,” likely IBM hardware and services at CDT’s Rancho Cordova data center on a two-year contract. And CDT spent $6.5 million with Zones LLC for what was likely Microsoft 365 E3 government community cloud shared servers, on a three-year contract.

Crayon Software accounted for two of CDT’s top five most expensive IT goods purchases in 2019 – but so did CDW-G, the destination for the department’s two most expensive such purchases that year. CDT spent $37 million and $15 million with CDW-G on what were probably volume purchases of Microsoft 365 E3 government community cloud shared servers, on two-year and 20-month contracts respectively. The department spent $14 million and $8 million with Crayon Software for what were probably volume purchases of Microsoft 365 E3 government community cloud shared servers, on two three-year contracts. And the department spent $4 million with DataSkill Inc. to renew IBM Passport Advantage software.