The California Department of Technology (CDT) has won the critical authority it needs to continue negotiating contracts for IT goods and services.
The ability to negotiate with IT vendors had been set to expire Jan. 1, 2018, but Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday signed legislation that removed the sunset date set in state statute.
“This bill will help keep the state on a level playing field during big IT procurements and maximize our chances of getting what we need, when we need it, and for a good price,” the bill's author, Assemblyman Ed Chau, said in a statement to Techwire.
Specifically, the bill will allow CDT to negotiate procurements indefinitely under what is known as Public Contract Code 6611, as opposed to relying upon the traditional process of sealed, competitive bids submitted by vendors that don’t always meet all of a project's requirements.
Lawmakers first gave the Department of General Services (DGS) the ability to negotiate IT and telecommunications goods and services in 2003. It extended the authority to CDT in 2012 but put a sunset date on it.
Chau, who chairs the Assembly Privacy and Consumer Protection Committee, said negotiated contracts have been successful and often resulted in a shorter procurement process and greater cost savings for the state.
An Assembly analysis of AB 475 found that negotiated contracts have led to flexible procurement techniques that have better defined a state project's business needs or purposes, reduced the costs of bid submission, or empowered the agency to pursue the best value or most cost-efficient outcome on IT contracts.
And the CDT told lawmakers that the ability to negotiate has allowed it to shift from the traditional "waterfall" procurement method to an "agile" acquisition system that relies upon multiple smaller requests for proposal, rather than a single, enormous contract. That shift has been welcomed by lawmakers who hope smaller, more defined IT contracts will lead to fewer IT project failures in the future.
Department spokesman Bryce Brown said CDT was pleased Brown had signed the bill into law.
“Continuing the Department of Technology’s ability to negotiate for the procurement of information technology services is critical to ensure the state obtains the best solution to meet its business needs,” Brown said in an e-mail to Techwire.
The bill also continues the requirement that CDT and DGS report to legislative budget subcommittees on their use of the contract authorization.
