Here’s a Look at How Two IT-Focused State Entities Procured Goods, Services

Two key departments in state government that are focused on technology tend to use two specific types of contract vehicles more than any other: California Multiple Award Schedules (CMAS) and the state’s Software Licensing Program (SLP).

A data dashboard presented by the California Department of General Services (DGS) breaks down the types of contract agreements, known as leveraged procurement agreements, which allow California’s many state and local agencies to make purchases directly from suppliers through existing contracts and agreements. In addition to SLP and CMAS contracts, these agreements include cooperative agreements, statewide commodity contracts, statewide food contracts, master agreements and state price schedules. (To access the dashboards, go here and click on “Leveraged Procurement Agreement Spend.”)

In the 2022-23 fiscal year, purchases by the California Department of Technology (CDT) totaled $85,384,040, according to a DGS data dashboard. Of that, CDT’s purchases broke down this way:

• SLP: $50,365,634, or 58.9 percent of total spend
• Statewide contracts: $17,780,318, or 20.8 percent of total spend
• CMAS: $13,083,493, or 15.3 percent of total spend
• Cooperative agreements: $4,154,596, or 4.8 percent of total spend
  

By contrast, the California Health and Human Services Agency’s Office of Systems Integration (which is being renamed the Office of Technology and Solutions Integration) used contract vehicles this way:

• CMAS: $18,301,235, or 50.4 percent of spend
• Master agreements: $13,534,582, or 37.3 percent of spend
• SLP: $3,970,807, or 10.9 percent of spend
• Cooperative agreements: $272,503, or 0.75 percent of spend
• Statewide contracts: $206,921, or 0.57 percent of spend
• State price schedule: $125

Among all departments in state government, not just those focused on technology, the contract breakdown looked like this:

• Statewide contracts: $1,174,417,379, or 56.6 percent of spend
• SLP: $370,107,807, or 17.8 percent of spend
• Master agreements: $263,220,077, or 12.6 percent of spend
• Cooperative agreements: $152,894,662, or 7.3 percent of spend
• CMAS: $114,006,863, or 5.4 percent of spend
• State price schedule: $165,383

DGS is the business manager for the state, with nearly 4,500 employees and a budget of $1.3 billion. The data dashboard is searchable by department and other factors and is available to the public.