SACRAMENTO — For those who know what the acronym “BCP” means, those documents are often the difference between making ends meet and shelving projects that just can’t be funded.
Budget change proposals, or BCPs, were at the center of a panel conversation at the California Public Sector CIO Academy* in Sacramento this week, where officials talked tech leaders through the process’ brass tacks and other approaches to surviving tough financial times.
BCPs are funding requests made by state agencies, departments, boards and commissions to the California Department of Finance (DOF). That’s a hyper-simplified version of a much more complicated process with facets including political priorities, legislative approval, etc.
While it may be DOF’s job to approve or deny these requests, officials with the department told attendees that making a compelling case supported by real-world data for each request is on them.
“So the more that you can describe those issues that you’re facing [the better] — what is the existing problem, what are the consequences, what is going to happen if you don’t receive this money?” Rosanna Nguyen, program budget manager with DOF, said.
In tough budget years — like this one and the several that preceded it and the couple that will likely follow it — Nguyen said state government organizations are effectively competing for an increasingly limited pot of money.
This means that requests for IT projects are competing with critical services — think health care, public safety and the like — so the case needs to be clear and prioritized against the other projects that might need funding.
“What’s going to happen if you can’t prioritize? We’ll prioritize for you, and you might not like it,” Nguyen added. “The things that we really have to consider are, obviously, political sensitivity. Is it legislatively mandated? What is the impact to those services?”
Working with the Finance team to shape department requests and explain the necessity of each BCP can go a long way in getting approvals, Nguyen said.
More broadly, California Department of Health Care Services Deputy Director Bill Otterbeck stressed the importance of maintaining contact with business, program and industry partners during tough budget years or as priorities shift.
“If we are not in alignment with them, then we tend to hear about their priorities disconnected from the fundamental efficiencies we need to achieve in our operations and in our programs,” he said. “So it’s a constant alignment process.”
Beyond the doom and gloom that comes with lean times, experts on the panel highlighted the opportunities departments can leverage in place of cold, hard cash.
Zaid Ridha, CIO of the Governor’s Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation, urged other leaders to be as transparent as possible about the situation with the rest of the executive team while also looking outside of the department for shared contracts or services.
“When the budget is bad, share,” he said. “So, the last three years … a lot of CIOs know me now, not because of all the innovations, but I keep calling them, ‘Hey, can you share this contract with us?’”
In that same cost-saving vein, Otterbeck and Nguyen urged attendees to re-evaluate their contacts whenever the opportunity presents itself, saying that industry partners need to be made aware of the financial realities the state faces early and often.
“As business requirements get codified into a scope of work, sometimes we fall into the trap of thinking that it’s like carved into stone,” Otterbeck said.
“And I think that’s a dangerous trap to fall into,” he added. “It’s been said that your business requirements change about 4 to 5 percent a year. And so over five years, that would mean 20 percent of your business requirements might change. That’s huge.”
On the industry side of this conversation, UiPath Federal Strategic Engagement Executive Hillary Sheehan said that it’s in the state’s best interest to focus on return on investment in the contracting process. Outlining clear goals helps vendors to shape their proposals while also providing the best value they can.
“When you start putting return on investment into your contract, you are really driving value,” Sheehan said. “And vendors actually like it more because they know what you’re asking for and they can give you a better price proposal.”
*Note: e.Republic, the parent company of Industry Insider — California, hosts the California Public Sector CIO Academy event.
State Finance Experts Talk Leading in Lean Times
The state’s lingering budget problems mean that IT leaders need to be more plugged into the political realm and more aggressive about making the case for the work they do. A panel of experts talked through these complexities during the recent California Public Sector CIO Academy.
