Tracking the Spend: CAL FIRE’s Top IT Services Buys in Year’s First Half

The state department most closely associated with fighting wildland fires made 163 purchases of IT services from Jan. 1-June 30 and spent more than $24 million on the five costliest.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) spent $24,912,901 on its five most expensive buys of IT services, all of which were purchases, not contracts. This represents a slight increase in overall numbers from a total of 151 such purchases from Jan. 1-June 30, 2022 — and a marked rise in the value of those five costliest purchases. During the first half of 2022, in a year-over-year comparison, CAL FIRE spent $3,120,852 on its five costliest IT services buys, with the costliest being $770,000 with Timmons Group for project initiation and requirement refinement. With rounding, here are CAL FIRE’s five costliest purchases of IT services through June, based on data in the State Contracting and Procurement Registration System:

• $19.9 million with RadioMobile Inc. for mobile maintenance and support and hardware refresh, most likely for vehicle connectivity. CAL FIRE made the purchase June 25.
• $1.5 million with Infinite Solutions Inc. for HEMS application development and the assistance of a senior technical lead. The department made the purchase June 29.
• $1.3 million with Infinite Solutions for Phase 1 of a pipeline management system and the assistance of a project senior programmer. CAL FIRE made the purchase June 29.
• $1.2 million with SymSoft Solutions LLC for the services of a SymSoft project manager. CAL FIRE made the purchase April 30.
• $996,000 with Geographic Technologies Group Inc. for Task 1 of database improvements and the services of a senior project manager. CAL FIRE made the purchase June 29.
  

The periodic reports of spending on IT goods and services by agencies and departments in state government are compiled by Industry Insider — California as a way of highlighting procurements and trends.