Tracking the Spend: Social Services Department’s Top Buys of IT Goods Neared $2M

The California Department of Social Services (DSS) spent just under $2 million on its five largest purchases of IT goods during the first quarter of 2023.

The mission of the department is “to serve, aid, and protect needy and vulnerable children and adults in ways that strengthen and preserve families, encourage personal responsibility, and foster independence.” The department has 4,200 employees in 51 offices throughout the state.

According to the State Contracting and Procurement Registration System, between Jan. 1 and March 31, DSS spent $1,965,564, with rounding, on these five contract awards:

• $713,500 for FraudCaster (formerly Pondera Fraud Detection as a Service) monthly maintenance and operations, for a one-year term ending Dec. 31. The service includes 10 user subscriptions at $72,350 per year each. The supplier is Patriot IT Corp.
• $618,885 for “Unified enterprise support” in a Jan. 6 contract with Crayon Software Experts LLC.
• $232,607 for items including Dell Latitude laptops in a Feb. 21 contract with Granite Data Solutions.
• $204,651 for a one-year contract expiring Dec. 31 with Lexmark International, apparently for managed print services.
• $195,921 for items including Dell Latitude laptops in a Feb. 21 contract with Granite Data Solutions.

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.