Tracking the Spend: State Tax Department’s IT Services Purchases in Third Quarter

The state department that administers sales taxes made 85 purchases of IT services during the year’s third quarter and spent nearly $25 million on the top five.

The California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA) spent exactly $24,685,839.01 on its five most expensive such buys – and more than half of that was with one company. Here, with rounding, is what that money paid for, based on data in the State Contracting and Procurement Registration System:

• $12.5 million to Fast Enterprises for the renewal of software licenses, and maintenance and operations support. CDTFA made the purchase Aug. 4.
• $7.8 million to SICPA for assistance with cigarette tax stamps in the 2022-2023 Fiscal Year. CDTFA made the purchase Aug. 5.
• $2.6 million to Fast Enterprises for assistance with operating environment and operating system software. The department made the purchase Aug. 5.
• $1.3 million to the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, for collecting the “California tire fee,” related to the collection and disposal of old tires. CDTFA made the purchase July 29.
• $558,000 to Thomson West, a Thomson Reuters business, for access to its electronic information library, in the areas of legal services and business law. CDTFA made the purchase Aug. 12.