| PCO Representing: |
1. Describe the process currently in use
for developing procurement policies
and procedures, identifying the
underlying authorities for doing so
within your organization. |
2. Is there a difference in the way you
make policies for procuring non-IT
services as opposed to all other
procurement types (e.g., commodities,
IT goods and services)? |
3. What improvements to DGS'
procurement policy and its
dissemination would be of value to your
organization? |
Alcoholic
Beverage Control |
The Department fully complies with the
process and the requirements of DGS. |
DGS has established guidelines and
procedures for non-IT services. Once again
the procedures are well defined and we
also comply with those. |
I believe DGS procurement policy
dissemination is fine. However, I would
suggest that as we develop procurement
policies and directives we strive for a
balance between getting the job done and
control. In other words, don't make the
process so restrictive and convoluted that it
takes week and months to get things going. |
Board of
Equalization |
The day-to-day procurement policies and
procedures at the Board of Equalization
have evolved over time, primarily in
response to control agency requirements,
staffing levels, and budgetary influences.
The policy and procedures for "what" will
be procured, are influenced by
management decision making and are thus
more dynamic than "how" it will be
procured, which are subject to clearly
defined control agency requirements.
While the Procurement and Contract
Officer has overall responsibility for the
contract and procurement the processes,
the Contract and Procurement Section
Manager is responsible for implementing
external and internal directives in order to
effectively acquire the goods and services
needed by the Board of Equalization. |
The approval process leading to the
acquisition of non-IT services is essentially
the same as for all other goods and
services. Most acquisitions require Division
Chief approval. The approved acquisitions
follow the prescribed control agency
guidelines. |
There is an almost overwhelming amount
of reporting related to the contract and
procurement processes. Its not clear to the
BOE that all of the reporting has value
commensurate with the effort to compile
and maintain the underlying data. BOE
believes that one of DGS' strong points is
its management of the contract and
procurement processes. We are satisfied
that DGS attempts to disseminate
information quickly, and respond rapidly to
Executive and Legislative changes with
revised procedures. DGS sponsors a
number of forums, focus groups, and
training, that are valuable to BOE. |
Board of Prison
Terms |
The underlying authority for developing
procurement policies and procedures at the
Board of Prison Terms comes from
Department of General Services edicts. |
|
No suggestions. |
California African
American Museum |
Procurement policies and procedures are
developed through the process of all
procurement personnel receiving the
identified training from DGS-Office of
Procurement. Guidelines are interpreted,
developed and distributed to all staff. On a
monthly basis the Finance and
Administration Committee meet to review
policies and procedures. The authority
level are comprised of supervisors,
managers, and the executive director.
Supervisors/managers review all requests
for procurement compliance. The
Executive Director approves all requests.
In the absence of the Executive Director,
the Deputy Director or Fiscal Officer
approves the requests. |
There is no difference in the way CAAM
makes policies for procuring non-IT
services as opposed to all other
procurement types. |
No comment on what improvements to
DGS' procurement policy and its
dissemination at this time. |
California Law
Revision
Commission |
|
|
Don't impose elaborate training
requirements for procurement of routine
office supplies by small agencies. We don't
have personnel to do our own work, let
alone become experts in government
procurement and all the various forms,
reporting requirements, etc. We could
spend all our time training, sending out bids
for a box of paper clips, keeping statistics
on DVBE, etc. Think about the small guy
who just needs to get something done. |
California Military
Department |
a. We determine if there is current DGS
policy, if so we implement it.
b. If there is no DGS policy we review the
process in question and how it may be
affected by related processes or policies.
We draft a Military Dept. Policy and submit
it to the Comptroller for review and
approval |
We follow the State Contracting Manual
(SCM). The only basic difference from our
policy and the SCM is that we require
written quotes under $5,000 not verbal
quotes. |
a. PIA establish a minimum cost for goods
that require a waiver. It has become very
time consuming and consequently
expensive in employee costs to process
waivers for small amounts of money.
b. One single, comprehensive, source of
information, policy, procedures, public
code, etc. posted to the DGS web site.
c . Changes or new policy/procedures
distributed to the field by email
subscription.
d . When we ask procedural or policy
questions we are given verbal answers but
nothing in writing. We should have
something in writing.
The questions should be reviewed by DGS
and if appropriate, included in DGS policy.
e . DGS should have one master on-line
library of Payee Data Records and Drug
Free Workplace Certifications. Agencies
and vendors alike waste HUGE amounts of
time, money and effort duplicating records.
|
Department of
Aging |
To the extent needed, we develop
administrative memos that clarify and
implement the state's procurement policies
and procedures, as reflected in the State
Administrative Manual, the State
Contracting Manual, DGS procurement
guidelines, DGS Management Memos, and
most recently DGS Ethics and Leveraged
Procurement Training. We have developed
a system of internal reviews and approvals
that ensure, to the extent practical, that
current state policies and processes are
being followed. During periods of severe
budgetary constraints, we often impose
additional and/or higher levels of approval
to ensure that purchases are essential for
continuing operations. Recently the
department's Procurement Officer and
Legal Office have become more involved in
procurements, especially those involving
competitive bids or any suggested as NCB,
as a way to develop an understanding of
the new Procurement Guidelines, to ensure
appropriate application within the
department and identify the need for
additional administrative memos and
training. |
Higher dollar amounts have additional
levels of approval IT goods must go
through IT Branch for compliance with
department standards Major IT
procurement decisions are brought to
Department's IT Steering Committee. |
Communication and understanding of DGS
policy among the different units within its
own department.
Better organization of the material for ease
of reference and understanding which is
the most current.
Concrete best-value evaluation guidelines
and real-world examples of how to apply
them in both goods and services, IT and
non-IT.
Policies and procedures that consider the
cost of staff time (of all Departments
involved in any review and approval
process). The cost of internal controls
should not outweigh the benefit.
Reasonable turnaround of document
review, responses to inquiries, etc. |
Department of
Alcohol and Drug
Programs |
The Department of Alcohol and Drug
Programs' (ADP) current process for
developing procurement policies and
procedures and identifying the underlying
authorities for doing so within its
organization is as follows. Upon
notification of changes to procurement
policies and procedures via documents
such as Management Memos, State
Administrative Manual updates or
Executive Orders, the Deputy Director of
Administration assigns the document to the
appropriate administrative staff to identify
the impacts of the change in policy or
procedure and to also make the
appropriate changes to the procurement
portion of ADP's Administrative Manual.
The administrative staff reviews the
changes, distributes the document for
review by affected ADP program areas and
requests their input. Administrative staff
also contact other state agencies to see
how they are implementing the changes
and also the appropriate control agency
responsible for issuing the document to
clarify any issues. Based on the
information gathered, administrative staff
prepares the appropriate revisions to the
Administrative Manual and submits the
revisions to the Deputy Director of
Administration for approval. Once
approved, the Administrative Manual is
updated to reflect the change.
Procurement policy or procedures
development based on issues raised within
ADP are approved by the ADP's executive
staff and incorporated into the
Administrative Manual. Approval is given
via the approval of issue papers. |
No, there is no difference in the way ADP
develops policies for procuring non-IT
services as opposed to all other
procurement types. |
We encourage DGS to establish an
advisory group consisting of staff from
business services offices from various state
agencies. This advisory group would be
responsible for identifying the workload
impact on state agencies to implement new
policies and to review and analyze the
impact on existing procurement procedures
before the changes are formalized through
Management Memos, State Administrative
Manual updates or Executive Orders.
|
Department of
Community
Services and
Development |
We simply follow DGS guidelines. |
We simply follow DGS guidelines. |
The answer to number 3 is that we are fine
with the way things are right now |
Department of
Corrections |
The Department Operations Manual (DOM)
spells out Department of Corrections
(CDC) policy. Changes to policy require
approval of the CDC Executive Staff, over
twenty different offices, and optimistically
take as long as six months to complete.
Realistically, policy changes often take
over a year to make the rounds of
approval, edit, re-approval, etc. Procedural
changes are less complex and are
developed by Business Management
Branch with input from the institutions and
headquarters customers. Procedure
changes, if significant would be approved
by the Deputy Director, who in some
instances will ask for the Chief Deputies
and/or the Director to concur. The DOM
outlines what each Deputy and Assistant
Deputy Director are responsible for. While
the Business Management Branch (BMB)
has functional responsibility over all
commodity purchasing offices within CDC,
our department has 38 individual
delegation holders which makes approval
of any purchasing policy or procedure
changes a challenging undertaking. |
Due to the size of the department, service
procurement procedures are the
responsibility of the Office of Contract
Services (OCS), while procedures for
goods procurement are the responsibility of
the Business Management Branch, both
offices are under the Deputy Director,
Administrative Service Division. The OCS
is centralized with one statewide
delegation, and processes all service
contracts and service and expense orders
for the institutions and headquarters, while
the commodity procurement function is
decentralized amongst 37 separate
delegation holders, over which the BMB
has recently been given functional
responsibility. IT goods and services also
requires the approval of our Information
Systems Division via the department's
Workgroup Computing Justification Form
(CDC 1855) in addition to the DGS
required ITPP. The CDC does not have a
separate IT delegation. |
DGS could improve their procurement
policy by talking more with other
departments before issuing directives. As
the largest department in the state, the
CDC is rarely consulted prior to the DGS
issuing policies that have been developed
to fit a smaller less complex department. If
this were the private sector the CDC would
play a significant role in how business is
conducted due to our size and complexity.
Virtually every procurement issue that can
be found in smaller departments is found
somewhere within CDC, from food service,
to health service, to IT, to law enforcement,
to construction and maintenance.
Developing policies based on a small
department that does only one thing does
not work others. The CDC has a variety of
unique and complex issues, it would be
more advantageous and efficient for DGS
to become more familiar with these issues
in an effort to be proactive rather than
reactive when directives are being
developed. For example, the DGS internet
based registration system mandated for all
state departments, when at the time, less
than half of CDC's delegation holders did
not have connectivity; the lengthy NCB
process when we are under legal
mandates to provide certain items or we
are subject to contempt of court fines (law
libraries $10,000 per day per library and we
have about 160 libraries); dollar limits and
thresholds for some departments may be
adequate but for CDC is to restrictive to
meet our mandated requirements. |
Department of
Developmental
Services |
Consistent with the statewide nature of our
operations, the administrative function
within the Dept. of Developmental Services
(DDS) is somewhat decentralized.
Departmentwide policies and procedures
addressing issues of general concern are
made at Headquarters (HQ) and apply not
only to HQ but the individual
Developmental Centers (DCs) as well.
These general, departmentwide policies
and procedures are normally developed by
the HQ Customer Support Section (CSS),
usually in consultation with the DCs, and
are reviewed and approved by the Deputy
Director of Administration, the Chief Deputy
Director, and/or the Department Director.
State and departmental policies and
procedures serve as an umbrella under
which HQ and the DCs develop their
individual policies and procedures to
address specific issues not covered in the
more general state or departmental policies
and procedures. These individualized HQ
and DC policies and procedures must be
consistent with the more general state and
departmental policies and procedures, of
course. |
The same process is used for IT and non-
IT policy and procedure formulation except
CSS consults with the DDS Information
Services Division (ISD) on IT policies and
procedures. Typically, ISD is given the
opportunity to review and comment on draft
policies and procedures concerning IT
before the drafts proceed up the chain of
command. |
It would be very useful if policies and
procedures were issued by one source
within DGS. The flood of Management
Memos, CMAS memos, CalCard memos,
Customer Forums, Frequently Asked
Questions, etc. etc., can be very confusing
and the answers provided are sometimes
inconsistent or contradictory. DGS OLS
and PD also need to make sure they are
speaking with one voice on issues that
affect both procurement and contracting. |
Department of
Financial
Institutions |
DFI follows Management Memo 03-10 for
policy and procedure |
No difference |
None DGS should be complimented |
Department of
General Services |
As the PCO, I ask for representatives from
PD, IT and other impacted areas to work
on the development of policies and
procedures. Those policies and
procedures are sent to the Executive Team
(our deputy directors of which I'm a
member) and a decision is made at that
level. |
There is no difference except that our It
managers are responsible for developing
policies and procedures for their part of the
procurement process. |
It would be nice to receive a binder with a
table of contents, numbering system and
then we could easily add to the P and P.
Also the MM are very difficult to read; too
much information or sometimes too many
words for what needs to be said; difficult to
comprehend for my staff. There doesn't
seem to be any logic for what MM is being
sent. If we had that table of contents we
would have a roadmap of where we're
going. |
Department of
Housing and
Community
Development |
The Department of Housing and
Community Development incorporates
Management Memos, Budget Letters, the
State Administrative Manual, Government
Code, and other information received into
the Department's electronic Housing
Administrative Manuel. The policies and
procedures are developed by the
Contracting and Procurement staff and
reviewed by management staff. |
No, not in the methodology, however, there
are different guidelines and procedures
which must be followed depending on the
purchase type. |
Continued use of the Internet and e-mail for
the distribution of policy from DGS. It is
difficult to navigate the current DGS
Website, and often almost impossible to
find all of the current information on specific
topics. Suggest the DGS Website have an
index that will direct you to all of the current
publications about a specific topic. The
forums sponsored by DGS have been
good, but we need an opportunity to have
more intimate sessions so we can ask
questions and discuss issues in a more
round table environment. Perhaps
scheduling sessions with two or three
departments at a time would work. |
Department of
Insurance |
Typically, development or revision of
California Department of Insurance (CDI)
policies and procedures is commenced as
a result of audit findings or recognition that
such policies and procedures would be of
benefit to CDI. Initially, Business
Management Bureau (BMB) management
and staff will meet and coordinate activities
with those impacted by proposed policies
or revisions (i.e., Internal Audits, Fraud
Division, etc.). Timelines and work plans
are established and analysts develop the
policies and procedures in cooperation with
all stakeholders involved. The draft
policies and procedures are formatted as
an Administrative Bulletin. The final part of
the process includes review for content and
accuracy by both BMB Assistant Bureau
Chiefs, the BMB Bureau Chief, and the
Deputy Commissioner, Administration and
Licensing Branch. Upon acceptance by the
Deputy Commissioner, the Administrative
Bulletin is disseminated via email to all CDI
staff and then placed in BMB's site on
CDI's Intranet.
frequently, perhaps on a semi-annual
basis. |
IT procurements are handled differently as
there are different delegations for each. All
IT procurements are submitted to CDI's
Information Technology Division (ITD) by
the requestor. Following ITD involvement
and approval, which can range from a
simple needs review to conducting a formal
competitive bid process, the contract or
purchase document is prepared by BMB. |
The improvements to DGS procurement
policy that would most benefit CDI are
increased purchasing and contract
delegations, and more competitively bid
master agreements, in particular,
continuation/renewal of the master
agreement for business and management
consulting services. As far as
dissemination goes, it would be helpful to
all agencies if revisions to the State
Contracting Manual occurred more |
Department of
Rehabilitation |
At Dept of Rehabilitation (DOR) our
contracting and procurement processes are
in transition in response to the procurement
reforms recommended by the Task Force.
Currently, we have a Contract Unit in the
Budget Section and a Procurement Unit in
the Business Services Section, both in the
Administrative Services Division. In
addition, in program areas we have
technical level procurement staff who do
some procurement related functions.
Effective 7/1/03, DOR is establishing a new
section in Administrative Services Division
combining the Contract Unit and
Procurement units into a new Contracting
and Procurement Section. Contracting in
DOR is centralized in the Contract Unit.
Requests for contracts from programs and
administrative sections are reviewed and
processed by contract analysts. Contract
Unit staff use the State Contracting
Manual, Public Contract Code and other
guidance issued by DGS. Questions on
new or revised policies primarily go to DGS
Legal staff. Due to the centralization of
processing contracts in DOR, there has not
been a need to develop separate "policies".
There are procedures on program specific
contract provisions that are in the DOR
Rehabilitation Administrative Manual
(RAM) and other guidance provided to
DOR program contract administrators and
contractors. The Procurement Unit in DOR provides for centralized purchasing for
administrative and IT goods and
decentralized for consumer purchases in
the Vocational Rehabilitation program
administered in over 100 offices on a
statewide basis. Procurement Unit staff
use the Delegation Guidelines, California
Acquisitions Manual, and other guidance
issued by DGS. Questions on new or
revised policies primarily go to the DGS
Procurement Division staff. The DGS
policies and DOR specific program
requirements are disseminated to all DOR
employees by Directives. Directives are
incorporated into revisions of the RAM
|
Typically, DOR does not contract for IT
goods and services and we currently don't
have IT purchasing delegation authority. IT
goods and services are procured via
leveraged purchasing agreements such as
CMAS, WSCA and master service
agreements. In contrast, non-IT services
are procured via use of a Service Order
and limited to $5,000. Non-IT Services
over $5,000 are procured via the contract
process subject to the State Contracting
Manual. Non-IT goods are typically
procured under our delegated purchasing
authority for non-IT goods and
commodities. |
We are in agreement with much of the
procurement reform efforts and would like
to see the following improvements in DGS'
procurement policy and dissemination:
Timely and complete information.
Currently, many of the critical procurement
policies are in draft or unavailable such as
many sections of CAM.
Keep the number of reference manuals to
the minimum. Currently, there are too
many individual reference manuals or
guides particularly in non-contract
procurement areas.
Standardize documents and forms to the
extent possible.
Dissemination via the DGS website and
distribution sites is good.
Put CMAS contracts on line. |
Department of
Social Services |
CDSS policies and procedures for
procurement are tied directly (and
patterned) to DGS Procurement Guides
(Commodities, CMAS, MSA and Services),
State Contracting Manual, State
Administrative Manual, Management
Memos, Governor's Executive Orders,
Public Contract Code and other related
Codes (W&I, GC, etc.). Procurement and
contracting policies and procedures are
developed by procurement and contract
staff, and approved by the respective
Branch Chief(s), Deputy Director of
Administation and Chief Deputy
Director(s). Policies and procedures are
published on the Department's internal
webpage and distributed to all staff, All
Supervisors and Above and Bureau Chiefs
and Above. In addition, audit report
findings also assist in identifying areas of
improvement and for compliance, resulting
in review of current policies and procedures
or creation of new/additional policies &
procedures. |
No. However, all requests for
procurements for IT goods and services,
are reviewed by our Information
Technology Division for compliance to
departmental standards and practices. In
addition, all IT related services and goods,
procurements, contracts and purchase
orders are reviewed by our Legal Division. |
With the Governor's Task Force
recommendations, CDSS would
recommend more timely and frequent
updated training for procurement and
contract staff. In the past, the availability of
training for new contract and procurement
staff was limited, at times staff would have
been on the job for almost a year before
being able to attend a DGS Contract
Training Class. More detailed information
regarding new policies and procedures
could be presented during the State
Contract Advisory Network (SCAN) and
Procurement Forums. Training in today's
environment is critical to ensure
compliance and adherence to legal
mandates, policies and procedures. In
addition, there should be training made
available to higher level management staff
(not just procurement and contracting staff)
regarding leveraged procurements and
ethical decision making. |
Department of
Transportation |
Jan Smelser, the Procurement and
Contracting Officer (PCO) for the
Department of Transportation, has received
delegation of the Director's authority to
promulgate procurement policies and
procedures for the department. |
Jan Smelser, Chief of the Division of
Procurement and Contracts, has a Policy
Branch in her Service Contracts section, in
A & E Contracts section, and in her
Procurement section. These individual
sections keep abreast of law/rule and any
necessary procedural changes. They
recommend policy changes for the
approval of Jan Smelser. As policy is
approved, manuals and training programs
are revised to reflect the changes. |
E-mail notification of changes is an
improvement. Keeping the manuals (State
Contracting Manual, California Acquisition
Manual, State Administrative Manual) up to
date would also be helpful. Further, it
would be helpful to have a place to go
when staff identifies conflicting sections
within these policy manuals. Currently,
staff at DGS is unclear on how to resolve
these conflicts. |
Department of
Water Resources |
If we see a need for a new or revised
procedure, such as with our Enterprise
Process Guides, we either make changes
to existing procedures or create new ones.
Usually, changes are a result of changes
that come down to us through DGS. IT
standards are set by an internal IT
standards group. Proposed purchases
outside of these standards require special
review and IT Governance (management
committee) approval. |
IT follows DGS Procurement Division IT
delegations while non IT services follow the
SCM. |
Provide written guidance more quickly on
new issues. The new 85% wage rule and
addition of more benefits that have to be
provided is an example. It takes several
months to process a contract that will begin
July 1, which by law must include the latest
wage rates and benefit categories,
however, we still don't have the guidance
from DGS on how to do this and these
contracts are supposed to start July 1. It
would be helpful if DGS could be more
clear, consistent and comprehensive in
their written instructions and guidelines.
The rule on time only amendments that
could actually be time and money in some
situations is a good example. There is
nothing about that anywhere. We only
know because we asked our OLS attorney
who provided verbal information. Also,
monthly updates or further explanations of
changes or Q&As for the SCM information
would be very helpful. DGS attorneys
should be consistent in the application of
the rules. Each time we are assigned a
new attorney, what is required of us
changes and we have to change our
internal practices to accommodate the
perceptions and interpretations of that
individual. This gets complicated when one
attorney provides guidance, which we
follow, then another reviews the contract
and has a different opinion of or take on the
situation and rules, and makes us change
the contract.
Provide some method of checking on the
status of contracts under review at DGS,
OLS, without having to call or email our
attorney. The new DGS registration system
could be enhanced to provide this type of
status.
It would be helpful to have our non IT
services delegation raised to $75,000.
We have found that our monthly meetings
with our OLS attorney are essential in
keeping up with all the changes, clarifying
things in existing guidelines, and
determining how to proceed or resolve
issues in situations we encounter that are
not covered in any written guidelines.
We need to know which section or staff
person in Procurement Division to go to
with particular questions, such as NCB or
ITPP rules, so we can get direct, first party
information. Also, we get different answers
to the same question depending on which
analyst we talk to. Would be nice to have
consistency in the guidance they provide. |
| Employment Development Department |
The department has done the following to
develop and improve procurement policies
and procedures.
In October 2002, an inter-Branch
workgroup was formed to review EDD's
acquisition process in order to identify
opportunities for improvement.
In February 2003, the Department adopted
a policy requiring that all major or sensitive
procurements of goods or services be
reviewed by the Director's Office. The
criteria for determining if a procurement is
"major" or "sensitive":
* A Feasibility Study is Required
* Consultant services are being
purchased
* The estimated cost of the acquisition is
$250,000 or more
* The acquisition is politically sensitive
* PC, server, non-EDD supported
software, and non-Business Driven
* Architecture buy list purchases
* Cell phones, fax machines, and
furniture.
The Department has implemented an interdisciplinary
procurement consulting team
with a representative from Procurement
Section, Legal, Fiscal, and IT Branch to
assist users in the procurement process.
The Department has implemented a formal
contract negotiation process headed by
EDD's Legal Office to address
inconsistencies between contractor
proposals and the solicitation document,
and contractual points that need
clarification.
Non-compliance consequences have been
added to inter-Department contracting
delegations.
Future improvement efforts, to be
implemented by the end of this year, will
include:
* Implementation of a procurement
monitoring/auditing system for delegated
contracting responsibilities.
* Development of periodic reporting
systems.
* Development of user tools for the
procurement process.
* DGS procurement training (once
available) for staff involved in
procurements.
Our authority for doing these improvements
and changes is State Law, policy and
regulations, DGS policy and EDD
Executive Orders. Please see copies of
recent EDD Executive Notices attached
below. |
There are some differences based on DGS
Policy. EDD does give greater scrutiny to
politically sensitive non-IT purchases and
items such as furniture, cell phones, high
cost printing publications. |
EDD would requests that procurement
policies be simplified, streamlined, and
centralized in one place (instead of Law,
Codes, Policy, SAM and others). We are
hopeful that DGS meets its goal of
developing a uniform set of policies,
procedures and processes for contracting
and procurement activities. As part of this
effort DGS must undertake an initiative to
align laws governing contracting and
procurement of goods, services, and IT,
including award protest processes.
Additionally , we fully support DGS efforts
to develop and deliver a comprehensive
training and certificate program to
procurement staff and officers.
Procurement staff and procurement officers
must be trained and familiar with all the
procurement business requirements and
processes |
| Fair Political Practices Commission |
The Fair Political Practices Commission
(FPPC) currently uses the guidelines
outlined in Management Memo 03-10 (see
attachment) to develop procurement
policies and procedures, which are
authorized by the Chief of Administration,
Robert Tribe. |
The guidelines in MM 03-10 are used for
making policies to procure non-IT services
as well as other procurement types (e.g.,
commodities, IT goods and services). |
It would help the FPPC to have a primary
contact at Procurement to contact for
assistance on the current policies. |
| Franchise Tax Board |
Procurement policies and procedures are
developed by the Procurement and Asset
Board Management Bureau under the direction of
the Procurement Contracting Officer.
These policies and procedures are
submitted to a review committee for
approval and publication. The review
committee consists of members
representing the entire organization
including Legal, Fiscal and Business
Services. Once approved they are
published in the Franchise Tax Board's
Policy File and General Procedures
Manual. |
Yes - Non-IT services will not require
investigating the need for a justification
document such as a Feasibility Study nor
review for follow-on contracts. |
Timely update of the DGS web page would
be a start. And for Management Memos I
recommend that the Memo's be distributed
1) electronically, and 2) at least 4-6 weeks
prior to an effective date so that we can
properly adjust our processes to be in
compliance ON the effective date, and 3) it
is also recommended that a focus group of
experienced procurement and contracting
officials be established to review and
comment on proposed Management
Memos prior to release. This could help
alleviate lots of confusion and complaining. |
| Office of Criminal Justice Planning |
Our procedures are developed following
review of SAM, Management Memos and
other communications from DGS. We are a
small office so do not necessarily have
written policies, but focus more in
procedures. |
No |
We believe the current dissemination is
good. It would be easier for our staff if there
were consistency among the terms and
conditions of the various types of
procurements (CMAS, MSA, SPS) |
State Treasurers
Office |
When developing procurement policies and
procedures, STO follows the latest
Management Memo issued by the
Department of General Services. Any
issues that are not addressed in a DGS
memo, we would then refer to SAM.
Although the Management Memo states
that all Constitutional Offices are exempt
from the Management Memo, STO takes
all necessary actions to comply completely
with the Management Memos issued by
DGS. |
There is no difference in the way STO
makes policies in regards to types of
purchases. Our policies are based on DGS
guidelines, however; STO has imposed
some guidelines that are more stringent
than DGS' guidelines. Such as with offers,
DGS does not require any offers under
$5,000, but STO internally requires (3)
offers for any purchase over $2,500. |
Management Memos are received via IMS
mail, and they are sent to a pre-determined
group, they are not sent to everyone in the
unit that is involved in procurement
activities. At one point in time, agencies
could sign up to be added to a distribution
list to receive change notifications
electronically. Rather than checking the
website everyday for new forms,
guidelines, etc., We believe that it would be
beneficial to receive this information
electronically. |
| Teale Data Center |
Teale policies (including procurement) are
reviewed and approved by a central policy
committee. Teale's Policy Review
Committee (PRC) includes executive and
management staff representing all areas of
the organization. Policy recommendations
are submitted by any Teale staff to the
PRC for review and approval. Each
request is reviewed and a determination is
made as to its merit and necessity. After
the request(s) have been reviewed and
approved by the PRC, the policy is
forwarded to the Directorate for signature
and then made available for distribution
throughout the Data Center. The
directorate is the underlying authority for
the Policy Review
Committee. |
All policy development follows the process
describe in Response #1. |
Allow a PCO review and comment period
for draft policies when appropriate
Create uniform policies
Provide training
Follow-up. Communicate with PCOs to
ensure policies are meeting intent and to
identify issues. |
| Water Resources Control Board |
DGS procurement policies are reviewed by
SWRCB's Procurement and Contracting
Officer (PCO), then delegated to the Chief
of Business Services for interpretation of
consistency with Board policies. These
policies are then collected and detailed in
the Procurement Section of the SWRCB
Business Services Manual. Board
procurement policies closely mirror those of
DGS. Following is a selection of process
controls that the SWRCB adheres to:
For all purchases: SWRCB's purchasing
function is part of the Solicitation and
Acquisition (S&A ) Unit. The requesting
office is responsible for obtaining the
requisite number of bids before submission
of order to S&A. All orders over $5000
require approval of PCO.
For Delegated Purchases: Purchases may
be made up to SWRCB's delegated limit,
$25,000, with two bids. Purchases may be
made up to $100,000 if two bids are
received from Certified Small Businesses,
and the purchase is made from one of the
Certified Small Businesses.
For CMAS orders: 3X quotes must be
obtained from qualified CMAS vendors for
the same products. If the chosen vendor
did not the offer the lowest quote, a
substantiation of best value for the
purchase must be submitted. 1X quote
must be from a Certified Small Business
(also a CMAS vendor). Justification must
be submitted if a Certified Small Business
quote cannot be obtained.
For Cal-Card Purchases: SWRCB
promotes Cal-Card usage by its divisions
and Regional Water Quality Control Boards
(RWQCB) in order to reduce paperwork
and shorten the time to pay its vendors to a
2-day average. Cal-Card spending limits
are set by the Executive Officer of each
division or RWQCB and approved by the
Chief of Business Management. Cal-Card
spending limits range from $1000-$5000
for divisional or RWQCB cardholders up to
$15,000 for the two purchasing officers in
Business Management. Each cardholder's
Approving Official is responsible for review
and sign-off of monthly statements. Items
to be checked include:
o Split orders
o Personal use
o Accidental use
o Required bids
o Control agency approvals where
applicable
For Solicitations: Small business
contracting is promoted by the employ of
Small Business Invitations for Bid (IFBs)
when possible. Small Business IFBs are
conducted when the maximum bid is less
than $100,000 and must be bid by a
minimum of 2 Certified Small Businesses.
If a bidder does not comply with the 3
percent DVBE requirement, that vendor
must demonstrate a good-faith effort was
made to locate a DVBE contractor.
|
There are no different procedures for the
procurement of non-IT services than for
other goods and services, however the
SWRCB does apply some specific controls
on some types of purchases:
· Items are inventoried if their value is
greater than $5000, if they have a useful
life of more than one year, or if they are
considered sensitive equipment.
· All purchases of IT hardware and
software must be reviewed and approved
for conformity with Board systems by
SWRCB's Office of Information
Technology. Authority is delegated to
select divisions or RWQCB's to procure IT
repair services and parts (not new
systems) under $5000. |
DGS should be collaborative and include
purchasing departments in policy setting.
Regulations should be developed with input
from the users. Another improvement
would be more uniformity in purchasing
methods (i.e. CMAs, MSA's, WSCA,
delegated purchases) and in notification of
policy changes. Additionally, a central
point for technical assistance on
purchasing would be extremely helpful.
With its charge to monitor and ensure
water quality, the SWRCB has a regular
and mission-critical need for environmental
lab services. This need is shared by other
departments, including the Department of
Toxic Substances Control, Department of
Pesticide Regulation, Air Resources Board,
Integrated Waste Management Board,
Department of Health Services,
Department of Water Resources and
Department of Food and Agriculture. Due
to the recurring need for these services, the
SWRCB is constantly issuing solicitations
for them. In order to ensure that State
Contracting Codes are followed, these
contracts are often delayed, creating
unnecessary lapses in service. A simple
and effective solution for remedying this
process would be for DGS to create MSA's
for state-certified labs. A list of these labs
can be found at
http://www.dhs.cahwnet.gov/ps/ls/elap/html
/LablistStart.htm
Form 5 should have a subtotal line for nontaxable
items. |
