Last update: 08/21/2008
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Procurement Reform
The Department of General Administration is leading the effort to review state procurement rules, policies and procedures to identify areas for potential streamlining.
A state agency work team for procurement reform agrees that current laws and policies must be standardized before more efficient processes and tools can be designed and used to support them. The state’s procurement reform work is proceeding along two tracks:
- Moving toward a common approach to register vendors and notify them of business opportunities with the state of Washington.
- Implementing a standardized statewide commodity code system.
These two initiatives are closely tied to the Grants, Contracts, and Loan Management (GCLM) project and the Enterprise Data Definitions/Chart of Accounts Review (EDD/COA) project, with the Office of Financial Management in the lead role.
Background
In 2004, Washington state central service agencies began the Roadmap for Washington State Financial and Administrative Policies, Processes, Systems and Data (Roadmap). The Roadmap was originally a collaborative effort among state agencies to create a comprehensive plan to meet the governor’s and Legislature’s demands for better information, improved management systems and streamlined business processes and policies.
Common vendor notification and registration system
The initial recommendation from Roadmap procurement reform work is to establish a statewide policy for a single vendor-registration and bid-notification system. That recommendation has led to the identification of Washington’s Electronic Business Solutions, or WEBS, as the preferred solution.
Commodity code standardization
Roadmap work teams are recommending a move toward the National Institute of Government Purchasing (NIGP) commodity code system as the standard for commodity coding. Studies suggest it is a robust code suitable for Washington state business needs, including consumable inventory management, asset tracking, and notification of business opportunities to potential vendors/providers. It will also standardize coding for the estimated 2,000-plus services associated with grants (see GCLM for more information).
Timeline
The timeline to implement the new Roadmap procurement Policy follows:
Event |
Date |
|---|---|
Request Information Services Board’s approval to update the Investment Standards to change the location for required notifications (advertising) to the Washington Electronic Business Solution (WEBS) system. |
July 10, 2008 |
Announce the Roadmap procurement reform policy change and implementation plan to stakeholders: |
Begin in March 2008 |
Update commodity codes to more accurately describe it goods and services |
April, June 2008 |
Provide extra training for agency users |
August, September, October 2008 |
Announce to vendors the procurement reform policy change and WEBS registration opportunities. |
August, September, October 2008 |
Decommission IT Procurement ListServ |
October 31, 2008 |
Announce the Roadmap policy change in Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce |
August, September, October 2008 |
Effective date for Roadmap policy change and WEBS notification for IT procurements |
November 1, 2008 |
Contact us
General Administration project lead:
Servando Patlan
Office of State Procurement
360-902-7449
spatlan@ga.wa.gov
General Administration executive sponsor:
Howard Cox
Assistant Director
Office of State Procurement
(360) 902-7432
hcox@ga.wa.gov
