At the #Innovate conference hosted by Techwire and CALinnovates on Monday, Senator Alex Padilla (D-Pacoima) said the legislature is considering holding hearings in January to look at reforming the IT procurement process.
Photo: Marc T. Kallweit, Techwire.net
"It’s the procurement process at the federal level, not unlike at the state level, that keeps people from participating and competing to offer the government those sorts of technologies and capabilities," Padilla said during his speech. "There’s significant rework we need to do on the government’s side to help maximize [benefits]."
Padilla said the need for procurement reform was particularly apparent during the difficulties of the launch of healthcare.gov, which was able to come back online only after help from the private sector.
"Behind every cloud there’s a silver lining," Padilla said, continuing that many of today’s technologies were the result of initial investment from the government, and the problems with the website were an opportunity to have a discussion about technology and policy changes.
The California Department of Technology is holding a vendor forum on Dec. 18 to discuss ways to improve the procurement process and evaluate bids and vendor performance.
