A vendor performance evaluation system that has been in the works the past two years appears to be moving forward despite the departure of state CIO Carlos Ramos.
California says the initiative, which some have called a "scorecard," will be factored into future state IT procurements after a pilot occurs sometime in 2016. The Department of Technology is continuing to look for suitable IT projects to participate in the pilot.
A story in Public CIO magazine reports that, as of March, the scorecard is proceeding as planned, according to Department of Technology spokesperson Teala Schaff.
“The CPES pilot will include a diverse representation of new reportable IT projects in California; however, the state has not approved any new projects for procurement. Therefore, no projects have yet been identified to participate in the pilot phase, although our commencement is expected this year,” Schaff told Public CIO.
California's attempt to develop a performance scorecard has elicited diverse opinions from state officials and the IT companies that potentially would be evaluated under it.
Dugan Petty, a senior fellow at the Center for Digital Government and former CIO of Oregon, said past performance must be factored into state contracts, but vendors must have the opportunity to appeal the scores and evaluations they receive.
As announced in December, the Contractor Performance Evaluation Scorecard would measure five key performance indicators (KPIs), included in language of RFPs and signed contracts. Overall ratings would look at scope, schedule, quality and timeliness. The five KPIs were winnowed down from an initial list of 225 KPIs across 32 focus areas. It's unclear if the parameters of the scoring system have been changed during the past five months.
Chris Cruz, the Department of Technology's chief deputy director of operations, said earlier this year that the department is interested in convening and building out an independent "Vendor Advisory Council" as part of the state's governance structure for IT.
