After the failure of a couple of high-profile IT projects this year and legislation to move the procurement authority for large IT projects from the Department of General Services to the newly created Department of Technology (CalTech), the state of California is placing a new emphasis on IT vendor performance.
"One of the things that has become very evident to us is that we have to take into account vendor performance as part of the evaluation of a bid," said CalTech Director Carlos Ramos at a recent technology industry conference. "What I mean is&hellip what has been the vendor’s track record in working with the state or other public sector entities?"
Ramos said the department is looking for ways of measuring and tracking performance, not only for evaluating individual bids, but for overall performance that may impact a company’s future ability to compete for projects.
A department spokesman said CalTech would utilize existing rules within state law to hold underperforming contractors accountable. According to the California Public Contracts Code, agencies are statutorily required to file and maintain an evaluation of a vendor’s performance on most consulting contracts over $5,000. Unsatisfactory performance can keep a company from bidding on new projects for up to three years, although this provision in the law has never been enforced.
"We’ve run frankly into issues around some of our projects, around lack of performance, and in some cases the state’s inability to hold vendors accountable when there is a lack of performance," said Ramos.
This article was originally published in the Roundup newsletter on October 9, 2013.
