The State Treasurer’s Office has released its request for offer (RFO) that will guide a new procurement and development approach for modernizing California’s Debt Management System.
The bid document (.pdf) was sent on Jan. 22 to 16 certified TIER 3 vendors on the Department of General Service’s Master Service Agreement list. Responses from those firms are due March 25, 2016. All Tier 3 vendors are qualified to bid on this contract opportunity.
The new RFO features a project model with built-in, sequential work authorizations so that the state and its contractor can take advantage of contract “off ramps” should the situation call for it.
At the Techwire Industry Forum last month in Sacramento, Jan Ross, California deputy treasurer for technology and innovation, discussed how her organization discovered a full system replacement wasn’t the preferred option and found a path that she thinks other agencies and departments might be able to replicate.
“We learned that the core of the Debt Management System, which is an Oracle platform, is a very viable platform still. And with greater expertise than is currently in house at the State Treasurer's Office, we could actually build in the functionality of the auxiliary systems that are supporting it. If we took that approach of modernizing what we already have, then we could reduce the scope of our requirements,” Ross said.
“This [new procurement] model incorporates the ability to award one contract, at a set term at a set price, but then within that, authorize a work order authorization to pay the vendor for that piece of functionality that’s built on our existing system," Ross said last month. "So the state immediately receives value for that piece of functionality that’s delivered.”
The contractor and the STO will create a blended team to work on a series of “optimization initiatives.” The work authorizations will address those optimization initiatives, and the list of priorities could change as STO needs new or different functionality. The team will work together on design and development as well as analysis activities.
The contract dollar amount will be approved by the state, through the work authorizations, after the contract is awarded. There’s a cumulative maximum cap of $9,996,990 for all the work authorizations for this contract opportunity. (Tier 3 MSA contracts in the state of California are no more than $10 million.) This approach should be less costly than the $19 million full system replacement the Department of Technology had previously approved.
STO will award the contract to a single vendor, although Ross said respondents are free to use subcontractors as long as they meet all the qualifications.
The Debt Management System is the book of record for the state’s debt. It was developed in two phases in 2002 and 2004. The STOS says the system as currently constructed is inflexible and does not have data controls and reporting capabilities needed to keep up with modern-day financial management requirements.
Reporting from Eyragon Eidam contributed to this report.
