The California Department of Technology issued a letter this week describing and updates its IT procurement authority.
This year's AB 1817 "further aligns the IT project procurement authority of CDT while maintaining DGS' (Department of General Services) primary authority for the purchase of IT goods and services that are related to delegated IT projects, the development of statewide contract/leveraged procurement agreements for use, and the delegation of purchasing authority," the letter reads.
The letter outlines CDT's procurement authority in IT projects and updates several state administrative manual (SAM) items and statewide information management manual (SIMM) policies.
"These statutory changes provide CDT authority to procure IT goods and services related to IT projects that are not delegated to departments. This policy complements the 2018 statutory change by supporting CDT’s critical role and helps focus oversight on the most complex and high-risk IT projects," the letter states.
One SAM update changes the parameters for what puts a project under CDT's oversight.
"The new definition removes the artificial 500-hour threshold, which does not represent project risk, and shifts the project approval/oversight focus from the IT Project definition to the Project Delegation Criteria. Additionally, the definition of 'Reportable Project' was changed to ‘Non-Delegated Project,' and the definitions of 'Information Technology Reportable Procurement' and 'Information Technology Reportable Procurement Over the DGS Delegated Purchasing Authority' were removed to better align project-related terminology with procurement terminology," the letter reads.
It also provides more flexibility for agency information officers on how they define which projects require CDT oversight.
