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CDT's 'Streamlining' Message Strikes Chord With Vendors

Vendors say they gleaned useful information about state government procurement and liked the direction outlined by leaders of the California Department of Technology at the agency’s biannual Vendor/Partner Forum.

Vendors said Wednesday that they gleaned useful information about state government procurement and liked the direction outlined by leaders of the California Department of Technology (CDT) at the agency’s biannual Vendor/Partner Forum.

Streamlining elements of contracts, making state oversight more efficient and continuing to harden the state’s cyberdefenses were among the key topics addressed at the forum, which filled a large conference room at the California Lottery building in Sacramento.

“With Calnet 4, the Department of Technology is taking a creative approach — developing specific categories that will not all expire at same time, but more align with maturity of technology,” said Joe Panora, former IT director for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. “Great concept! Provides greater flexibility as the field of telecommunications, voice/data integration is truly unified and constantly expanding.”

CDT and the state Department of General Services, which was also part of Wednesday's forum, have been emphasizing their efforts to treat the private sector as partners rather than merely as vendors — and that appealed to some in the audience, as well.

“The message from CDT and DGS is clear: Streamlined procurement and expanded collaboration with the IT community is the state’s key to success,” said Chad Hodges, vice president of business development for Enterprise Networking Solutions Inc. “As a strong State of California partner, ENS-Inc has and continues to be excited for all the projects we are working on together.”

The forum also included updates on CalNET — the California Network and Telecommunications program focused on serving the state’s critical telecommunications and network business needs. 

That was valuable to Verizon’s Jenifer Mojonnier, program manager for state and local government and education for California and Texas.

“I have attended all of the previous vendor forums and find that at each one of them, CDT has shared valuable information that the vendor community should be made aware of as a whole,” Mojonnier told Techwire in an email. “For me, all of the information is good to know and be informed about, but specifically I was interested in the procurement [contracts] and security matters that were addressed today and in previous vendor forums.”

State CIO Amy Tong and Deputy CIO Chris Cruz also updated vendors on the status of the state’s ongoing cloud migration efforts.

That was good news for Scott Drossos, president of Infiniti Consulting Group.

“The emphasis on cloud migration is exciting, and it’s especially relevant for Infiniti,” he said, as his firm offers a suite of AWS cloud services. “I like the direction they’re going in.”

Dennis Noone is Executive Editor of Industry Insider. He is a career journalist, having worked at small-town newspapers and major metropolitan dailies including USA Today in Washington, D.C.