Closer Look: Caltrans Spends on Goods and Services

The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) spent about $62.5 million for IT goods, services and telecoms during the 2016-17 and 2017-18 fiscal years. 

The 2016-17 budget was about $9.7 billion and the 2017-18 budget was about $10.9 billion.

Key Figures:

Caltrans falls under the California State Transportation Agency, led by Secretary Brian Annis.

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Director: Laurie Berman

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Chief Deputy Director: Ryan Chamberlain

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Chief Information Officer: George Akiyama

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That included 2,000 purchase orders spread over 24 months, with the most orders in June 2017. That month included 770 orders, while November 2017 had two purchases. There is no data available on the State Contract and Procurement Registration System after November 2017.

Caltrans explains on its website how to bid on opportunities, but several projects are available only to companies with a Caltrans Bidding Connect account. The department also shares projects that are still in the planning stages here.

There is one RFP open, which will close on Oct. 16.

In all, 338 vendors contracted with the board.

The top five suppliers of IT goods for those two years were:

• NWN Corp. at $10.6 million
• Motorola Solutions at $5 million
• Mythics at $2.4 million
• NWN Solutions at $1.5 million
• Kovarus Inc. at $1.4 million

The top five suppliers for IT services for those two years were:

• Cambria Solutions at $1.7 million
• KPMG at $1.4 million
• Infiniti at $1.2 million
• TechTu at $944,886
• California State University, Chico, Research Foundation at $937,725

The largest monetary portion of those orders came under statewide contracts — previously negotiated terms with vendors over a set period of time, which can be competitively bid — $23.5 million. Separately, about $15.2 million in competitive bids helps to make up half of the two-year purchases. Another $11 million was spent in non-competitively bid contracts. These three methods make up about half the money spent in those two years.

About $49.8 million was spent on IT goods over the two-year period; $12.7 million was spent on IT services over the two years.

FY 2016-17 had a $41.7 million spend toward IT goods, and $11.8 million on IT services. In the following fiscal year, the department spent about $9 million on goods and services — $8.1 million on IT goods and $918,000 on IT services.

The department's summer 2018 performance report can be viewed here.

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Purchase documents and other records can be viewed here.

This data was taken from California's State Contract and Procurement Registration System (SCPRS) and has not been cleansed by Techwire.

Some procurement may have been fully or partially handled by or for another agency.