Editor's Notebook: Harvest Time for RFPs

As befits harvest season, the last couple of weeks and the next couple hold the prospect of a bountiful time for enterprising vendors. Low-hanging fruit is presenting itself for those seeking to do business with California state government, its 58 counties, and its more than 1,200 cities and special districts.

Last weekend kicked off the fall conference of the California County Information Services Directors Association (CCISDA), with the appropriate theme “Waves of Change” beckoning CIOs, GISOs, CTOs, network managers, vendors and account reps to the friendly shores of Monterey. Breakout sessions over the four days addressed topics including cybersecurity, GIS, automation and machine learning, and virtually every session had a healthy turnout. There was even an icebreaker for non-CIOs in the form of a scavenger hunt — something involving hidden painted rocks and team selfies. Hilarity ensued.

Want to see a vendor squirm? Give a few dozen of them one minute each — and not a second more — to make their best elevator pitch to a roomful of their peers. With San Joaquin County CIO Jerry Becker (and CCISDA First Vice President) serving as mic wrangler and timekeeper, the exercise put the participants through their paces. Some had their pitches timed precisely to end just as the clock ran out; others finished way early, or were cut off halfway through. Some wore golf shirts with their company logo; one wore a Batman cowl. One bloke delivered his pitch in the form of a rap, including name-checks of various California counties.

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Fresh on the heels of the CCISDA conference, this week also marked Techwire’s Industry Briefing, this one featuring Kevin Matsuo, CIO of the California Department of Education, who brought along a posse of colleagues and deputies to help deliver his message to a roomful of vendors: Although his IT budget is lean, Matsuo nevertheless wants to hear from those who want to do business with the state. The dozens of folks in attendance took advantage of the Q-and-A session afterward to probe for specifics on software, state compliance issues and other topics. Between Matsuo and his crew, no question went unanswered.

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And the beat goes on: If you missed CCISDA and this week’s briefing with Matsuo, don’t worry: Techwire has you covered when it comes to hearing from CIOs and sniffing out RFPs and other opportunities on the horizon.

* On Wednesday, Nov. 1, we’ll host another Techwire Virtual Briefing — this one with Jonathan Behnke, CIO of San Diego. In a phone call Thursday, Behnke said his county has plenty of RFPs on the horizon — some of them quite large. This is one briefing you won’t want to miss.

* On Thursday, Nov. 9, CIOs and others will be spotlighted at Techwire’s “State of Technology” California Industry Forum in Sacramento. Among the speakers: Amy Tong, CIO of the California Department of Technology; Chris Cruz, deputy CIO and CDT’s chief deputy director; Daniel C. Kim, director of the Department of General Services; Joe Panora, a fellow with the Center for Digital Government and a veteran of state IT leadership; and Joseph Morris, vice president of research for the Center for Digital Government.  

* On Thursday, Nov. 16, Techwire shifts its gaze south to the Industry Briefing -- Southern California, with IT executives from Los Angeles County government discussing their departments’ needs and plans and prospects. LA County has been making lots of news this year with its ambitious IT plans, and this event promises to offer much grist for the mill.