Report 2016-124 Recommendation 2 Responses

Report 2016-124: Department of General Services and California Department of Technology: Neither Entity Has Provided the Oversight Necessary to Ensure That State Agencies Consistently Use the Competitive Bidding Process (Release Date: June 2017)

Recommendation #2 To: General Services, Department of

To improve its oversight of the State's noncompetitive contracts, General Services should, within 90 days, modify FI$Cal to include a standard amendment indicator to identify an item as an amendment, including the amendment number with respect to the contract, that agencies can use regardless of whether they make their procurements using FI$Cal. This indicator should ensure that General Services can reliably analyze and report on the number, values, and types of exemptions from competitive bidding of the State's contract amendments. General Services should notify all agencies of this change and ensure that the notification provides appropriate guidance for the use of the amendment indicator.

1-Year Agency Response

Per the DGS 6-month response, as of August 25, 2017, DGS implemented a new "Amendment Indicator" in FI$Cal. Additionally, DGS has updated the State Contracting Manual (Volume F) to provide users with detailed explanation regarding how to use the Amendment Indicator in FI$Cal and how to report Amendments in FI$Cal SCPRS. On May 23, 2018, DGS notified all agencies of the enhanced guidelines through Broadcast Bulletin F-06-18.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Fully Implemented

6-Month Agency Response

On August 25, 2017, FI$Cal implemented, within the 90 days, the new "Amendment Indicator." Now, when a department makes a change to any procurement transaction, they will need to select and record a change order reason from a predetermined list. General Services (DGS) is currently completing the training and communication materials, at which point, DGS will notify all agencies and provide additional guidance on the use of the indicator.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Pending

60-Day Agency Response

In July 2017, FI$Cal completed the requested application design updates and created an amendment indicator. DGS is finalizing and testing the resulting FI$Cal application changes in functionality. Once testing is complete and the training and communication materials are developed, DGS will notify all agencies and provide guidance on the use of the indicator.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Pending

All Recommendations in 2016-124

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.