Report 2016-124 Recommendation 9 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 #9 To: General Services, Department of

To ensure that it holds agencies accountable for implementing the corrective action plans that they submit with noncompetitive requests, General Services should immediately begin tracking all outstanding plans and following up to ensure that agencies complete them. For example, General Services should require an agency to include key dates in its corrective action plan that the agency plans to meet to conduct a competitive procurement and report its progress to General Services. Further, General Services should inquire about the steps that agencies have taken before the contract expiration dates in their most recent noncompetitive requests.

1-Year Agency Response

DGS is fully utilizing the Corrective Action Plan (CAP) spreadsheet to track and review data submitted in agencies' CAPs. DGS is also following-up with agencies' key action dates that come due, to ensure agencies are on task to complete items identified in their plan by way of emailing notifications to departments.

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

6-Month Agency Response

General Services (DGS) continues to track and review the data submitted in agencies' corrective action plans (CAP). DGS is also following-up with agencies' key action dates that come due, to ensure agencies are on task to complete items identified in their plan. A corrective action plan spreadsheet was created to track the activities associated with a particular CAP in place. In addition, DGS is currently finalizing the requirements for a new Non-Competitive Bid (NCB) system that allows agencies to electronically submit NCB requests via DGS' portal. One of the components of the system is electronic tracking of agencies' CAPs. The system will send push notifications to agencies when key action dates are coming due. DGS will start piloting the new system in December 2017 and will continue to implement the system.

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

60-Day Agency Response

DGS continues to track and review the data submitted in agencies' corrective action plans. In addition, DGS is also following-up with agencies' key action dates that come due, to ensure agencies are on task to complete items identified in their plan.

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

All Recommendations in 2016-124

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.