BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION
Senator Isadore Hall, III
Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: AB 522 Hearing Date: 7/14/2015
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|Author: |Burke |
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|Version: |5/28/2015 Amended |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant:|Felipe Lopez |
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SUBJECT: Public contracts: information technology: contractor
performance assessment report
DIGEST: This bill requires the Director of Technology, by
January 1, 2017, to develop a standardized contractor
performance assessment report system to evaluate the performance
of a contractor on any information technology (IT) contract or
project reportable to the Department of Technology (Caltech), as
provided.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1)Establishes Caltech within the Government Operations Agency.
2)Provides that Caltech is responsible for the approval and
oversight of specified IT projects.
3)Sets forth requirements for the acquisition of goods and
services by state agencies and sets forth the various
responsibilities of the Department of General Services (DGS)
and other state agencies in overseeing and implementing state
contracting procedures and policies.
4)Generally requires that all contracts for the acquisition of
IT goods or services be made by or under the supervision of
DGS.
AB 522 (Burke) Page 2 of ?
This bill:
1)Requires the Director of Technology, by January 1, 2017, to
develop a standardized contractor performance assessment
report system to evaluate the performance of a contractor on
any IT contract or project reportable to Caltech.
2)Specifies that the contractor performance assessment report
system shall include, but is not limited to, an objective
evaluation of the performance of the contractor, information
about the type of contract or project and whether or not that
contract or project was completed on time, and information
about the number of completed contracts or projects by the
contractor.
3)Provides that upon the development of the contractor
performance assessment report system, the Director of
Technology shall implement the contractor performance
assessment report system for all IT contracts and projects.
4)Specifies that the contractor performance assessment report
system shall, in addition to any other applicable information
technology procurement procedures, be utilized to evaluate and
award any IT contract or project awarded pursuant to the
provisions of this bill.
Background
Purpose of the bill. According to the author, "over the past
several years, the State of California has experienced many
difficulties with IT projects that have resulted in projects
going over budget, over time, and in some cases not working at
all. As indicated in the recent state auditor report between
1994 and 2013 the state terminated or suspended seven IT
projects after spending nearly $1 billion and currently the
state has 45 IT projects under development that are reported to
cost more than $4 billion."
The author further argues that, "currently the federal
government relies heavily on past performance of vendors as an
evaluation criterion and has implemented a system known as the
Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS).
This provides real-time data that is collected through the use
of a report card that evaluates vendor performance in key areas
AB 522 (Burke) Page 3 of ?
that are directly correlated to the quality of work, including
project schedule, cost control, project management,
communication, and compliance. Providing a means to collect
real-time data on vendor's performance during an IT project
offers a significant benefit to California by offering a
relevant way to assess quality of work, gauging actual customer
satisfaction, and creating an incentive to maximize performance
on contracts."
Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS).
CPARS is a web-enabled application that collects and manages the
library of automated Contractor Performance Assessment Reports
(CPAR). A CPAR assesses a contractor's performance and provides
a record, both positive and negative, on a given contractor
during a specific period of time. Each assessment is based on
objective facts and supported by program and contract management
data, such as cost performance reports, customer comments,
quality reviews, technical interchange meetings, financial
solvency assessments, construction/production management
reviews, contractor operations reviews, functional performance
evaluations, and earned contract incentives.
Prior/Related Legislation
SB 624 (Anderson, 2015) establishes the Office of Accessible
Technology within Caltech to monitor and facilitate compliance
of state and federal laws relating to the accessibility of
technology. (Held on the Senate Appropriations Suspense File)
AB 573 (Pan, 2015) establishes the position of Chief Data
Officer (CDO) in state government and requires the CDO to create
a statewide open data portal by January 1, 2017. (Pending in
Assembly Privacy and Consumer Protection)
AB 2523 (Cooley, Chapter 391, Statutes of 2014) required Caltech
to review a specified project management methodology manual and,
based on that review, provide a report to the Legislature by
July 1, 2016, recommending how a team of senior consulting IT
experts can assist senior department executives charged with
oversight of major IT projects.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.: Yes Local: No
AB 522 (Burke) Page 4 of ?
SUPPORT:
Natoma Technologies
OPPOSITION:
None received
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: According to Natoma Technologies,
"currently, State IT procurements qualify vendors via irrelevant
and arbitrary data points that include the vendor's annual
revenue, the size of previous contracts the vendor has acquired,
and whether a vendor can provide a positive reference. To be
clear, most vendors can identify someone associated with the
project who will speak positively about it, rendering the highly
used reference method rather arbitrary. While conclusions can
be made from collecting this type of data, it falls short of
providing key evaluation criteria that actually matter for
successful IT projects."
Natoma Technologies further argues that, "providing a means to
collect real time data on a vendor's performance during an IT
project offers significant benefits to the State by offering
relevant ways to assess quality of work, gauging actual customer
satisfaction, and creating a powerful incentive for vendor's to
maximize their performance on current contracts."