According to Ohio Governor John Kaisch, “economic competitiveness” will be the focus for Ohio’s upcoming fiscal years, in which the state will be placing heavy emphasis on job creation. Governor Kaisch outlined several goals expected to drive this transformation within the state which includes:

• Improving Education for All Children: Creating a “world-class” education system that increases achievement and provides high-quality opportunities for all students.
• Helping More Students Get Degrees:  Increasing the current percentage (25%) of Ohioans with a bachelor’s degree, so they are able to get on an expedited course to long-term success and stability.
• Cutting and Reforming Taxes: Cutting small business taxes in half for the first $750,000 in net income, income taxes by 20 percent and state sales tax rate from 5.5 percent to 5.0 percent to help low-income Ohioans who pay no income taxes.
• Making Medicaid Work Better: Helping more low-income and working Ohioans have access to health care through Medicaid. This is expected to improve the health of vulnerable Ohioans, and helps free up local funds for enhanced mental health and addiction services.
• Meeting Ohio’s Crucial Transportation Needs: Investing O$3 billion into the Ohio Turnpike in order to strengthen the transportation network. Additional highway dollars raised by the sale of the new Turnpike bonds will help accelerate other highway projects in Northern Ohio.
• Creating a Smarter, More Efficient State Government: Making sure state agencies are providing sustainable value to Ohioans, a high level of care for the state’s most vulnerable citizens and a jobs-friendly environment for future prosperity.

Health care seems to be taking the lead as far as budget share goes for both FY 2014 and 2015 (See Figure 1). The appropriation for the upcoming fiscal years has increased tremendously, due to a national shift in focus on health-related technologies. If approved, the Ohio Department of Health could receive nearly $650 million in both FY 2014 and 2015. This does not include all the other major health-related agencies within the state such as the Department of Mental Health, the Department of Aging, and the Department of Medicaid. When these entities are included, health care in Ohio could be receiving approximately $26 billion in FY 2014 and $28 billion in FY 2015. As mentioned earlier, one of Ohio’s goals for the upcoming years is improving Medicaid. Funding will be used to tackle issues such as fraud, waste and abuse in order to enhance Medicaid’s efficiency. Payment processes are also expected to be improved, where Ohio will reward hospitals based on quality as oppose to volume. Medicaid is the largest program in the state budget and has a recommended General Revenue Fund (GRF) of $15.1 billion for FY 2014; $16.8 billion FY 2015.

Figure 1

Part of the plan in Ohio for Medicaid and Health care will be to streamline health and human services (HHS) program. This includes modernizing eligibility determination systems and improving state agency operations. The Ohio Department of Administrative Services is in the process of securing services for ongoing Organization Change Management Services to support the rollout and production operations of the Integrated Eligibility and HHS Business Intelligence (BI) System. The development and implementation of the integrated Eligibility and HHS BI System is a multi-phase, multi-year project. Accenture was awarded the contract to build the new system back in February 2013. The contract is worth over $300 million, and will expire in October 2018. 

For more information on Ohio’s FY 2014-2015 budget, download an extended version of this article here.

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With more than 70 statewide term contracts from Mississippi’s IT Hardware Express Products List (EPL), it’s evident that the IT hardware category is a hot one in today’s market. The state took one solicitation and created 70-plus contracts offering a wide range of products including desktop/mobile-based computers, GIS-level workstations, monitors, printers/scanners, servers, storage, and video-conferencing equipment.

Mississippi has 77 approved manufacturers and 99 resellers on the IT Hardware EPL. While there is no confirmed spend value for statewide term contracts since they are based on purchases over the course of a contract, vendors may see large returns; statewide term contracts offer a large range of products and are available for use by all Mississippi agencies, universities, colleges and governing authorities.

The state has a purchase limit for users of $200,000 per project, per fiscal year for the IT Hardware EPL, which notes the anticipated high value. Mississippi also requires customers to obtain quotes from at least two EPL sellers if their purchase will be more than $50,000, which increases vendor competition. Another benefit to the EPL is that new sellers can submit proposals to get in on the action every six months.

Mississippi’s EPL Interactive website provides in-depth contract, vendor and pricing information, specifically for the IT Hardware EPL contract, but is not as robust with spending information. The site allows users to search by category, manufacturer, and seller name. You can also search by manufacturer reseller group, where a manufacturer sets a not-to-exceed price that resellers must obey; from there, some resellers will offer discounts on that manufacturer’s price. They keep this updated as the manufacturer changes any products on their website to make sure it meets state requirements.

Displayed in Table 1 are the different IT hardware categories offered under the EPL. The audio-visual components class is offered by 20 manufacturers and 66 resellers, the most of all categories. Interactive devices, which include whiteboards, voting devices and displays, is a close second with 18 manufacturers and 64 resellers. Some vendors offer both of those top contracts, like the Visix Term Contract. Deltek’s State & Local Term Contract resource has a searchable, saveable, living record for each of the more than 70 Mississippi IT hardware contracts, and 1,200 IT hardware term contracts throughout the United States.

Key take-aways

The IT Hardware EPL contract is set to expire in June 2014, and the state has indicated a replacement RFP will be released in April 2014. If IT hardware vendors don’t want to wait for the new solicitation, they can get on this contract in the next update cycle – the due date for proposals is June 4, 2013.

Forty-six states are using term contracts as an approach to purchase IT hardware. To explore more term contracts and gain insight into competitor contracts and pricing, check out Deltek’s State and Local Term Contracts resource. Not a Deltek subscriber? Click here to learn more about Deltek’s GovWin IQ database and take advantage of a free trial.

• North Carolina Information Technology Services (ITS) should develop and publish written guidance for developing state agency IT project cost and schedule estimates. The guidance should also describe the education, experience, and credentials needed by the personnel who develop the estimates.
• ITS should require state agencies to obtain independent validation of the accuracy and reasonableness of IT project estimates. Alternatively, ITS should require agencies to submit appropriate and adequate documentation so that ITS can evaluate and determine the accuracy and reasonableness of agency estimates.
• ITS should request that the General Assembly consider enacting state law to hold state agency managers accountable and require them to meet IT project cost and schedule estimates.
• ITS should develop and document a method to identify state agency IT projects that require the SCIO’s approval. ITS should also ensure that the EPMO Tool retains both historical and current information to allow for trending and analysis.
• ITS should develop and document procedures to verify state agency data in the EPMO Project Portfolio Management Tool.
• ITS should consider asking the General Assembly for the authority to ensure that ITS receives project status reports on schedule.

• Governors’ renewed interest in performance-based management, particularly in education
• More effort to cut corrections and incarceration costs by investing in probation, parole and electronic monitoring programs
• Heavy focus on Medicaid expansion (both for and against), and how to reduce its costs
• Increased dedication to developing a strong future workforce by establishing a wealth of present educational opportunities, led by digital learning platforms
• Amplified justice and public safety initiatives due to natural disasters (Hurricane Sandy) and national tragedies (the Newtown shootings)
• Continued plans to streamline and consolidate government operations through technology

• 2013 by vertical
• 2011-2013 comparison by vertical
• 2008-2013 average by vertical
• 2013 Agenda Item Popularity vs. 2011-2013 average by vertical
• Top 25 cross-over agenda items
• Agenda items with mention of technology, 2013
• Agenda items mentioned by state, 2013
• Community development, economic development/regulation, natural resources/environment, and transportation agenda items, 2013
• Education agenda items, 2013
• General government services and public finance agenda items, 2013
• Health care and social services agenda items, 2013
• Justice/public safety agenda items, 2013

With an overall increase of just more than 4.5 percent, Pennsylvania Governor Corbett’s $66.7 billion fiscal year (FY) 2014 budget shows signs of increasing economic strength for the commonwealth. Major reform initiatives include selling the state liquor system to invest in education, modernizing Pennsylvania’s transportation infrastructure and overhauling state pension systems. The sale of the state liquor system is anticipated to generate $1 billion and will fund the Passport for Learning Block Grant for school districts that can use the funding to enhance access to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) programs as well as for other initiatives.

From a vertical standpoint, health care, primary and secondary education and justice and public safety all saw increases hovering around 5 percent. The increase in health care can be attributed to expansion of services for disabled and older Pennsylvanians and children, and increased funding for state health centers. According to Acting Secretary of Health Michael Wolf, “In Pennsylvania, two million people live in communities that the federal government has designated as medically underserved.” 

Table 1: Pennsylvania Total Fiscal Year IT Line Items Budget

Overall spending on information technology projects increased 15 percent from FY 2013, much of which was designated toward general departmental IT modernization efforts, including shared service delivery under the Office of Enterprise Technology Services. The Technology Innovation Investment Fund received $7.7 million for enterprise and agency-specific innovation initiatives. The Governor’s Innovation Office has also prioritized specific IT projects in FY 2014 include the streamlining of print, imaging and mail operations, and implementation of electronic grants processing, which are expected to save the state $7 million and $50 million, respectively.

For a full analysis of Pennsylvania’s FY 2014 budget, see Deltek’s analysis, available here.

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Day four of Deltek’s recognition of Sunshine Week continues promoting transparency in the name of efficient, effective and ethical government. The state of Maryland has long prioritized efficiency, transparency, and IT investment for the greater good of its constituency, and in doing so, has fostered an engaged citizenry and vendor community. The Maryland Consulting and Technical Services (CATS) contracts embody those priorities and are now entering their third generation as a streamlined procurement strategy for supporting information technology projects.  

The Maryland Department of Information Technology established the CATS program to allow state agencies to quickly and efficiently obtain IT consulting and technical services from a pre-qualified pool of vendors with services in 17 functional areas ranging from Web and Internet services to information system security and software engineering. 

The CATS methodology is often referred to as two-step procurement, with the first step qualifying a group of suppliers under one or more set of requirements, or functional areas. The second step allows using agencies to solicit responses from the aforementioned qualified vendors for a business need defined in a request for resumes (RFR) or a task order request for proposals (TORFP), depending on job’s anticipated value. 

Most two-step statewide term contracts close their curtains after the first, or qualification phase. This is often in contrast to other contracts in those same states whose award totals and contract documents are available. Since the first generation CATS contract was initiated in 2005, Maryland has not only made labor rates quoted in the qualification phase available, but also made the status and results of the second, or TORFP phase, transparent via the CATS website. Information provided includes the requesting agency, TORFP document, number of proposals submitted, awarded vendor, award amount, and in the case of CATS II, the MBE fulfillment. The Maryland Department of Information Technology also maintains a dashboard detailing CATS contract activity:

With a little bit of extra lifting with CATS data, we can see that 15 vendors have grossed more than $10 million in TORFP awards since 2005.

Of course, these are just a fraction of the 435 vendors qualified under CATS II. Additionally, there are more than 150,000 labor rates submitted under CATS II than can be viewed individually by vendors on the CATS II site or queried, sorted and downloaded by GovWin IQ members at the S&L Term Contract resource.

Sevice offerings under CATS II are classified under 17 functional areas and so by reviewing TORFP awards we can see what type of assistance state agencies are most often seeking.

After two successful generations of contracts with the original CATS and then CATS II, the Maryland Department of Information Technology decided to forge ahead with CATS Plus, and on July 2, 2012, released an RFP tracked under GovWin IQ Opportunity ID 51373.  Proposals were accepted on or before August 8, 2012, and awards are expected in April 2013. The department expects the third generation contract vehicle to engage more than 300 vendors and to exceed $400 million in spending volume in its five-year contract term, taking the total volume of the CATS contracts to nearly $1 billion.

Analyst’s Take 

Maryland’s CATS contracts provide a streamlined opportunity for IT professional services vendors to do business with the state directly or through partner opportunities. The transparency of the program also allows for insight into competitors’ pricing and successful bids. 

Look for more states to use statewide term contracts similar to CATS in the future and to additionally offer pricing and spending data around those contracts. Rest assured that GovWin IQ will be looking for those opportunities and including pricing in our State and Local Term Contract resource and the spending in our analysis activities.

Deltek will publish a full-length report, “State Government Transparency Report 2013,” providing detailed itemized IT expenditures for the state of Maryland and many other states in the coming weeks.

GovWin IQ subscribers can learn more about these statewide contracts in the provided links. Non-subscribers can gain access with a GovWin IQ free trial.