Colleague Andrew McIntosh reports in this story that DGS is about to launch eProcurement, which as the name suggests, is a new Web-based procurement system.
After Andrew filed his story, we poked around a bit on the DGS Web site and found these paragraphs from a Jan. 30 DGS bulletin about the system. The bulletin was sent to all department directors (bold added for emphasis):
The Department of General Services Procurement Division (DGS/PD) anticipated rolling out the new statewide e-procurement system (eP) in February 2009. However, end-to-end system testing has not yet been completed, and there has been difficulty securing department system training attendance and department identification of its system administrators (and backup). Therefore, the DGS/PD has revised the implementation schedule with a new "go live" date of Monday, March 16, 2009. It is imperative that departments that have not yet done so submit the name and contact information of their designated system administrators (and backup) and register the appropriate staff for system training.
Failure to identify System Administrators and submit their contact information to the DGS/PD may result in delays to contract advertisements and registering contract entries in the DGS/PD's California State Contracts Register (CSCR) and the State Contract Procurement and Registration System (SCPRS).
DGS first put out the call for trainees on Aug. 1, and at the time planned to launch the system in October. It repeated the request on Sept. 9.
Three days later, Sept. 12, DGS put off the October launch and the employee training that was scheduled for Sept. 15. The reason: the budget impasse, according to this bulletin.
What are we to make of this, if anything?
Obviously, this is one relatively small example of how the budget mess disrupted the state's business. Is this also an example of communication breakdown in state government? Did this slide down management's priority list as other, more pressing issues piled up? What has your experience been when new technology is introduced on your state job? Even the best technology doesn't work if humans don't learn how to use it.
We're considering this broader topic for our weekly column. It all depends on what we hear from you. If you're interested in being part of that, shoot us an e-mail at jortiz@sacbee.com or call (916) 321-1043.
IMAGE: www.spi.dgs.ca.gov
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