Streamline Procurement by Innovating IT Staff Augmentation

Grow District's Tech Economy by Transforming Staffing Procurement

District of Columbia Signs New Best-Practice Technology Staff Contract

The District of Columbia’s Office of Contracting and Procurement (OCP) and Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO) today announced the execution of a new information technology (IT) staff augmentation contract that promises to transform the District’s IT staff augmentation (ITSA) process. The new contract will inaugurate an innovative method of procuring IT contract staff resources and save the District millions of dollars annually on technology spending.

OCP and OCTO developed the new ITSA structure after a six-month study of IT staff procurement in the District and other states. The study found the District’s process too costly and time consuming, and found 80 percent of vendors were dissatisfied based on lack of transparency, lack of opportunity, and slow payment. The study also found that at least 18 other states have solved similar problems through a new structure in which one or more prime contractors provide capped rates for IT staff positions and subcontract with other vendors to fill them. This best-practice structure formed the basis for the District’s ITSA Request for Proposal (RFP).

The new contract requires that 95 percent of the total spend go to District Certified Business Enterprises (CBEs). The new process also widens opportunity and transparency for all businesses by enabling all vendors to see all IT staff procurement opportunities--online and in real time--including, the winning bidder, the rates, and the program manager who selected the bidder.

The new ITSA contract will deliver major cost savings and other benefits for the District and its IT staffing vendors. These benefits include:

• An estimated $10 million in annual savings on IT staff costs alone;


• Increasing the speed of IT staff procurement from the FY 2007 average of 37 business days to a projected average of 10 business days;


• Freeing 60 percent of OCP’s technology procurement staff time and 16,000 hours annually in OCTO program manager time for more mission-critical initiatives;


• Improving the transparency of the IT staff procurement process; and


• Substantially increasing CBE participation in IT staffing contracts from 71 percent in FY 2007 to the 95 percent required under the contract.

Because the new ITSA contract represents a significant change in current ways of doing business, OCP and OCTO worked with the District Department of Small and Local Business Development (DSLBD) and the District of Columbia Council to explain the new structure to stakeholders, and incorporate their views, well before contract execution. OCP, OCTO, and DSLBD held a two-hour pre-proposal conference for the business community on May 6, 2008 and included recommendations from attendees in the RFP. OCTO created a website, http://itsa.dc.gov/, dedicated to providing information about the proposed contract for vendors and the general public. Councilmember Carol Schwartz, Chair of the Committee on Workforce Development and Government Operations, held a five-hour hearing on August 7 and requested modifications in the contract based on the hearing. OCP and OCTO fulfilled all the requested modifications, and the contract parties executed them following DC Council approval of the contract.

The contract modifications:

• Reduce the contract cap from $150 million per year to $75 million per year;


• Clarify the relationship between the prime contractor and the CBE subcontractors;


• Require the prime contractor to create a dispute resolution and appeal process;


• Ensure that each subcontracting vendor is in good standing as to tax status;


• Require each subcontracting vendor to adopt the terms of the First Source Act; and


• Require OCP and OCTO to report to the Mayor and the DC Council semiannually on the usage of the contract by the District government.

This contract kicks off a new era of greater openness and broader opportunity in the District’s procurement of IT staff,” said District of Columbia Mayor Adrian M. Fenty. “I commend OCP and OCTO for their hard work. I thank the Council, and especially Councilmember Schwartz, for their leadership in making this excellent idea a reality.”

With this new contract, the District joins the ranks of states around the nation that are reforming procurement in the public interest,” added District Chief Procurement Officer David Gragan. “The new ITSA structure provides government efficiency, cost savings, and fairness.”

"We are always looking for ways to use technology to increase transparency and efficiency in government operations,” said District Chief Technology Officer Vivek Kundra. “With this new vehicle, we’ll bring highly qualified staff on board much faster and at lower rates. And finally technologists can focus on technology without having to continuously interrupt their work to conduct recurring and predictable procurement actions.”

To learn more about DC Government technology initiatives and resources, visit http://www.octo.dc.gov/. To learn more about DC Government procurement opportunities, visit http://www.ocp.dc.gov/.

District of Columbia Launches New Intranet

The District of Columbia’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO) today announced the release of a new Intranet portal that will provide District employees a broad array of new tools and transform the ways they communicate and work together.

The new portal will open to a home page that presents both Mayoral news and up-to-date news releases from all District agencies. For the first time, employees will have instant access to all the breaking news that affects their jobs and their lives as residents of the District metropolitan area—everything from health advisories from the Department of Health to road work announcements from the Department of Transportation to tips on summer fun from the Department of Parks and Recreation.

Also available right from the homepage will be a brand-new video training center. The portal will now provide video of virtually every training class conducted in the District government—from management training required for MSS employees to Continuing Legal Education to computer classes. Now employees will be able to complete training requirements—and take all the elective job enrichment courses they want—on their own schedules. No longer will they have to miss critical classes because of meetings, illness or vacation.

The home page will also link to a fast and multi-faceted search capability. For example, employees will be able to search for any other District official and get a handy information page complete with agency, title, contact information and even a picture of the individual and a map to his or her office. Employees will also be able to search for any address or point of interest in the District and get a picture of the building along with a detailed map of its location.

Employees will also be able to use the new portal to obtain and provide information about themselves, their agencies, and important issues affecting the District government. The portal offers a "DCpedia" that is modeled on Wikipedia and uses the same technology. Like Wikipedia, DCpedia is a free, open-content online encyclopedia created through the collaborative effort of the user community—in this case, the more than 39,000 employees of the District government. Any user of the new Intranet can post information to DCpedia, and anyone can edit it. The system contains an automatic check against misleading information—each entry identifies the time, date, and individual submitting it.

Equally exciting is a new common platform for document review and editing. With this new feature, employees in different units, agencies, even buildings, will be able to collaborate on documents like contracts, MOUs, legislation, regulations, press releases and more, without the need for long meetings or extended email chains.

The new home page will be a gateway to a wide variety of other resources. It will connect directly to all agency Intranet websites and to frequently used information sources like the District Personnel Manual. The home page will also link to critical citywide applications like HR, the PASS procurement system, the citywide email system and more.

"With our new Intranet portal, we’re aiming to make work life in the District richer, more efficient, and also more exciting," said District of Columbia City Administrator Dan Tangherlini. "We’re creating a virtual community and an open market of ideas and resources to empower employees so that they can deliver better informed and higher quality service to our customers."

In building the new portal, OCTO used flexible, low-cost open-source technology to make the portal functionally versatile and reduce expenditures. The choice of open-source technology drove the total cost of the portal down from an original estimate of $10 million to a final total of only $500,000.

“The new Intranet is just one example of OCTO’s ongoing efforts to deploy the most cost-effective and innovative technologies to enhance all areas of District operations,” said District Chief Technology Officer Vivek Kundra. “We are leveraging the successes of consumer technology to create opportunities for collaboration and to impact productivity District-wide.”

Learn more about DC government technology initiatives and resources.

Vivek Kundra on Government Technology TV–Procurement 2.0

Vivek Kundra, chief technology officer for Washington D.C., describes how Web 2.0 tools are improving procurement for the city government.