Agency Trips on Request

Nothing seems to be going right for the Department of General Services.

The agency, which oversees the purchase of billions of dollars worth of goods and services for California government, has lately been tangled in the politically charged furor over a no-bid $95-million Oracle software contract. Director Barry Keene resigned several weeks ago, after the state auditor blasted the contract as one-sided and possibly unnecessary.

Last month, the department set out to improve its shopping practices.

The department followed standard operating procedure: It asked private industry to submit bids and proposals for a study of the state’s procurement laws, policies and manuals.

Trouble is, according to one big law firm that wishes that it could bid on the multimillion-dollar job, the request for proposals was written in such a way as to exclude any law firm with experience in state contracting.

What’s more, the request for proposals fails to include standard language on resolving disputes about the contractor’s performance.

The goal of studying the department’s procurement practices is “laudable and frankly long overdue,” wrote law firm Best, Best & Krieger in a letter last week to state Sen. Steve Peace (D-El Cajon). But the way that the department set about trying to solicit bids for the work “may well be some of the best evidence of the necessity for the study itself.”