Government Technology - April 2008 - (Page 46)

procurement S TAT E | LO C A L | F E D E R A L j j Synopsis: Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR) collects data on upcoming IT purchases from state agencies, hoping to use the figures to drive better bargains with vendors. inNumbers Strength Agency: Texas DIR. Contact: Thomas Johnson, public information officer, DIR, tomas.johnson@dir.state.tx.us, 512/475-4759. Texas collects data on planned IT purchases for greater clout with vendors. I APR_08 n Texas, as we all know, everything is bigger — that includes the state’s collective purchasing power. In fiscal 2007, public organizations that bought IT products through the state’s cooperative contracts spent $993 million. When a buyer negotiates with vendors, that kind of volume means power. “Our perspective is that Texas is a Fortune 500 company, and we expect pricing based on that,” said Cindy Reed, the deputy executive director of operations and statewide technology sourcing for the Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR). Reed’s office drives a hard bargain, she said. “But we’re never satisfied. We’re trying to do better.” One tool the DIR uses to advance its pursuit of better pricing is the Planned Procurement Schedule (PPS), an electronic spreadsheet state agencies use to report planned IT purchases. Launched in 2006, the PPS initiative remains a work in progress, though it’s already yielding benefits. If the DIR achieves its next goal — collecting PPS data from nonstate public entities that buy through state contracts — Texas officials hope for even more leverage at the bargaining table. The DIR created the PPS in response to HB 1516, a comprehensive IT consolidation bill passed by the Texas Legislature in 2005. The law requires the DIR to negotiate prices for IT commodities based on aggregate demand, and for state agencies to buy through the contracts the DIR negotiates unless an agency obtains a formal exemption. Agencies complete the PPS biannually by indicating the IT purchases they plan to make during the next four quarters. By collecting and assembling the data, the DIR can predict when vendors will see demand for certain products and what the volume will be. The DIR developed the PPS with four goals in mind. The first was to use the data to discover when different agencies planned to buy the same products and combine those purchases to achieve volume discounts. “The theory is that if we had five agencies wanting to buy computers at the same time, we could aggregate that under our contract and drive an even better price than what we have on our contract,” Reed said. A related goal was to assemble numbers the DIR could use in contract negotiations. Rather than simply assert that Texas should receive volume pricing because it’s a large buyer, procurement officials could refer to the actual size of the buys that government agencies planned to make. A third goal was to improve the mix of products included in state IT contracts. “If we saw 50 agencies were going to buy 46 BY MERRILL DOUGLAS | CONTRIBUTING WRITER http://www.govtech.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Government Technology - April 2008

Government Technology - April 2008 Contents Point of View Big Picture The Last Mile On the Scene Four Questions for... Freeze Frame How Safe Is Your Data? Easy Street Gadget Overload Indiana Overhaul First Person: A Better Bill Data Defense Strength in Numbers Public Storage Products Two Cents Spectrum Personal Computing signal:noise

Government Technology - April 2008

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