General Administration invites stakeholder help in competitive contracting rules

September 2003

Several hundred representatives from business and labor groups have provided comments at a series of public workshops aimed at shaping the rules that will govern competitive contracting in Washington.

The Department of General Administration will continue the workshops in September. The department expects to file draft rules with the state code revisor's office in November, followed by a public comment period in January.

Competitive contracting would allow bidding for work customarily and historically done by state employees. This is slated to begin July 1, 2005. The chief concerns that stakeholders expressed during the workshops:

• There is no visible level of coordination among the agencies involved in shaping all facets, including competitive contracting, of the Personnel System Reform Act of 2002.
• All agencies need a common tool to use when deciding whether competitive contracting makes sense for them.
• Standards of service are needed to ensure accountability for any services that are subject to competitive contracting.
• Training must be made available to state employees to ensure they have fair and objective participation in competitive contracting.
• A definition is needed for the section of the rules that relates to work “customarily and historically” done by state employees.

Timeline for development of the Competitive Contracting Rules:

• Until Sept. 11: stakeholder workshops.
• December: filing of draft rules.
• January 2004: public comment period on draft rules.
• March 2004: adopt final rules.
• Fall 2004 through spring 2005: target dates for training about the rules.

A summary of the comments is available on General Administration's web site for competitive contracting at: http://www.ga.wa.gov/competitivecontracting/index.html