Contracting Rules: Comments Received, Rules Adopted

March 17, 2004

General Administration formally adopted final competitive contracting rules on March 17 and filed them with the state code revisor’s office. That office will publish the rules on April 7. General Administration will then share the rules with all stakeholders.

The rules take effect July 1, 2005. Competitive contracting will remove the prohibition against the contracting of services "traditionally and historically provided by state employees."

More than 800 stakeholders were involved in developing the rules over a six-month period. Of the 350 comments received during a six-week public comment period, 60 percent came from state employees. Labor organizations submitted the next-largest amount – 25 percent. Although hundreds of comments were provided, none resulted in substantive changes.

“We are pleased by that, but not surprised,” said Rob Fukai, director of General Administration. “We’re not surprised because of the effort GA expended to include stakeholders in the rules process. We were able to avoid conflicts and issues that could have derailed the process.”

A summary of the comments will be posted on the General Administration web site on April 7, the start of a 60-day period in which interested parties may ask for reconsideration of the rules or appeal them.

Key Issue

A key issue that surfaced concerned employee business units. The question: Could employees use state resources while preparing a bid during competitive contracting? The state's Executive Ethics Board concluded that state workers may use state resources when preparing a bid during competitive contracting, as long as they follow General Administration's rules for employee business units.

Next Step

The next step for General Administration is to work with the Department of Personnel to develop training for state agencies and employees about various aspects of the rules. The instruction is scheduled to begin next fall. General Administration is also working on a contracting manual that will be designed to help guide state agencies and employees through the process. Find more information at: http://www.ga.wa.gov/competitivecontracting/index.html