Code reviser publishes final competitive contracting rules
April 7, 2004
The state code reviser on April 7 published the final rules that will govern competitive contracting, to take effect July 2005. General Administration Director Rob Fukai said he is confident in the rules because of the manner in which they were written.
“We employed a very open and transparent process in writing the rules,” Fukai said. “We kept more than 800 stakeholders informed at every step. We also made our proposals available to all interested parties on the Internet. We believe this is what made for a smooth process over the six months in which we gathered comments and applied them to the rules.”
Along with publication of the rules, the Department of General Administration is issuing a summary of how public comments were incorporated into the rule-adoption process. The document is referred to as the “Concise Explanatory Statement.” It is available on the General Administration web site: http://www.ga.wa.gov/competitivecontracting/index.html
Agencies and employees urged to gain education about rules
Competitive contracting takes effect July 1, 2005 as part of several changes mandated in the Personnel System Reform Act of 2002. It will remove the prohibition against the contracting of services “traditionally and historically provided by state employees.”
Fukai said agencies should begin preparing now, by evaluating the cost and efficiency of their current services, to be ready for competitive contracting. An agency’s decision to competitively contract for a service – or not to – will likely receive considerable public scrutiny.
“GA is available to help,” Fukai said.
Next step focuses on training
General Administration is working 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 competitive contracting manual that will be designed to help guide state agencies and employees through the process.
Sections that have already been developed:
- Determining the cost of government services.
- Developing alternatives.
- Establishing business requirements and evaluating risk.
More information is available at: http://www.ga.wa.gov/competitivecontracting/index.html
Review of comments in developing rules
General Administration reviewed 354 comments received during the public comment period about the proposed contracting rules. The comments varied from general concerns about the process to some precise analyses, Fukai said.
The comments resulted in 14 clarifications to the proposed rules. Highlights of the clarifications included:
- Definition of a “displaced employee.” The adopted rule defines a displaced employee as a classified employee, whose position or work would be eliminated, resulting in the employee being laid off or assigned to a different job classification as the result of a bid award during the competitive contracting process.
- A specific time period between which a state agency rejects an alternative to soliciting bids from potentially displaced employees to when it can publish a solicitation. This ensures that potentially displaced employees have time to form an Employee Business Unit (EBU) if their alternative is rejected.
- Clarifying a requirement that state agencies specify resources available to potentially displaced employees to consider forming one or more EBUs and development of a “resource plan” to prepare their bid.
- Clarifications recommended by the state’s Executive Ethics Board. This ensures that an employee can be considered for employment by the entity awarded the contract if the EBU’s bid is unsuccessful.
Fukai said he carefully considered but chose not to make several proposed changes. Several of the suggestions exceeded the requirements of the Personnel System Reform Act. Others limited discretion of agency directors or were overly rigid.
Examples of suggested changes that were not made:
- Not adding decision standards beyond those already established in the law.
- Not imposing wage requirements.
April 7 also marks the beginning of a 60-day period in which appeals can be made to the rules. Appeals must focus on how an adopted rule is “substantially different” from the proposed rule.
“We started with a clean slate and then built an extensive stakeholder involvement process to arrive at the adopted rules,” said David Gomez, a management analyst at General Administration who was involved in writing the rules. “We are very satisfied that the team achieved its goals.”