Competitive contracting manual aids process

June 24, 2004

State agencies and their employees have raised questions about competitive contracting. Many of these questions soon will be addressed in a nine-chapter manual to be published in the fall of 2004.

Since the competitive contracting rules process began, the Department of General Administration also has been developing a manual to describe the competitive contracting process and serve as a guide throughout the competitive contracting process.

“The manual is the result of a lot of hard work on the part of many people interested in the competitive contracting process,” said David Gomez, a management analyst at General Administration.

Gomez has been involved with the rules and manual development for almost a year. “We understand that state agencies provide a huge number of services,” said Gomez. “The manual is intended to be a guide and a companion to the process.”

The manual will be useful to a broad audience because it helps people understand fundamental details of business analysis and the contracting process.

The examples and illustrations in the manual focus on presenting a clear picture of competitive contracting when the option takes effect in July 2005.

Hundreds of people inside and outside of state government are now reviewing the draft manual currently available online at: http://www.ga.wa.gov/competitivecontracting/documents/CC-manual.doc

The combination of the competitive contracting rules and manual aim to provide a fair and consistent set of rules and processes that can be easily understood.

For more information on competitive contracting, check out some of the frequently asked questions at http://www.ga.wa.gov/competitivecontracting/faq.htm