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An Audit Report on a Selected Contract at the Department of Information Resources

May 2021

Summary Analysis

The Department complied with statutes related to contract planning and procurement for the Public Cloud Manager services contract. However, several aspects of the Department’s vendor scoring process related to the procurement of the contract did not consistently follow Department policies and procedures or lacked documentation that would help ensure transparency of the process.

In addition, the Department should ensure that (1) all of its addenda to the RFO are reviewed and approved prior to being posted and (2) its project management plan is finalized and approved.

The Department should also ensure that (1) the required disclosure forms are consistently completed by its staff and (2) members of its governing board complete the required contracting training.

The Department followed its administrative procedures relating to vendor protests and complied with Public Information Act request requirements related to the Public Cloud Manager contract.

 Jump to Overall Conclusion

Although the Department accurately tabulated the vendors’ scores in each round, several aspects of the Department’s vendor scoring were either inconsistent or lacked documentation that would help ensure transparency of the scoring process. For example:

  • Evaluators did not consistently provide justifications for their scores.
  • The Department did not maintain documentation that clearly showed when the scores were finalized for each round.
  • The Department did not score the experience and past performance scores for both vendors in the second round, despite having received revised information from both prospective vendors.
  • The minimum vendor qualifications was not consistent between the RFO, the evaluation plan, and the evaluators’ scoring sheets.
  • The Department did not communicate consistent evaluation criteria to the vendors after final scoring as it moved to the negotiations phase of the procurement process.
  • The Department did not present the final weighted scores of the procurement in its vendor debrief with Cloud 49.

Jump to Chapter 1 

The Department posted the RFO and the eight addenda to the RFO on the ESBD for the appropriate time frame in accordance with applicable rules and statutes. However, the Department posted addenda 1 and 2, which were made up of administrative changes such as date changes, to the ESBD without obtaining documented review and approval from the Department’s Source Evaluation Board as required by Department policies. Not obtaining the required review and approval presents a risk that changes to the solicitation documents may contain errors, which could affect the length or accuracy of the solicitation process.

Jump to Chapter 2-A 

The Department performed the required contract planning activities necessary for identifying the contract objective and procurement strategy. However, the Department did not ensure that the project management plan developed for the Next Generation DCS program was finalized and approved.

The purpose of the project management plan was to provide the overall guidelines under which the Next Generation DCS program was going to be organized, administered, and managed to ensure timely accomplishment of objectives. The initial estimated budget for the first four years of the contracts related to those procurements was approximately $760 million.

Jump to Chapter 2-B 

The Department did not consistently collect statutorily required nepotism and conflict of interest disclosures from its employees involved in the procurement of the audited contract. Verifying that the required nepotism and conflict of interest disclosure forms were completed by all applicable individuals would help ensure that the procurement process is fair and objective. The Department did ensure that all individuals involved in the procurement signed nondisclosure agreements.

The Department did not verify that all of its governing board members received required contracting training. Verifying that all board members received the required contracting training was necessary, considering the importance of their role in the oversight of the Department’s contracting processes.

Jump to Chapter 3 

The Department followed its vendor protest procedures and complied with Public Information Act request requirements for the Public Cloud Manager Services contract.

Jump to Chapter 4 

Graphics, Media, Supporting documents

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