Procurement Consulting Services for State Agencies

The contracts liaison position within the DES procurement strategy team is available to consult for state agencies and institutions of higher education on procurement and contracting laws, policies, and best practices. In some instances the agency's delegated procurement authority may require working with the DES contracts liaison.

Services include:

• Supporting procurement strategy planning
• Statement of work development
• Risk assessment and mitigation strategies
• Requirements review
• Evaluation and financial scoring models
• Negotiation strategies and dispute resolution
• Performance-based contracting analysis, and process or performance resolution
• Coordination with DES Enterprise Procurement Policy Team and with representatives of the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) for large IT projects

Please contact Cindy Zielinski to take advantage of the consultation services at contractsliaison@des.wa.gov or (360) 407-8256.

New Procurement Services Program for Small Agencies

Enterprise Services has launched a new program to offer contracting and procurement services to small state agencies. Our mission for this new program, which was funded by the 2021 Legislature, is to provide small agencies with procurement and contracting services to help minimize enterprise procurement risk and maximize best value for the small agencies that do not have appropriate staffing and experience in this area.

Services include:

• Conducting competitive procurements on agency's behalf (cradle to grave)
• Filing sole source contracts
• Performing direct buy or master contract purchases
• Assisting agencies with Agency's Risk Assessment process

Who is eligible to receive these services?

Small agencies, defined as executive branch agencies, boards, and commissions that are subject to RCW 39.26 and have less than 100 employees qualify to receive the new procurement services. For the initial phase, using data from OFM's website, we identified a list of small agencies meeting the criteria.

In addition, small agencies with suspended delegation of procurement authority will also be eligible to receive services. After the initial phase (approximately 1 year), we plan to reassess the program and make any necessary adjustments to the list of customers.

Please contact Mark Vessey to take advantage of the new Small Agency services at DESProcurementConsulting@des.wa.gov or (360) 407-8728.