How Pennsylvania is Modernising IT Procurement

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Office of Administration (OA) has collaborated with the Department of General Services (DGS) to transform IT procurement through updated policies and streamlined processes.

Secretary of Administration, Neil Weaver and Secretary of General Services, Reggie McNeil, highlighted the collaboration by their agencies to modernise procurement for information technology projects. Through the adoption of innovative best practices from the private sector, making processes more streamlined and engaging with the supplier community, the Shapiro Administration is making it easier for technology companies to do business with the Commonwealth, increasing competition for state contracts and protecting taxpayer dollars from IT project delays and cost overruns.

“Technology is evolving at a breakneck pace and we need the ability to respond quickly to new innovations and changes in the marketplace,” says Secretary Weaver.

“The Shapiro Administration is implementing proven, common sense solutions to speed up the IT procurement process and deliver faster results for Pennsylvanians.”

The Department of General Services Bureau of Procurement and the Commonwealth Office of Digital Experience (CODE PA) within the Office of Administration have teamed up to streamline and standardise IT procurement practices to increase speed, reduce costs, minimise risk and improve transparency for vendors.

The work is guided by a steering committee comprising the Office of Administration, Department of General Services, Office of the Budget, Office of General Counsel and leadership from six agencies.

“This collaboration is about building a modern, transparent and efficient IT procurement process that delivers better results for the Commonwealth and our vendors,” adds Secretary McNeil.

“By adopting best practices from the private sector and continually seeking input from the tech supplier community, we are ensuring the Commonwealth stays ahead of the curve, supports innovation and delivers smarter solutions that maximise the use of taxpayer dollars.”

Adopting procurement best practices from the private sector

Now, rather than contracting a single large vendor for a project, DGS and OA staff will look for opportunities to break it down into small deliverables with clear, manageable scopes of work.

This new structure will reduce potential costs and risks to the project if a vendor cannot deliver. Smaller contracts create opportunities for more companies to do business with the Commonwealth.

In July 2024, Pennsylvania’s DGS published a new Procurement Handbook chapter for digital services acquisition featuring Agile best practices. CODE PA used this guidance to develop multi-award agile procurements for a centralised permit, licence and certification system. Additionally, CODE PA and DGS are creating a digital services Invitation to Qualify (ITQ) that will pre-qualify vendors with user-centred experience, enabling them to receive targeted requests for quotes rather than requiring full project proposals.

Optimising the IT procurement process for speed and efficiency

There have also been improvements to the IT procurement process, which are saving time and removing layers of unnecessary bureaucracy that reduce the speed of both progress and innovation. For example, DGS rescinded a policy that required agencies to negotiate a software licence agreement with a vendor before finding out how much the software costs.

The review of the modernisation of IT procurement also assessed how IT projects are requested, reviewed and approved. Earlier this month, CODE PA and DGS launched a streamlined process resulting in a 75% reduction in the number of questions required to make an IT purchase while still gathering the necessary information.

This new method allows for faster decision-making by eliminating repetitive steps, enabling reviewers to conduct their work concurrently, automating workflows and improving tracking of pending requests. These improvements will further increase speed to market and the delivery of modern, secure and accessible digital services to serve all Pennsylvanians.

Aligning IT policies to industry standards

Along with modernising the IT procurement process to bring better results for taxpayers, the Shapiro Administration is focussing on making it easier for companies to do business with the Commonwealth.

Previously, the terms and conditions for IT contracts required vendors to comply with the applicable Commonwealth’s 93 IT policies, which spanned over 500 pages.

In January, OA consolidated the 93 policies into 34 and renamed them with simple, intuitive titles. Over the coming months, OA will review and rewrite its IT policies to align with common compliance frameworks that most vendors already follow.

During this step, OA will pilot the use of generative AI to accelerate the drafting of revised policies for editing and review by subject matter experts.

Through this effort, OA is targeting a 60% reduction in the volume of policy documentation to approximately 200 pages. These actions will make it significantly faster and easier for vendors to confirm their compliance and begin working on technology projects that improve the lives of residents. Simplifying IT policies will also benefit Commonwealth employees by making them easier to understand and follow.

In May, CODE PA collaborated with DGS, the Department of State and the Department of Transportation to address a backlog of requests from businesses interested in learning how to do business with the Commonwealth. CODE PA automated the communication process and rewrote messages so they are easier to understand, helping to clear a backlog of approximately 4,500 requests and keep pace with over 6,000 additional requests since then.

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