SPO Newsletter
Volume 1, Issue 2
FY23 Q2
Our vision is to be the #1 state procurement office in the nation,
where adding value is the norm and customer service is second to none.
A Message from CPO Chris
Ruth, Arizona Department of
Health Services
As I leave the Arizona Department of Health
Services, I wanted to recognize the ADHS
Procurement team for their hard work and dedication
serving the citizens of Arizona to ensure that health
services are provided where they are needed. ADHS
has 6 Divisions that include the Arizona State
Hospital, Public Health Prevention, Public Health
Preparedness. Licensing, Director's Office and
Planning and Operations.
Within those Divisions are a myriad of programs. In
Fiscal 2022, our team of 10 Procurement Officers and
2 Contractors completed 6,510 Purchase Orders in
FY22 for a total spend of $559,929,294.79. They
completed 36 agreements, 158 Contracts, 10
Requests for Grant Applications, 15 Requests for
Proposals, 12 Invitation for Bid, 114
Intergovernmental Agreements, 55 Interagency
Service Agreements, 41 Memorandum of
Understanding and over 300 Amendments.
I am proud of the work they do and who they are:
Gina Corwin, Kristine Newton, Jacqueline
Ortega-Avila, Jodie Cassin, Kailee Gray, Delilah
Gonzalez, Paul Evans, Brenda Prevost, Anthony
Beckum, Karla Varela, Hana Hehman, Brandon
Durick, and Lucas Terry.
Cooperative-Focused Meeting
in Clarkdale
On December 5, 2022, Ed Jimenez, Kim Fiumara,
Jessica Klein, and Julia Ladner from ADOA met with
local leaders in Clarkdale to discuss the State’s
cooperative program and opportunities for use of
Job-Order Contracting services. Procurement
professionals and local leaders from Clarkdale,
Cottonwood, Payson, Sedona, Jerome, and Camp
Verde joined SPO to discuss their procurement
needs.
Kim Fiurmara, Ed Jimenez, Clarkdale Town Manager
Susan Guthrie, and Vice Mayor Debbie Hunseder
(left to right)
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SPO Newsletter
Data Security Moving to
StateRAMP
The SPO Commodities team has been an early
adopter of data security through StateRAMP. Simon
Alvarez, Renee Uliassi, and Francine Whittington
were part of the first-in-the-nation use of StateRAMP.
Simon released the first RFP from SPO to include
StateRAMP for the Workers' Comp Medical Case
Mgt, followed by Francine releasing the Secure
Printing and Mailing Services Statewide, and Renee
releasing Vocational Rehabilitation Services. We are
the first State to have multiple solicitation released
reference StateRAMP and the end goal of
StateRAMP certification. Well Done!
Congrats,
Jesse!
Join SPO in
congratulating
DCS’s Jesse
Atoigue on his
well-deserved
win of NIGP’s
RJD Mentoring
Award.
Shoutout to the New Chief
Procurement Officers
The following individuals have taken on new Chief
Procurement Officer roles this year: Ted Cooper
(Forestry and Fire Management), Jessica Sullivan
(Pioneers' Home), Alissa Vander Veen (Board of
Chiropractic Examiners), and Gina Corwin (Arizona
Department of Health Services). Be sure to
congratulate them and offer your support as needed.
A special thanks to Kerry Wells, who has worn two
hats this year, as both a senior member of the SPO
Compliance team and Chief Procurement Officer for
Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections.
SGU Highlights
The Arizona Department of Corrections,
Rehabilitation & Reentry (ADCRR): ADCRR
procurement has been working hard to accomplish
many projects including success in fulfilling the
purchase of two major private prisons; establishing
the management of inmates at two major private
prisons, working on a new Foodservice solicitation for
all Institutions, and one big major initiative in looking
at a Participating Addendum with NASPO for Inmate
phones, tablets and mail service.
Arizona Department of Child Safety (DCS): With
direct support from the State Procurement Office,
particularly Michael Hillebrand, the State was
successful in soliciting and awarding a contract on
behalf of DCS for IT Maintenance & Operations
professional services. This contract supports the
DCS Guardian Case Management System and all the
required services including managed cloud services,
operational support services, business analytics,
routine application support, as well as major
enhancements and solution architecture support.
The new contract also provides for documentation
and training of users for new Guardian
enhancements being deployed as well as service
level management.
Arizona Department of Environmental Quality
(ADEQ): In August 2022, the Department of Interior
awarded ADEQ's Oil & Gas Unit $25M for the
Arizona Orphaned Well Site Plugging, Remediation
and Restoration project under the Infrastructure
Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). The ADEQ
Procurement Staff:
● Amended (25) Statewide Assessment and
Remediation of Hazardous or Regulated
Substances contracts to include Build America,
Buy America (BABA) language, National Historic
Preservation Act (NHPA; 54 U.S.C. 300101),
and specifically Section 106 of the NHPA (54
U.S.C. 306108) as implemented through the
regulations of the Advisory Council on Historic
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SPO Newsletter
Preservation (ACHP) at 36 CFR Part 800, as
well as A.R.S.§41-2637. Compliance with
federal requirements within (90) days of receipt
of federal funds.
● Provided Introduction to Public Procurement,
Task Order Process, and ADEQ Purchasing
Process training and agency standard work to
all ADEQ Oil & Gas unit employees.
● Assisted ADEQ Oil & Gas unit with facilitating a
supplier symposium, discussion forum w/Q&A,
scope of work creation and task order
distribution to awarded suppliers in order to
obligate all federal funds within (90) days
(December 30, 2022 deadline) of receipt of
federal funds.
● Assisted ADEQ Oil & Gas unit with encumbering
$20.8M of the $22.5M (92.4%) federal project
funds to ensure compliance with federal
obligation of funds requirement.
This was a huge success for ADEQ Procurement and
the agency!
Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT): In
August of 2022, ADOT Procurement launched a
revised version of its Procurement Fundamentals as
a self-paced computer-based training (CBT). This
allows ADOT employees to complete the course
on-demand rather than having to wait to attend a
monthly instructor led session.
Since the beginning of fiscal year 2023, ADOT
Procurement awarded fleet-related State contracts
for:
● Landscape & Utility Vehicles
● Bulk Fuel & Propane
We also completed solicitations and awarded
contracts for two major ADOT initiatives to include
● Drivers License Security Software Upgrade
● Central Credential Issuance for Drivers
Licenses and State IDs
Arizona Department of Economic Security
(ADES): ADES received increased funding for
federally funded programs, such Early Childhood
Development, Homelessness, Refugee
Resettlement, Utility & Rental Assistances, and had a
strong need for growth in our network of service
providers.
The team supported ongoing operational and IT
services including, three major case management
system replacements (projects greater than $15M),
contact center service re-bid ($250M), and virtual
office efficiency technologies.
The team continues to collaborate with SPO and
other agencies to improve, enhance, and
continuously improve our policies, standard work,
and standardization of documentation.
SPO Academy Training
Training sessions available through the SPO
Academy. Training covers the basics of Arizona
State Procurement, requests for proposals,
requests for quotations, risk assessment,
negotiations, and more.
General Services Division
Update
The ADOA’s General Services Division (GSD) has
provided the following helpful links:
For job-order contracts (JOC), the Adjustment Factor
Spreadsheet for all trades as well as contractor
contact information and map of seven regions can be
here:
https://doa.az.gov/resources/job-order-contracting-adj
ustment-factors
Professional service submission packet:
https://doa.az.gov/resources/professional-service-ven
dors-annual-submission-packet
Pre-qualified vendors list:
https://doa.az.gov/resources/professional-service-ven
dors-general-services
New vendors are being added weekly, and GSD
accepts submissions at any time.
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SPO Newsletter
Shout Out to the Negotiations
Training Group
Thank you to the Negotiations training group
composed of Ed Jimenez, Steve Nettles, Renee
Uliassi, Yanneth Montes, Joyann George, and John
Jimenez for providing an informative and productive
course. Thanks also to all attendees for your focused
attention on this important skill.
SPO Compliance Unit Updates
For the first time since 2013, the Uniform Terms and
Conditions have been updated. The newest version
can be found on the SPO website and has been
incorporated into the Solicitation Requirements and
RFQ Template documents. SPO Compliance
continues to review and revise Technical Bulletins
and Standard Procedures, as needed.
In addition to the changes to the Uniform Terms and
Conditions, the Special Terms and Conditions in the
RFP Requirements document have also been
updated to reduce duplication, integrate terms
required by Homeland Security, and increase clarity.
In the new year, look for new direct contract
templates and task orders, new terms integrating
StateRAMP requirements, and revised instructions to
offerors.
Note that all the State of Arizona IT Policies and
Standards related to Cybersecurity for State
Agencies, Boards, and Commissions are now
available on Homeland Security’s website at:
https://azdohs.gov/information-security-policies-stand
ards-and-procedures. Any questions regarding this
process should be directed to Homeland Security at
Risk Management and SPO Compliance are
currently working together to create a Word version of
Risk Management’s insurance modules. This will
allow procurement officers to copy and paste the
required module into an addendum rather than paste
the module into the Solicitation Requirements
document. As a result, the time required to format the
Solicitation Requirements document will be greatly
reduced.
Set-Aside Program
In August 2022, the Set Aside Program won the 2022
National Association of State Chief Administrators’
(NASCA) Innovation in Government award in the
category of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in
Procurement. As stated by NASCA, “This year’s
award program was very competitive, and it is
undoubtedly a great accomplishment to earn this
award.” We want to take this opportunity to thank all
those who participate and make the Set Aside
Program the success it is. The program has a direct
positive impact on individuals with disabilities who are
employed by non-profit organizations acting as active
suppliers to state contracts and individuals
participating in the Arizona Correctional Industries
programs.
Yanneth Montes, Co-chair of the Set Aside program,
is responsible for the management of the program
and the administration of the Set Aside contracts.
Yanneth’s submission demonstrated how SPO
revamped its metrics and processes to gather data,
standardization and reporting to capture information
and measure the health of the program for years to
come.
Fiscal Year 2022 Results:
● Total Annual Wages Paid through the program:
$768,917
● Total lives impacted by Set Aside Program: 832
● Jobs created by the Set Aside Program: 727
If you have any questions about the program feel free
to contact its Co-chairs Yanneth Montes or Ken
Sanchez or visit the Set Aside page in the SPO
website. https://spo.az.gov/set-aside-contracts
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SPO Newsletter
Puncurement: Season’s Greetings
from Frosty the SPOman!
Enterprise Computer Hardware
Program (ECHP)
Leveraging the State’s purchasing power!
After a successful pilot program, ADOA launched the
Enterprise Computer Hardware Program in July 2022
to significantly lower laptop and other computer
hardware costs, as well as reduce lead-times. It was
a team effort between SPO’s Technology unit led by
Eric Bell and Arizona Strategic Enterprise Technology
(ASET). Through a robust competition among the
State’s existing computer hardware contractors,
ADOA selected Lenovo as their exclusive partner for
the program, which offers an extremely discounted
price on the ThinkPad L15 Gen2, 11th Generation
Intel® Core™ i7-1165G7 Processor, for $1,014.40.
Computer Monitors and Docking Stations are also
part of the program.
To reduce lead-times from months to just days, the
ECHP is designed to receive forecasted volume
demands from participating agencies while Lenovo
holds all inventory at a local warehouse, and only
charges the participating agencies when they are
ready to physically receive the product. For more
information or to join the ECHP, check out
https://aset.az.gov/programs/echp, ECHP FAQs, or
contact Eric Bell (SPO Technology Procurement
Analyst Statewide) or Lindsey Daberko (ASET
Enterprise Project Manager).
Responsible, Responsive, and
Susceptible
When reviewing responses to a solicitation,
procurement officers must ensure that the offers are
responsible, responsive, and susceptible. Though
these words are familiar to most, it is important to
understand their context when it comes to the
solicitations.
A responsible offeror has the capability to perform the
contract requirements and the integrity and reliability
which will assure good faith performance. There are
a number of ways to determine responsibility. It may
be a review of the offeror’s financial documents, a
reference check, or other analysis. How responsibility
is determined is within the procurement officer’s
discretion.
A responsive offer is one that conforms in all material
respects to the solicitation. For example, if an offeror
did not include all of the required documents in the
solicitation response, then this may deem them not
responsive.
A susceptible offer is one that meets the mandatory
requirements of the solicitation and complies with any
susceptibility criteria identified in the solicitation. If an
offer does not meet one or more of the requirements,
does not comply with susceptibility criteria, or is not
susceptible for award in comparison to other offers
based on the criteria set forth in the solicitation, the
procurement officer may determine that the offer is
not susceptible for award.
Required solicitation instruction language regarding
responsibility, responsiveness, and susceptibility can
be found in Technical Bulletin 047 (TB 047) and in
this slide deck.
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