What determines if a job will be competitively contracted?
When engaging in contracting today, agencies determine if the service being solicited has been customarily and historically provided by state employees of the classified service. If the service has been performed by state employees, the agency is not permitted by law to contract for those services with outside service providers. RCW 41.06.142 removes this restriction but the basic question of whether a service has been performed by state employees remain. Post July 1, 2005, a determination by the agency that a service under consideration was performed by state employees will require that the solicitation be conducted as required by RCW 41.06.142, WAC 236-51 and, WAC 357-43. Whether a service is a good candidate for competitive contracting may depend on an agencys assessment using GAs Competitive Contracting Manual or other resources. It is anticipated that these assessments will likely be part of the larger strategic planning and budgeting effort for state agencies.
