HOME

LEADERSHIP AGENDA

OPERATIONAL SCAN

DEPARTMENT PERFORMANCE

Administrative Services

Ray Walton, Director

Mission Statement:
To provide high-quality, affordable infrastructure products and services to Iowa government customers in a manner that empowers them to provide better service to the citizens of Iowa and support the State of Iowa in achieving economic growth."

Measures:
Agency budget funded by charges to customers (%)
Amount of income offset (bad debt) revenue collected by State government
State employees in the deferred compensation program (%)
Sole source acquisitions approved by the Department of Administrative Services
Computer system reliability (%)

•  Performance Plan - How we measure our progress


•  Strategic Plan - How we plan for progress


•    Performance Report - How we report our progress


• Department Home Page - Learn more about this department

Why this is important:
This graph indicates that DAS is increasingly funded directly by customer agencies that are purchasing DAS services and products, and that DAS is providing more services to customers on a fee-for-service basis. Fee-for-service funding is a means of reducing financial support directly appropriated from state funds.


What we're doing about this:
Consistent with entrepreneurial management, the department is offering new and additional services to various customers on a fee-for-service basis. The department is also expanding its customer base by actively marketing goods and services to political, subdivisions consistent with its statutory authority. The drop in percentage of customer-driven revenue in FY08 is primarily the result of the department receiving two additional appropriations: one for $120,000 to provide free shuttle service between downtown Des Moines and the Capitol Complex, and one for $2,000,000 related to the operation of the state's enterprise resource planning system (I3)

Why this is important:
This measure indicates the annual amount of delinquent payments recovered by the state that are owed to state government and local governments, such as child support and back taxes. This is accomplished by "offsetting" (withholding) money from tax refund payments, vendor payments, lottery payments and payments associated with casino winnings to individuals and to vendors. This is a cost-effective method to make sure individuals in debt to government make payments on their debt, so that burden isn't passed on to the taxpayers.


What we're doing about this:
The Department of Administrative Services (DAS) advocated for legislation in the 2006 session to expand the income offset program to all political subdivisions. This legislation is now in effect, and government entities at all levels are able to take advantage of this efficient and cost-effective method to collect money owed. The amount collected in FY08 exceeded expectations as the number of participating political subdivisions increased significantly.

Why this is important:
The goal of the deferred compensation program is to help state employees and their families prepare financially for retirement. This not only helps the employee/family, but taxpayers as well, since those who can provide for themselves are less likely to need state assistance.


What we're doing about this:
The state's employer match contribution program has been an incentive for increased employee participation. DAS staff continues to make improvements to the program to make it more appealing to employees. The program is being actively marketed via seminars, website and brochures.

Why this is important:
This measure indicates the limited number and value of state acquisitions (purchases) approved by the Department of Administrative Services (DAS) that are outside of a formal competitive bidding process. Reducing the number of sole source acquisitions increases the opportunity for state government to acquire products and services at lower, competitive prices.


What we're doing about this:
To the extent possible, DAS is actively seeking and soliciting qualified vendors to competitively bid on various goods and services contracts, thereby reducing the extent to which sole source acquisitions are needed. We also now require that ALL sole source requests be advertised on our bid opportunities website. This provides vendors an opportunity to review the requests and respond if a vendor does not believe a particular request should not be a sole source procurement.

The total number of Sole Source Acquisitions increased from FYH08 to FY09, as did the total dollar amount. This increase was due in part to the requirement that DAS approve all sole source procurements for goods. Previously, charter agencies were authorized to approved their own sole source procurements.

The increased dollar amount resulted from the overall increase in the number of approved sole source procurements as well as a $7.4 million dollar Department of Revenue project that was authorized by the general assembly.

Why this is important:
This is a measure of the percentage of time the State's major computer systems are available electronically to users. A high percentage is an indicator of the reliability of the State's primary computer system and the webhosting system for government pages.


What we're doing about this:
DAS has implemented monitoring tools for quick detection and resolution of computer system issues. Steps have also been taken to improve facility cooling to better ensure hardware is well maintained for optimum service. Also, most computers now have "fail over" capability, which means if a device should fail, a second device picks up so the service is not lost.

Copyright © 2003-2007 State of Iowa

Questions and Feedback  |  About this Site