Ex-Gov. John Kitzhaber's government paid used external contractors over $3.1 million for policy development work to support his 3rd term agenda. The Department of Administrative Services's representative, Matt Shelby, said the Kitzhaber government used a special procurement process to appoint contractors to develop a 10-year strategic plan for Oregon, which set long-term goals for guiding the state's two-year budgets.
The process enabled the Governor's Office, Department of Administrative Services, Department of Human Services, Oregon Health Authority, Department of Education, Oregon Employment Department and Oregon Housing and Community Services to appoint 21 pre-qualified contractors for work associated with Kitzhaber's policy goals.
Shelby referred to chief operating officer Michael Jordan, saying : "The reason that we created this group was Kitzhaber came in and created the office of the state operating officer, and tasked Michael with working with agencies on goals in the 10-year plan. That's something that wasn’t necessarily being done before." It's not clear if Gov. Kate Brown will continue the level of policy contracting that occurred when Kitzhaber was governor.
According to Brown representative Chris Pair, "regarding contracting practices, Governor Brown is working with staff to assess a number of policies and areas of focus." The procurement system allowed the Governor's Office and government agencies to ink work orders worth up to $10 million. Companies hired through the process included polling company DHM Research, the public relations company Pyramid Communications, the economics company ECONorthwest and the University of Washington Center on Reinventing Public Education.
The process enabled the Governor's Office, Department of Administrative Services, Department of Human Services, Oregon Health Authority, Department of Education, Oregon Employment Department and Oregon Housing and Community Services to appoint 21 pre-qualified contractors for work associated with Kitzhaber's policy goals.
Shelby referred to chief operating officer Michael Jordan, saying : "The reason that we created this group was Kitzhaber came in and created the office of the state operating officer, and tasked Michael with working with agencies on goals in the 10-year plan. That's something that wasn’t necessarily being done before." It's not clear if Gov. Kate Brown will continue the level of policy contracting that occurred when Kitzhaber was governor.
According to Brown representative Chris Pair, "regarding contracting practices, Governor Brown is working with staff to assess a number of policies and areas of focus." The procurement system allowed the Governor's Office and government agencies to ink work orders worth up to $10 million. Companies hired through the process included polling company DHM Research, the public relations company Pyramid Communications, the economics company ECONorthwest and the University of Washington Center on Reinventing Public Education.