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OMB seeks to repurpose vacant special‑fund FTEs for communications and procurement support
Summary
OMB told the Appropriations committee it would repurpose two vacant special‑fund positions—one to expand communications support for small agencies and one for procurement—and asked for general fund dollars to backfill the positions’ operating costs.
During a review of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) agency budget, committee members heard a proposal to repurpose two vacant, special‑fund positions in OMB’s shared services area.
OMB officials said one position would be reclassified to support a communications role that could provide services to smaller state agencies that lack in‑house communications capacity. Communications director Jen Rabe told the committee the office has provided ad hoc help to roughly eight agencies in the last year and estimates “there are at least 20 agencies that we could provide assistance to.”
The second repurposed position would fund an additional state procurement officer to support procurement automation and to help shorten procurement timelines for agencies, OMB staff said. OMB described both requests as using existing position authority but shifting the funding from special funds to the general fund so the positions can be sustained and broadly available to agencies without a charge-for-service model.
Committee members probed whether printing, mail, surplus and other shared‑services vacancies reflected an ongoing need. OMB said some positions are only funded from special‑fund revenue when demand warrants filling them; they asked the committee to allow flexibility while noting any fill would depend on revenue from billings or consolidation opportunities.
Ending: The committee asked OMB to provide position numbers and a clearer description of special‑fund sources before the panel acts on converting the two positions to general fund support.
