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Procurement and facility officials report high contracting volume and defend oversight amid auditor questions
Summary
Executive Directors Stacey Blank (Office of Procurement Services) and Scott Baker (DECA) told lawmakers OPS processed over 22,750 procurement documents and DECA manages more than 1,300 capital projects; lawmakers pressed officials about a February 2026 auditor report alleging competitive-bidding irregularities, and OPS said it had not yet completed a deep dive into that audit.
Officials from the state Office of Procurement Services (OPS) and the Office of Facility Development and Efficiency (DECA) told a legislative committee that the state’s central procurement systems manage high volumes of contracts and that statutory oversight and training processes aim to ensure competitive, compliant procurements.
Stacey Blank, executive director of OPS, described the office as the central procurement agency for executive branch commodities and non-professional services. She told lawmakers OPS processed more than 22,750 procurement documents over the two-year biennium and that procurement actions during that period involved nearly $47 billion in funding flows.
Blank explained common procurement instruments — statewide master agreements and single-agency master agreements, purchase orders and personal service contracts — and noted that personal service contracts must be filed with the Government Contract Review Committee before work may begin. She described monthly reviews, vendor workshops and outreach and encouraged vendors to follow solicitation compliance checklists.
Scott Baker, executive director of the Office of Facility Development and Efficiency (DECA), described DECA’s capital-project role: DECA manages architectural and construction procurements and administers more than 1,300 active capital projects supporting multiple agencies across the Commonwealth. Baker said that in fiscal year 2025 DECA procured and administered about $557 million in construction contracts and continues to manage ongoing awards.
Both officials detailed common pitfalls that lead to bid disqualifications: missing or unsigned bid bonds, incomplete bid forms and last-minute uploads that fall outside firm submission deadlines in the vendor self-service (VSS) system. Baker emphasized that projects must meet appropriated budgets at each design phase before advancing to bid and said DECA reviews budgets throughout design to avoid scope–budget mismatches.
Lawmakers queried the executives about vendor compliance, sole-source procurements and a state auditor report. Representative Hill noted an auditor report released in February 2026 that, he said, alleged ‘‘millions and millions of dollars’’ of improperly handled competitive bidding and asked OPS to respond. Blank told the committee she had not yet conducted a deep dive into the audit and said her office was not aware of noncompliance ‘‘coming through my office’’; she reiterated that sole-source procurements are a recognized noncompetitive exception.
Blank and Baker described steps to improve vendor responsiveness: twice-yearly vendor classes (expanding to three), outreach and a compliance checklist for vendors. Baker underscored construction-sector challenges such as labor and materials shortages and said DECA aims to streamline bid documents where practical while preserving fair competition.
The committee concluded with procedural questions about project budget reconciliation and procurement workflows; no formal actions were taken during the hearing.
Sources and attribution: Stacey Blank, Executive Director, Office of Procurement Services; Scott Baker, Executive Director, Office of Facility Development and Efficiency (DECA); Representative Hill.
