In addition to political changes, New Mexico is also considering the use of Distributed Ledger technology as a self-broadcaster to update purchasing information throughout the state-owned enterprise without having to manage a central repository. According to a new report by the state`s legislative finance committee, the New Mexico government lacks technology and governance structures to adequately track and regulate spending. The committee told their colleagues on Thursday that the result had often been overpaid by paying $1.8 billion in advisory goods and services, sometimes to former government employees. Telecommunications Services – Intrastate (Long Distance) Beyond the state-owned IT agency, New Mexico analysts also found that the state purchasing department did not have the software to monitor erratic spending. New Mexico uses Software from Oracle PeopleSoft to manage its personal functions, but has not invested in modules that would collect and analyze procurement data. Without these modules, he said, the data would have to be collected manually, which is tedious and less reliable. But, says the employee, the department requested a budget allocation from the legislative branch, and that similar past purchases cost between $1 million and $2 million. New Mexico is highly dependent on national price agreements for various products and services, from aircraft inspection to water treatment chemicals. For the purchase of technology, New Mexico uses an agreement backed by the National Association of Official Public Procurements called ValuePoint to buy products from Dell.
In order to correct the state`s irregular spending patterns on technology, the committee recommended that the State Technology Department develop standards for the purchase of computer equipment and uniform guidelines for the date on which agencies should update their equipment. Supplier accountability can also be difficult under national pricing agreements, as services are simply ordered outside a menu and work details can sometimes remain undocumented, the report says. In order to improve oversight, legislative funding committee analysts recommended that parliament provide a separate contract that defines what is required of sellers. Many state technology offices lead their agencies to follow a four-year update cycle in accordance with federal practices, which generally recommend that some of the computer equipment be exchanged every four or five years.