On this episode of Gov Tech Today, hosts Russell Lowery and Jennifer Saha step back from day-to-day procurement details to examine what California’s public data reveals about technology spending trends. Jen shares analysis comparing FY 2024–25 to 2025–26 across major contract vehicles, finding a sharp decline in IT services: about $3.8B down to $2.59B, nearly a 30% drop, with notable decreases in interagency agreements (down roughly 50%), formal competitive bids, and non-competitive bids. At the same time, IT goods spending is steadier and slightly up—from about $2.3B to $2.7B—suggesting continued purchases of software, hardware, and cloud while agencies reduce reliance on long-term vendor-managed services. They discuss policy changes enabling implementation services through the Software Licensing Program and consider political pressures, budget constraints, and potential pent-up demand ahead of the next administration.
On this episode of Gov Tech Today, hosts Russell Lowery and Jennifer Saha step back from day-to-day procurement details to examine what California’s public data reveals about technology spending trends. Jen shares analysis comparing FY 2024–25 to 2025–26 across major contract vehicles, finding a sharp decline in IT services: about $3.8B down to $2.59B, nearly a 30% drop, with notable decreases in interagency agreements (down roughly 50%), formal competitive bids, and non-competitive bids. At the same time, IT goods spending is steadier and slightly up—from about $2.3B to $2.7B—suggesting continued purchases of software, hardware, and cloud while agencies reduce reliance on long-term vendor-managed services. They discuss policy changes enabling implementation services through the Software Licensing Program and consider political pressures, budget constraints, and potential pent-up demand ahead of the next administration.
00:00 Show Intro
00:14 Why Spend Is Down
02:28 Services Spending Drop
05:07 Interagency Declines
06:33 Competitive Bid Slowdown
09:09 SLP Services Surge
11:49 Goods Mostly Flat
13:51 What Counts As Goods
16:26 Big Picture Outlook
19:21 Wrap Up And Contact