State awards contract for Lean consultants:
January 10, 2013
OLYMPIA – Enterprise Services has established a pool of 16 pre-qualified vendors to provide Lean consulting services to public agencies under a new state master contract.
Each vendor has entered into an agreement with the state, making them eligible to contract with public agencies.
The vendor agreements took effect Jan. 4. Some larger agencies have their own Lean consultants on staff, but many medium and small agencies, such as school districts, need to hire private consultants for this work. Public agencies will be able to choose from the pre-qualified vendor pool when looking for help with implementing Lean practices.
The master contract (#03712) includes three categories of Lean consulting services:
Leadership and Cultural Change
Training
Facilitating Lean Process Improvement
Each category includes a component of coaching, mentoring and training to help public employees.
The contract has a two-year term, with the possibility of extending it for an additional four years, in one-year increments.
Lean practices reduce waste and improve services for customers while using fewer resources. Lean is not a one-time, cost-cutting measure but a process for continuous improvements. First implemented by an auto manufacturer, Lean practices have since been successfully used by government agencies as well.
Gov. Chris Gregoire has directed all state agencies to use Lean principles and methods to improve government services and value for taxpayers’ money.
As part of its duties, Enterprise Services develops and manages a wide variety of contracts on behalf of state agencies.
