State of Washington looks to streamline IT operations

As part of a statewide performance review ordered by Washington Governor Chris Gregoire, the state’s auditor’s office has chosen Houston-based TPI to advise them on improving delivery of information technology services.

TPI is a leader in sourcing advisory services, which include streamlining business operations through a combination of outsourcing, offshoring, shared services and internal service optimization. TPI will assess Washington’s current IT infrastructure and service model and make recommendations for simplifying and improving processes through consolidated or shared services.

“We picked TPI because its advisors have extensive experience helping states uncover opportunities to operate more efficiently,” said Larisa Benson, Deputy for Performance Review at the state Auditor’s Office. Ms. Benson said the company’s assessment would help them identify ways to increase customer service and decrease overhead costs to the taxpayer.

TPI has worked with public sector clients in Texas, Indiana, Georgia, as well as internationally with Australia, Sweden and Singapore to perform sourcing data and advisory services.

“The State of Washington has committed itself to achieving better, more cost-effective service delivery across all of its agencies,” Don Flores, Partner and Director of State and Local Government Services at TPI said in a statement.

In related news, the State Auditor’s Office also passed a peer review, conducted to evaluate their system of audit quality control.

State Auditor Brian Sonntag also this week said his office passed a peer review conducted by the National State Auditors Association (NSAA) in conjunction with the National Association of State Auditors, Comptrollers and Treasurers (NASACT). The review was done to test the office’s system of quality control and performance audits.

“We are proud to have successfully passed both peer reviews,” Mr. Sonntag said in a statement. “We are especially proud of the most recent peer review of the performance audit program. The team’s report gave our Office an ‘unqualified opinion’ with no letter of comments, which is the highest level of assurance that an external review team can give on a system of audit quality control.”

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