MOCS explains Passport governance and why Big Five do not use it
A MOCS representative says Passport's primary users operate under specific procurement governance, while the Big Five operate under different governance. Restler pushes back, noting the mayor got them to participate in B2G and asking why not Passport.
Sure.
Good morning, Chair Ressler.
And it's an honor and privilege to be here this morning.
Is this your third time testifying this year?
I think it is.
I'm not kidding.
Keeping count, but I'm happy to see that you are.
We're happy to see you, too.
At least we haven't been so mean that you've chosen not to come back.
I'll keep coming back as long as you're inviting.
So I believe just to take a step back for a moment about what the intent of Passport was to do, it's the city's...
Sourcing and solutions portal for procurement activity, its primary users are agencies that are really operating under a very specific governance for procurement.
The agencies that you were referencing operate under a different governance, and so I think that inherently creates a little bit of a challenge.
I totally appreciate that.
I think ultimately it's up to the mayor to tell them what to do.
If the mayor was able to get them these five, the big five, we'll call them that for the rest of the day to keep it simple.
If the mayor was able to get the big five or Chief Garner was able to get the big five to agree to do this with B2G to participate in B2G, why couldn't we get them to just participate in Passport?
I think that's a question that might...
naturally move into a deeper conversation that we're happy to participate in.
One thing I wanted to add, though.
The DOE just announced a series of procurement reforms, none of which make them subject to the PPB rules, none of which increase their transparency in a meaningful way, or provide the same level of oversight that you have of every other traditional mayoral agency.
I just feel like it would have been simpler to use.
And I know that Passport sucks and that everyone's frustrated with it.
Or is that not how I'm supposed to describe it?
Passport, everyone's frustrated with Passport.
I won't, it has its limitations.
But it just strikes me as challenging to create a whole new system that people are going to have to use to gather this information when we have an existing vehicle.
The one thing I will say about Passport, and I won't judge for or against.
You're not going to say on the record that it sucks.
I will simply state that that's the system that we're working with, and like anything, we work with what we have.