Background
The Oregon Public Utility Commission (PUC) relies on a variety of applications to support its business functions related to the conduct of official proceedings. These include a custom-built legacy "BizApps" docketing system and Huddle, a third-party service for eDiscovery. The PUC seeks to replace these systems with an integrated, cohesive, and efficient solution for internal and external stakeholders doing business with the PUC. By replacing the outdated and unsupported docketing system, the PUC will be better equipped to serve stakeholders and the citizens of Oregon with a new system.
Project Status
A vendor had been selected after an extensive solicitation process. However, there were two issues that needed to be resolved to implement the new system – large file management and security. Over recent months, the PUC and the selected vendor came to an impasse on these issues and determined that the contract had to be concluded and a new procurement started.
The PUC has been working closely with the Oregon Department of Administrative Services (DAS) on this new procurement. Recent DAS policy changes will hopefully make this new procurement faster and more cost effective than our previous procurement, as we cannot endure a multi-year process to replace the current system. The State has communicated that we now may utilize “Software as a Service” or SAS solutions. This is a positive development, because it means we can solicit for our solution to developers that have offered docketing system software to other public utility commissions across the country. With this option, we avoid the need to build a custom solution from scratch, which is costly and time consuming.
Please check back here for updates on this important project.