1 BEFORE THE CALIFORNIA STATE BOARD OF EQUALIZATION 2 450 N STREET 3 SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA 4 5 6 7 REPORTER'S TRANSCRIPT 8 DECEMBER 19, 2012 9 10 ITEM P 11 OTHER ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS 12 P1 13 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S REPORT 14 P1.1 15 CROS PROJECT UPDATE AND ACTIONS 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Reported by: Juli Price Jackson 26 No. CSR 5214 27 28 1 1 P R E S E N T 2 3 For the Board Jerome E. Horton of Equalization: Chairman 4 5 Michelle Steel Vice-Chairwoman 6 7 Betty T. Yee Member 8 9 George Runner Member 10 11 Marcy Jo Mandel Appearing for John 12 Chiang, State Controller (per 13 Government Code Section 7.9) 14 15 Joann Richmond Chief, Board 16 Proceedings Division 17 18 For Staff: Eric Steen Director 19 CROS Project 20 ---oOo--- 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 2 1 450 N STREET 2 SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA 3 DECEMBER 19, 2012 4 ---oOo--- 5 MS. RICHMOND: Our next item is P, other 6 administrative matters, P1.1, CROS project update and 7 actions. 8 MR. HORTON: Members, we welcome Eric Steen, 9 CROS Director. 10 MR. STEEN: Thank you. 11 Thank you, Mr. Chairman, honorable Members, 12 Eric Steen, Project Director for Centralized Revenue 13 Opportunities System. 14 It's a privilege to give you a brief update on 15 the project. We've heard back from General Services. 16 They intend to provide us feedback, formal written 17 feedback, on the RFP on -- no later than the 28th of 18 this month or on or before the 28th of this month. 19 And then they intend to hold working sessions 20 in mid-January with us to help us improve the quality of 21 the RFP before it goes out to the bidders. This is a 22 step in the right direction. This is great progress. 23 In the meantime, we continue to work on the 24 procurement. We continue to plan and prepare for the 25 bidders. So, we're establishing our evaluation plans, 26 performing training, getting everybody ready so that we 27 can objectively review proposals. We are also moving 28 forward on the parallel initiatives. 3 1 One of the things that we're focusing on right 2 now as it pertains to data is improving our ability to 3 derive meaning from the data, both internal and external 4 data. Right now we have a lot of different groups 5 throughout the organization who work on deriving meaning 6 from the data. We're bringing those groups together to 7 establish more collaboration. And, of course, the 8 ultimate goal is to improve our collection -- 9 collections efficiency and improve revenue benefits. 10 Another thing that we're working on is how we 11 staff the project resources. I've been working with the 12 Department heads and making specific requests for 13 individuals to be involved on the project. It's 14 imperative that something of this importance -- and it's 15 in everyone's best interests -- that we have the best 16 people from across the organization involved on the 17 project. The solution ultimately will -- it's the 18 future of BOE. It will support our program areas. So, 19 it's, again, very imperative that we have the best 20 people on this effort. 21 And, lastly, just a note on our interactions 22 with the control agencies. It's important, of course, 23 to work well with General Services and Finance and the 24 CTA. 25 It was, of course, exciting the last month to 26 see Carlos Ramos, the State CIO, here with Brenda 27 Fleming, our CIO. We were invited to CTA to talk about 28 some of the activities that we're doing as it pertains 4 1 to minimizing or mitigating risk and insuring success. 2 So, we went out there and we spent about two hours 3 working with CTA. 4 They were very excited about some of the things 5 that we're doing that are unique for IT projects in 6 California. And we're hopeful, actually, that some of 7 the things that we've done will translate into what's 8 done at other projects throughout the State. And I 9 think it's a credit to what the BOE has done here on 10 this project. 11 So, with that, that ends my report. So, if 12 there are any questions. I would be happy to answer 13 them. 14 MR. HORTON: Discussion, Members? 15 MR. RUNNER: Just one comment. 16 MR. HORTON: Member Runner. 17 MR. RUNNER: Yeah, I think it's -- I think it's 18 really important, Mr. Steen, that during this process 19 that as we're trying to then look into what we think 20 this program -- what we believe CROS needs to do and how 21 it's going to be implemented, that we really do have the 22 best thinking and skill sets from the program areas in 23 to support this process, 'cause if we don't, we will pay 24 the price later. 25 And, so, I appreciate that as being one of your 26 objectives that we actually do that because at the -- 27 again, at the end, if all of a sudden we have 28 implementation challenges or problems or things that 5 1 weren't thought about, it's going to delay -- it's going 2 to make things less effective. So, I appreciate that as 3 an objective. And, hopefully, that's being 4 well-supported. 5 MR. STEEN: Thank you. 6 MR. HORTON: Thank you, sir. 7 We will receive and file your report. Thank 8 you very much. 9 MR. STEEN: Thank you. 10 ---o0o--- 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 6 1 REPORTER'S CERTIFICATE 2 3 State of California ) 4 ) ss 5 County of Sacramento ) 6 7 I, JULI PRICE JACKSON, Hearing Reporter for the 8 California State Board of Equalization certify that on 9 DECEMBER 19, 2012 I recorded verbatim, in shorthand, to 10 the best of my ability, the proceedings in the 11 above-entitled hearing; that I transcribed the shorthand 12 writing into typewriting; and that the preceding pages 1 13 through 6 constitute a complete and accurate 14 transcription of the shorthand writing. 15 16 Dated: JANUARY 10, 2013 17 18 19 ____________________________ 20 JULI PRICE JACKSON 21 Hearing Reporter 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 7