Shelley Warstler is a DIT Procurement Liaison, part of Contracts and Procurement Services (CPS).  She serves the Departments of State Police, Corrections, the Attorney General and Military & Veterans’ Affairs.  Her job is to help clients in these departments through the technology procurement process.  She does things like get quotes on equipment, process DIT-0015 forms, answer questions and she helps follow up if problems arise.  After the purchasing process was revamped less than a year ago, her job underwent some changes.  Previously, there was a general profile and process for each agency.  However, CPS discovered that under this model, each agency’s specific needs were not being met.  Now, each agency has its own specific procurement profile, and Shelley is responsible for keeping up with the profile of each of the department she serves.

Shelley came to DIT from the Department of Corrections, where she worked for 17 years.  She started with the Crime Victims Services section.  She then moved to the central office in purchasing and eventually worked as an IT purchasing agent for the department.  It was the technical purchasing skills that brought her to DIT.  Including her time with DIT, Shelley has been with the State for about 19 years.

No two days are ever the same in this job, says Shelley.  Generally, her workdays are geared toward processing the purchasing requests that come to her, via fax, mail and phone.  She spends a lot of time on the phone, answering questions and helping clients place orders.  There are a couple things she thinks people should know about the work of a Procurement Liaison.  First, she works closely with many other areas of DIT, like DPO and Model Office.  She needs input and expertise from all sorts of people in order to give the client the most complete package of information.  Also, Shelley laughingly dispelled the myth of the ‘DIT-0015 Black Hole’ many seem to think exists.  “People think they’re sending these forms in and they wind up in a black hole! That’s really not the case – it just takes some time to get all the appropriate sign-offs and input.”

The time spent tracking down those signatures and input can be a big challenge.  Shelley said that especially with the new executive directives that limit purchasing.  Purchases that used to be easier to make now often have to be approved by DMB Acquisition Services or the Administrative Board, which has increased wait times for the client.  Shelley says that so far, the clients have been pretty receptive and understanding, but sometimes it can be hard to tell someone they have to wait 8 weeks for an order!

Shelley’s job has changed quite a bit now that she is on the DIT team.  At Corrections, she worked on more broad issues like budget and IT staffing.  In DIT, however, her work is much more focused on purchasing.  She is also, of course, serving more agencies.  One treat about the transition to DIT is that Shelley is now again working with co-workers from long ago.  Beyond that, she says the best thing about her job is the people.  She said she really enjoys the people she works with and her supportive managers, but also the many clients she serves.  “I love meeting new people and in this job, I’m always working with someone new,” she says.  She works with 6 other Procurement Liaisons (five of them are pictured with her above).

Away from work, Shelley enjoys spending time with her family – a daughter who is 13 and a husband who works for the Department of Community Health.  She also enjoys gardening and quilting and was pleased to find out that many of her DIT coworkers enjoy the same hobbies.