Personal service contracts
Personal services or consulting services, as they are commonly called, include a variety of types of professional and technical services that Washington state agencies purchase, such as:
- Actuarial services
- Financial and economic analysis
- Environmental planning
- Legal services
- Management consulting
- Marketing services
- Needs assessment
- Quality assurance
- Research
- Scientific studies
- Statistical analysis
- Strategic planning
Applicable laws
The state law governing personal services is RCW 39.29. Competition for procurement of personal services is provided within the law. State agencies have authority to conduct their own purchases for personal services.
Many personal service contracts are, however, required to be filed with the Department of Enterprise Services (DES) for review and/or approval either prior to start of work or no later than the date of start of work. This review process is done via the Personal Service Contracts Database. This review also results in the central location of personal service contract information for ease of public review.
