The State of California’s Department of General Services, under which is the State's Office of Fleet Management (OFAM), issued new rules for purchasing fleet vehicles and establishing the necessity of a vehicle prior to purchase. California Governor Jerry Brown’s 2011 executive order (B-2-11) mandated a reduction of the State’s fleet size, and the new rules are designed to continue to implement this order, according to State documents.

Beginning in fiscal-year 2012/2013, State departments are required to submit an annual fleet acquisition plan to OFAM if the department wants to acquire any new, or replace existing, fleet assets, including long-term rentals or leases. OFAM said it will no longer accept individual fleet acquisition requests but will still accept supplemental fleet acquisition plans from State departments if their fleet requirements change during the year.

Next, all fleet replacement requests must clearly, in detail, describe how a new fleet asset is necessary for the agency to provide mission-critical services, needed to protect the health, safety, or security of the public; and/or will lead to significant cost savings for the State. Other acceptable reasons for acquiring fleet assets includes meeting petroleum reduction requirements, meeting the federal Energy Policy Act of 2005 that requires state fleets to include 75% of alternative-fuel vehicles in their fleets, or a California regulation that prohibits State-owned light passenger vehicles not exceed 110 combined cu. ft. in size.

OFAM said it will analyze each request based on utilization statistics in the Fleet Asset Management System (FAMS) and an up-to-date vehicle allocation methodology (VAM) analysis. OFAM added that departments are no longer required to submit a Vehicle Acquisition Request Form if a vehicle is listed in a fleet acquisition plan that OFAM approved.

You can read the memos here and here.