In 2005 the Commonwealth Competition Council has been in existence for ten years, being established by the Virginia Government Competition Act of 1995 to examine and promote methods of providing a portion or all of select government-provided or government-produced programs through the private sector by a competitive contracting program. The Council has developed an institutional framework for a statewide competitive program to encourage innovation and competition within state government.

Emphasis this year has been on the commercial activities inventory required by House Bill 1043 (2004) and House Bill 2844 (2005). This legislation established the process wherein the Governor will biennially conduct an enterprise-wide examination of the commercial activities that are being performed by state employees to ensure that these activities are being accomplished in a most cost-efficient and effective manner. The examination is to consider at least three commercial activities as the Governor may identify. The Secretary of Administration is required to report on the initial examination to the Governor and the Chairs of Appropriations and Senate Finance by October 1, and thereafter every two years. In addition, the bill provides for the Secretaries of Administration, Finance and Technology to develop a methodology for updating the list of commercial activities established by the Commonwealth Competition Council and to provide guidance to state agencies in defining inherently governmental activities. The Competition Council staff has worked extensively with the Secretary of Administration in the regard. The report on the commercial activities inventory was filed appropriately and with the Division of Legislative Automated Systems. It is available on the Internet at ( https://rga.lis.virginia.gov/Published/2005/RD170 ) and is identified as Report Document 170 in 2005. Because of the size of the report it is not repeated in this annual report.