Camarillo City Council
AGENDA REPORT
Date: January 22, 2025
To: Honorable Mayor and City Councilmembers
From: Greg Ramirez, City Manager
Submitted by: Mark Uribe, Finance Director
Subject: Amendment to City Council Policy 4.01 – Procurement
BACKGROUND
City Council Policy 4.01 establishes a framework that ensures efficient, cost effective transparent, and ethical acquisition of goods, equipment, and services. Staff recommends an amendment to City Council Policy 4.01 – Procurement to streamline City procurement processes, enhance flexibility, improve operational efficiency, ensure legal compliance and adjust purchasing thresholds to align with current practices observed in neighboring peer agencies.
The City of Camarillo contracted the services of an outside consultant, William C. Statler, to conduct an independent analysis of the existing procurement policy, as well as its accompanying administrative procedures and other purchasing related documents. The analysis of the policy was accompanied with stakeholder interviews and a survey of neighboring peer agencies to evaluate best practices and industry standards.
Upon the completion of the assessment, the consultant provided a final report with an analysis of existing practices and recommendation to streamline the City’s procurement process and enhance procurement safeguards.
The Policy Committee reviewed this item at the September 26 and October 29, 2024 Committee meeting and approved the recommendation to amend City Council Policy 4.01 and requested it be presented to the City Council for final determination and adoption.
During the two scheduled meetings the Committee asked for a survey to be conducted, with the same neighboring agencies that the Consultants surveyed, to evaluate how those agencies addressed on-call contracts and task orders. Staff completed the survey, and information collected was favorable to the proposed recommended changes. Additionally, the committee requested that staff prepare quarterly reports that are presented to City Council for all task orders that exceed $100,000.
Amendment to City Council Policy 4.01 Procurement
January 22, 2025
DISCUSSION
Staff recommendations are to amend this policy to align procurement processes with the City Council’s goals and objectives of maintaining sound and conservative financial practices while continuing to identify and implement means and methods to streamline internal and public-facing City operations.
The following changes are proposed:
Purchasing Thresholds: One of the key components of a procurement policy is the purchasing thresholds, outlined in Section G of Policy 4.01. These thresholds set the purchasing dollar limits that apply per vendor per fiscal year, and those authorized to approve purchases. Several factors have led to an increase in the cost of services, including inflation. After considering increased cost and evaluating the results of the survey of neighboring agencies conducted by the consultant, staff is proposing to increase the purchasing dollar thresholds as follows:
Purchases up to $10,000: the authority to award is the Department Director.
Comparative Pricing is not required but must be used when practical. Purchases over $10,000 and up to $50,000: the authority to award is the Purchasing Officer through an Informal Solicitation Process. Purchases over $50,000: the authority to award is the City Council through a Formal Solicitation Process.
Increased thresholds provide staff with more realistic dollar thresholds when procuring services and will speed up the process for small dollar purchases of goods and services.
Adjustments to purchasing thresholds reflect current operational demands and align with current market conditions, enabling departments to act more efficiently within their delegated authority.
On-call Agreements: On-call agreements are contracts without a specific scope of work, but rather categorized around general types of work or trades. When a specific scope of work is identified, task orders are issued. Staff conducts a Request for Qualification (RFQ) to qualify several prospective vendors and enter into on-call agreement with them. Once the scope of work is determined, vendors from the RFQ list are contacted to submit detailed proposals, and staff evaluates these proposals before issuing a task order to the selected vendor. Currently, on-call contracts are awarded with a not-to-exceed amount of up to $60,000, and cumulatively task orders cannot exceed $60,000. Staff recommends the not-to-exceed amount be eliminated for on-call contracts and instead manage dollar limits at the task order level. This will allow staff for greater flexibility while still being fiscally responsible.
Task Orders up to $25,000: the authority to award is the Department Director or his/her designee.
Task Orders over $25,000 and up to $200,000: the authority to award is the Purchasing Officer or his/her designee.
Task Orders over $200,000: will require a separate complete solicitation through a Formal Solicitation Process.
Amendment to City Council Policy 4.01 Procurement
January 22, 2025
At all thresholds of the task order dollar limits staff must request pricing and take cost into consideration when selecting a vendor.
Task Orders exceeding $100,000 will be reported to the City Council quarterly.
Blanket Purchase Orders: Blanket Purchase Order (BPO) is an agreement whereby the City contracts with a vendor to provide goods and equipment on an as needed and often over-the-counter basis. BPOs provide a mechanism whereby items which are uneconomical to stock may be purchased in a manner that allows field operations timely access to necessary materials. The City issues BPOs or uses a company’s line of credit (i.e. Home Depot credit card) to make day-to-day field purchases and streamline accessibility to any necessary equipment. A new dollar threshold is recommended for the purchase of goods to help guide staff and provide the proper levels of review and authorization for BPOs. Use of these type of purchase orders is recommended to be as follows:
BPOs up to $25,000: the authority to award is the Department Director of his/her designee.
BPOs over $25,000 and up to $200,000: the authority to award is the Purchasing Officer or his/her designee.
BPOs over $200,000: will require a separate complete solicitation through a Formal Solicitation Process.
The expansion and creation of the above-mentioned thresholds will help expedite purchases to address day-to-day operational needs, streamline procurement for small dollar services, and ensure that a competitive process is conducted to confirm the City is paying reasonable prices for the best possible goods.
Request for Proposal (RFP): To ensure the selection of the most qualified and cost- effective firms, professional services shall be procured using a Request for Proposal (RFP) solicitation process. The RFP provides prospective solicitors with a comprehensive explanation of the scope of work, contract terms, and conditions while soliciting fee quotations. As part of the RFP, consulting firms are required to submit background information and qualifications, including firm experience, expertise of personnel, designation of a project manager, references, a client list for similar projects, proposed use of sub-consultants, project proposals, schedules of fees, and work timelines.
Proposals will be evaluated on the demonstrated competence and qualifications of the firms. To ensure cost-effectiveness, the City will verify that the proposed prices for professional services are fair and reasonable, incorporating price comparisons from multiple firms and negotiating terms to secure the best value. Pricing information will be reviewed only after firms are deemed qualified to maintain a focus on merit-based selection.
In cases where the depth of qualified consultants for a specific service is uncertain or when a high number of solicitors is anticipated, the City may first issue a Request for Qualifications (RFQ). This process allows the City to create a shortlist of qualified solicitors based on their credentials. Once the City is ready to retain a consultant, an RFP Amendment to City Council Policy 4.01 Procurement
January 22, 2025
will be issued to the prequalified solicitors, following the procedures outlined in this section.
Last of Work: The addition of the “last of work” policy authorizes the purchasing officer to make decisions on a final amendment related to projects that are close to completion.
For projects close to completion, unforeseen adjustments often arise, and the proposed policy allows for these adjustment to be addressed by the purchasing officer rather than prepare a formal council action. This enables quick resolution of final needs to complete the projects within the originally estimated timeline. The purchasing officer has the authority to approve “last of work” amendments without additional Council approval for an amount not to exceed the greater of $50,000 or 10% of the total authorized amount. The “last of work” amendments are not applicable to on-call contracts.
Ensure Legal Compliance: The Uniform Public Construction Cost Accounting Act (UPCCAA) governs the Public Contract Code Section 22000 et seq addressing all public works construction projects. This section is adopted by reference in the City of Camarillo’s Municipal Code Title 2, Chapter 2.35. Currently, Policy 4.01 refers to the UPCCAA, however, City Council is not required to take any action as any changes must be approved by the California Uniform Construction Cost Accounting Commission. Therefore, staff recommends removing mention of UPCCCAA from the Policy as City Council does not oversee this State mandate.
FISCAL IMPACT
There is no budget impact as a result of this action.
CEQA DETERMINATIONS
City staff has determined, in accordance with Section 15061(b)(3) of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines, that amendment of the City Council Policy
4.01 Procurement is not subject to CEQA review because it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that it may have a significant effect on the environment.
RECOMMENDATION
Adopt the amendment to City Council Policy 4.01 Procurement.
ATTACHMENTS
1. Policy 4.01 – Procurement (redline)
REFERENCE MATERIALS – AVAILABLE FOR REVIEW AT CITY HALL None