City Council
October 20, 2026
AGENDA REPORT
TO: Elizabeth Lake
Interim City Administrator
FROM: James P. Beere
Chief of Police
SUBJECT: OPD Bay Area PL Services
Contract
DATE: September 16, 2026
City Administrator Approval Date:
RECOMMENDATION
Staff Recommends That The City Council Adopt A Resolution: (1) Authorizing The City Administrator To Enter Into An Agreement With Bay Area PL Services For Blood Withdrawal And Sexual Assault Suspect Examination Services For A Term Of Three (3) Years, With An Option To Extend The Agreement For Up To Two Years And Without Return To City Council, For A Total Amount Not To Exceed One Million, Nine Hundred And Two Thousand, Five Hundred And Ten Dollars ($1,902,510.00); (2) Waiving The Request For Proposals/Qualifications (RFP/Q) And Advertising/Bidding And The Local/Small Local Business Enterprise (L/SLBE) Requirements For The Proposed Agreement; And (3) Authorizing Payment Of Unpaid Invoices Due To Bay Area PL Services In An Amount Not To Exceed One Hundred Two Thousand, Five Hundred Ten Dollars ($102,510.00).
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
OPD requests that the City Council adopt a resolution authorizing the City Administrator to: pay outstanding invoices to Bay Area PL Services totaling $102,510; and establish a formal threeyear contract, with a two-year discretionary extension option, for blood withdrawal and sexual assault suspect examination services, for a total amount not to exceed $1,902,510. This action also waives the City's advertising/bidding and Request for Proposal/Qualifications (RFP/Q) requirements, as well as the Local/Small Local Business Enterprise (L/SLBE) Program requirements, for this contract.
REASON FOR URGENCY
This item is being brought to Council on an urgent basis. Bay Area PL Services has indicated that it may discontinue services to OPD if the outstanding invoices are not resolved, and OPD does not currently have an alternate vendor under contract to perform DUI blood draws or sexual assault suspect examinations. Because these services are time-sensitive and a lapse could not be deferred to a subsequent regular meeting without substantial adverse impact, staff is requesting placement on the October 20, 2026 Council agenda.
BACKGROUND / LEGISLATIVE HISTORY
OPD does not have in-house phlebotomy capacity sufficient to meet its needs for DUI blood draws and sexual assault suspect examinations, and has relied on a third-party vendor, Bay Elizabeth Lake (Oct 8, 2026 16:15:44 PDT)
Elizabeth Lake Oct 8, 2026
Elizabeth Lake, Interim City Administrator
Subject: OPD Bay Area PL Services Contract
Date: September 16, 2026 Page 2
____________________________________________________________________________ City Council
October 20, 2026
Area PL Services, since 2022. This relationship has operated under a series of purchase orders rather than a single, Council-authorized contract. The available purchase order funding for this vendor has been exhausted, and outstanding invoices to Bay Area PL Services now total $102,510.
California's implied consent law (Vehicle Code Section 23612) requires that persons arrested for driving under the influence (DUI) submit to a chemical test of their blood or breath. Only certain licensed or certified personnel may withdraw blood for this purpose, consistent with Vehicle Code Section 23158 and California Business and Professions Code Sections 1242, 1242.5, and 1246. Timeliness carries specific legal weight: under Vehicle Code Section 23152(b), a blood alcohol test administered within three hours of driving carries a rebuttable legal presumption that the result reflects the driver's blood alcohol content at the time of driving; a delayed test can lose the benefit of that presumption and weaken a resulting prosecution.
Blood alcohol testing must also be conducted in accordance with Title 17 of the California Code of Regulations (CCR) (Sections 1215–1222.2), which governs licensing and methodology for forensic alcohol analysis. Similarly, sexual assault suspect examinations require a licensed and trained examiner to collect forensic evidence from the suspect in a timely manner and in accordance with medically established guidelines and state examination protocols, in order to preserve its evidentiary value for potential prosecution.
ANALYSIS AND POLICY ALTERNATIVES
● Rising Demand for Services:
OPD's use of Bay Area PL Services has increased materially since 2022. According to the vendor's service records, average monthly blood draw requests grew from approximately 8 in 2022 to 31 in 2026 year to date, nearly four times the volume at the beginning of the relationship and a 29 percent increase over the 2025 monthly average. Average monthly sexual assault suspect examination (SART/SAFE) requests also rose, from 0.86 in 2022 to
2.5 in 2026 year to date. This growth requires the vendor to sustain sufficient qualified personnel, after-hours availability, mobile-response capacity, supervisory oversight, and quality controls. Table 1 summarizes OPD's utilization by year.
Table 1: Average Monthly Service Requests by Calendar Year Calendar Year Blood Draw
Requests
SART/SAFE
Requests
2022 8 0.86
2023 18 0.83
2024 18 1.42
2025 24 1.17
2026 (YTD)* 31 2.5
*2026 figures are year-to-date averages based on Bay Area PL Services service records.
Elizabeth Lake, Interim City Administrator
Subject: OPD Bay Area PL Services Contract
Date: September 16, 2026 Page 3
____________________________________________________________________________ City Council
October 20, 2026
● Licensing, Certification, and 24/7 Availability Standards:
State law requires that blood withdrawals in DUI cases be performed only by a licensed physician, registered nurse, licensed vocational nurse, or certified phlebotomy technician, consistent with Vehicle Code Section 23158 and California Business and Professions Code Sections 1242, 1242.5, and 1246. Bay Area PL Services maintains qualified personnel available by phone or pager twenty-four (24) hours a day, seven (7) days a week, able to respond within thirty (30) minutes and complete a blood withdrawal on-scene within sixty (60) minutes, with comparable rapid-response standards for suspect examinations. This is an operational standard that would be difficult and costly for a new vendor to stand up on short notice.
● Updated Fee Schedule and Cost Increase Justification:
Bay Area PL Services has submitted an updated fee schedule, effective August 1, 2026 through July 31, 2027, averaging approximately eight percent (8%) above current rates (Table 2). The vendor states that the adjustment is needed to support continued service availability, qualified staffing, and operational readiness as OPD utilization and servicedelivery costs have increased. The adjustment does not change the scope or performance requirements established by the City.
Table 2: Bay Area PL Services Updated Fee Schedule (August 1, 2026 – July 31, 2027) Service Item Rate Measure
Blood Draw Request $290 Each
SART/SAFE Request $995 Each
Standby Rate $17,496 Monthly
The vendor attributes the adjustment to cumulative increases in the cost of maintaining a specialized, on-demand service, including the following operational and external factors:
○ Qualified Personnel and Coverage: Recruitment, retention, training, paid leave, and compensation necessary to maintain reliable availability, including nights, weekends, and holidays.
○ Mobile Operations: Vehicle, fuel, mileage, dispatch, and maintenance expenses associated with responding at locations and times designated by OPD. ○ Supplies and Quality Requirements: Collection materials, personal protective equipment, evidence-handling supplies, documentation, competency assessment, and quality oversight.
○ Insurance and General Operating Costs: Required professional, general liability, and vehicle insurance coverage, along with other expenses necessary to sustain compliant operations.
○ State Wage Floor: California's statewide minimum wage increased from $15.50 per hour in 2023 to $16.90 per hour in 2026, an increase of approximately nine percent.
Elizabeth Lake, Interim City Administrator
Subject: OPD Bay Area PL Services Contract
Date: September 16, 2026 Page 4
____________________________________________________________________________ City Council
October 20, 2026
This is a labor-market benchmark; the vendor must generally pay above the statutory floor to recruit and retain qualified personnel.
○ Paid Sick Leave: Senate Bill 616 increased the minimum paid sick leave entitlement from three days or 24 hours to five days or 40 hours, beginning January 1, 2024. For continuous-coverage operations, paid absences create both leave expense and replacement-coverage expense.
○ Regional Inflation: According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPIU) increased 3.4 percent for the 12 months ending August 2026. Over the same period, the services index increased 3.8 percent, energy 12.3 percent, and gasoline
22.2 percent, all of which affect a labor-intensive mobile-response operation. ○ Healthcare Labor Competition: Senate Bill 525 established higher minimum-wage schedules for workers at covered healthcare facilities. The vendor cites this law as evidence of regional wage competition for clinical personnel, not as a conclusion that its positions are covered by the law.
Staff recognizes that the updated fee schedule represents an increase over current rates.
These indicators support the reasonableness of a measured adjustment but do not, by themselves, determine the contract rate. Bay Area PL Services has stated that the proposed pricing is consistent with the rates in its executed agreement with the County of Alameda for comparable services (Attachment A), which provides a relevant public-agency reference point for procurement review. The vendor has also committed to provide invoices, historical utilization summaries, executed public-agency agreements, or other supporting records requested by OPD, Procurement, or the Office of the City Attorney. The vendor's full cost increase justification is included as Attachment C.
● Independent Market Validation — Alameda County Precedent:
Bay Area PL Services currently provides this same category of blood withdrawal and sexual assault suspect examination services to the County of Alameda under a competitively awarded contract (RFP No. 902439, Procurement Contract No. 27268), effective August 1, 2024 through July 31, 2027, for a total not to exceed $1,824,627. That contract, awarded through Alameda County's standard competitive Request for Proposal (RFP) process, provides independent confirmation that this vendor's qualifications, staffing model, and pricing have already withstood competitive review for the identical scope of work in a neighboring jurisdiction.
If Council does not adopt the recommended action, staff considered the following alternatives:
Alternative 1: Conduct
Competitive RFP Before Any
Council Action
Alternative 2: Pay Outstanding
Invoices Only
Pros Fully competitive process
conducted from the outset.
Avoids a multi-year Council
commitment ahead of a
competitive RFP.
Cons An RFP process takes several
months. During that time OPD
would have no contracted vendor
Leaves OPD without a Councilauthorized contract and without assurance of continued service;
Elizabeth Lake, Interim City Administrator
Subject: OPD Bay Area PL Services Contract
Date: September 16, 2026 Page 5
____________________________________________________________________________ City Council
October 20, 2026
and unpaid invoices would
remain outstanding, risking
discontinuation of time-sensitive
DUI and suspect examination
services.
the underlying funding
exhaustion problem recurs in the
near term.
Reason for Not
Recommending
Timeline does not allow
resolution of the immediate risk of
service interruption.
Does not establish the Councilauthorized contract needed for continuity of service.
The Department of Workforce and Employment Standards (DWES) conducted a review of certified firms for this scope of work (blood draw services and sexual assault suspect examinations) and, per its memorandum dated September 11, 2026, found zero (0) certified firms associated with the relevant North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code.
DWES's memorandum expressly notes that this review did not evaluate whether any firm is ready, willing, and able to perform the work, and does not itself constitute a formal Availability Analysis or establish an L/SLBE requirement; it is offered here as supporting documentation for the recommended L/SLBE waiver, not as a sole-source finding. OPD does not consider Bay Area PL Services to be a sole-source provider of these services.
WAIVER RATIONALE
Advertising/Bidding and RFP/Q Waiver
Oakland Municipal Code Section 2.04.051.B permits the City Council to waive the Request for Proposal/Qualifications (RFP/Q) requirements upon a finding that it is in the best interest of the City to do so. Bay Area PL Services, a small business, cannot continue to pay its staff and absorb its operating costs indefinitely without being compensated for services rendered, and has indicated it may discontinue services if the outstanding invoices are not resolved. OPD does not have an alternate vendor under contract, and conducting a full competitive RFP process before establishing any contract would take several months — time OPD does not have without risking an interruption in DUI blood draw and sexual assault suspect examination services. Staff therefore recommends that Council waive the RFP/Q requirement at this time, while committing to conduct a competitive RFP process prior to the expiration of this contract term.
RELATED PLANNING EFFORTS
This agenda item is a routine operational item and does not relate to any Oakland strategic planning efforts.
FISCAL IMPACT
Below is the fiscal impact associated with the requested $1,902,510 authorization, which includes payment of the $102,510.00 in outstanding invoices and an estimated monthly cost of $30,000 (approximately $360,000 annually) over the proposed three-year base term and twoyear discretionary extension option.
Elizabeth Lake, Interim City Administrator
Subject: OPD Bay Area PL Services Contract
Date: September 16, 2026 Page 6
____________________________________________________________________________ City Council
October 20, 2026
Table 3: Estimated Cost of Bay Area PL Services Contract Contract Year Monthly Cost Annual Cost
Outstanding Invoices (One-Time) — $102,510
Year 1 $30,000 $360,000
Year 2 $30,000 $360,000
Year 3 $30,000 $360,000
Year 4 (Option Year 1) $30,000 $360,000
Year 5 (Option Year 2) $30,000 $360,000
Total $1,902,510.00
*Applying the updated fee schedule in Table 2 to 2026 year-to-date utilization (31 blood draws and 2.5 SART/SAFE requests per month) yields an estimated monthly cost of approximately $28,974 ($17,496 standby rate + $8,990 in blood draws + $2,488 in SART/SAFE requests), within the $30,000 monthly estimate above. Actual costs will vary with service volume and any future rate adjustments.
The funds for the Bay Area PL Services contract shall be paid from the General Purpose Fund (1010), Org (102310), Acct (54311), Project (1000008), Program (PS03).
PUBLIC OUTREACH / INTEREST
The public has a strong interest in the timely, professional collection of forensic evidence in both DUI cases and sexual assault investigations. Uninterrupted access to phlebotomy and suspect examination services supports effective DUI enforcement and the integrity of sexual assault investigations and prosecutions. This action supports holistic community safety by ensuring OPD can continue to conduct time-sensitive DUI blood draws and sexual assault suspect examinations without interruption. It also supports responsive, trustworthy government by bringing an existing informal vendor relationship under a properly authorized, Council-approved contract. No outreach beyond the standard City Council agenda noticing procedures was deemed necessary for this operational contract action.
COORDINATION
This report and legislation have been reviewed by the Office of the City Attorney, the Budget Bureau, and the Department of Workforce and Employment Standards (DWES).
PAST PERFORMANCE, EVALUATION AND FOLLOW-UP
Bay Area PL Services has provided blood withdrawal and sexual assault suspect examination services to OPD since 2022 under a series of purchase orders, during which time the vendor has met OPD's operational needs for rapid, 24/7 response. Bay Area PL Services also currently performs this same scope of work for the County of Alameda under an active, competitively Elizabeth Lake, Interim City Administrator
Subject: OPD Bay Area PL Services Contract
Date: September 16, 2026 Page 7
____________________________________________________________________________ City Council
October 20, 2026
awarded contract. Going forward, OPD will track vendor response times, invoice timeliness, and service-call volume to evaluate performance under the new contract. Staff will return to Council with a competitive RFP prior to expiration of the contract term authorized herein.
RACE AND EQUITY
Staff did not complete a Racial Equity Impact Analysis (REIA) on this recommended action, as it continues an existing operational vendor relationship necessary to support OPD's DUI enforcement and sexual assault investigation functions citywide. Going forward, OPD will track service response times and case outcomes to help ensure consistent, equitable application of these forensic services across all cases and communities served.
Elizabeth Lake, Interim City Administrator
Subject: OPD Bay Area PL Services Contract
Date: September 16, 2026 Page 8
____________________________________________________________________________ City Council
October 20, 2026
ACTION REQUESTED OF THE CITY COUNCIL
Staff Recommends That The City Council Adopt A Resolution: (1) Authorizing The City Administrator To Enter Into An Agreement With Bay Area PL Services For Blood Withdrawal And Sexual Assault Suspect Examination Services For A Term Of Three (3) Years, With An Option To Extend The Agreement For Up To Two Years And Without Return To City Council, For A Total Amount Not To Exceed One Million, Nine Hundred And Two Thousand, Five Hundred And Ten Dollars ($1,902,510.00); (2) Waiving The Request For Proposals/Qualifications (RFP/Q) And Advertising/Bidding And The Local/Small Local Business Enterprise (L/SLBE) Requirements For The Proposed Agreement; And (3) Authorizing Payment Of Unpaid Invoices Due To Bay Area PL Services In An Amount Not To Exceed One Hundred Two Thousand, Five Hundred Ten Dollars ($102,510.00).
For questions regarding this report, please contact Lieutenant Michael J. Cardoza at [email protected].
Reviewed by:
Dr. Tracey Jones, Legislative Services Manager
OPD, BRM, Research and Planning
Prepared by:
Michael J. Cardoza, Lieutenant
OPD, Traffic Division
Attachments (2):
A: County of Alameda Standard Services Agreement with Bay Area PL Services (Master Contract No. 902439)
B: DWES Memorandum, Review of Certified Firms for OPD Forensic Blood Draw Services (September 11, 2026)