November 7, 2023
Police Department
DATE: November 7, 2023
TO: Mayor Martinez and Members of the City Council
FROM:
Bisa French, Chief of Police
Subject:
Blanket Purchase Orders for Ongoing Police Ammunition
Purchases
FINANCIAL IMPACT: The proposed expenditure of $100,000 was budgeted for accordingly in the fiscal year 2023-2024 budget. The
remaining $100,000 will be budgeted for accordingly in
the next budget cycle – account string 01191021-400341.
PREVIOUS COUNCIL
ACTION:
n/a
STATEMENT OF THE
ISSUE:
The Richmond Police Department would like to purchase
ammunition from a group of four (4) vendors due to the
national ammo shortage affecting many suppliers.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
APPROVE and AUTHORIZE the Police Department to
create blanket purchase orders for required training and duty ammunition purchases of up to $50,000 per vendor,
for the remainder of Fiscal Year 2023-2024 and Fiscal
Year 2024-2025. The four vendors are Dooley, LC
Action, San Diego Police Supply, and Ammo
Incorporated – Police Department (Chief Bisa French
510-621-1802).
AGENDA
REPORT
November 7, 2023
DISCUSSION:
Ammunition continues to be in high demand and low supply, and has been that way for several years now (for various reasons). As a Police Department that carries service weapons on their day-to-day patrol, it is important to stay well-trained, and well- prepared. In order to accomplish this, our ammunition supply chain needs to work fluidly; however, for a myriad of reasons, vendors are often out of the needed caliber sizes at the quantities needed to support a training class or academy course, at the most inconvenient times. Therefore, having multiple vetted sources will help reduce supply chain bottlenecks, backordered wait times, and extensive staff time spent finding a vendor with the correct ammo in stock.
Certain caliber sizes are especially hard to find, and will require at least three-vendors to pull enough supply for our needs. Additionally, following the pandemic, ammo vendors are so short-staffed that they have stopped offering formal quotes, which further reduces the ability to source formal quotes on a weekly basis. The vendors we have selected have submitted quotes for the caliber sizes that we need, and will be able to offer informal quotes via phone which will ensure that they can provide our needed quantities at the best prices prior to placing an order. One vendor in particular, San Diego Police Supply, is the only vendor able to provide us with 308 ammo that has been authorized for use with the police Designated Marksman rifles.
Additionally, the onboarding of officers requires thousands of rounds of ammunition not only during the academy but also during their qualification shoot with Richmond Police Department issued service weapons. The various academy times and onboarding dates makes maintaining the supply difficult when vendors are experiencing supply chain and manufacturing issues. The blanket purchase orders will allow staff to quickly find the vendor with ammunition in stock and eliminate the bottlenecks staff frequently run into with other ammunition vendors. In order to make the four vendor options work, department staff is requesting $50,000 per vendor (a combined total not to exceed $200,000). Due to the changing manufacturing and supply conditions, it is entirely possible that department staff will not utilize part, or all, of a vendor’s purchase order.
The Police Department has worked with the Finance Department’s Purchasing Division, to ensure that this purchase complies with the Richmond Municipal Code for individual purchases of under $50,000.
DOCUMENTS ATTACHED:
Attachment 1 – Quotes
Attachment 2 – Quote Summary Form