1 Independent Analysis of Procurement-Related Monetary Thresholds City of San Pablo City Council – July 6, 2026
2 Scope of Services
Assessment: Analysis of existing municipal code language as compared to best practices Survey: Targeted survey of selected peer agencies in the region Alignment: Comparison of the City’s existing monetary thresholds to survey data and best practices
Observations: Based on survey data and analysis, observations and municipal code redlines supporting City staff’s recommended adjustments to the City’s monetary thresholds Future Work: Alignment of other procurement policy elements with best practices 3 Current Procurement-Related Monetary Thresholds
• There are three categories of monetary thresholds common in local government procurement policies:
• Thresholds for public (construction) formal and informal procurements • Thresholds for non-public (services, materials, and equipment) formal and informal procurements • Threshold for budget / contract signing authority delegated to the City Manager • The City has not updated two of these three categories of monetary thresholds in some time:
• Thresholds for public procurements are current and in alignment with State of California standards • Thresholds for non-public procurements were last updated in 2009 • Thresholds for budget / contract signing authority were last updated in 2017 4 Constructing an Appropriate Survey of Peer Agencies
• Determining the appropriate survey cities
• Eide Bailly obtained a listing of all cities in close proximity to the City of San Pablo • This list was then narrowed based on population and total budget to 20 similar cities • Survey process
• Eide Bailly gathered survey data regarding procurement-related monetary thresholds for all 20 cities • This data was then analyzed to eliminate survey cities not appropriate for inclusion in the comparisons • Survey cities were removed because they have informal or poorly documented procurement policies (four cities), have monetary thresholds that were more than 25 years old (three cities), allow for all non- construction procurements to be administratively approved (two cities), or have a procurement policy that is unusually conservative or inconsistent with best practices (one city) • The remaining list of survey cities utilized for Eide Bailly’s analysis totaled 10 cities 5 Budget Authority / Contract Signing Thresholds
• The majority of the surveyed cities
have delegated monetary
thresholds exceeding the City’s
current threshold of $50,000
• For construction projects, the average
amount is $182,000, with most cities
aligning their thresholds with the
current State formal bid threshold of
$220,000
• For services, materials, and supplies
procurements, the average amounts
are $92,500 and $97,500,
respectively
6 Formal and Informal Procurement Thresholds
• The majority of the surveyed cities have construction procurement thresholds in alignment with the City’s thresholds
• Several of the cities included in the survey have not opted into the flexibility allowed by the State under the California Uniform Construction Cost Accounting Act, which accounts for their $5,000 formal construction procurement threshold • For non-construction procurements, all of the surveyed cities have delegated monetary thresholds for formal and informal procurements exceeding the City’s current thresholds of $25,000 and $5,000, respectively • Several cities did not have information readily available detailing their monetary thresholds for non-construction procurements
Formal Informal Formal Informal Formal Informal
City of San Pablo $220,000 $75,000 $25,000 $5,000 $25,000 $5,000 City of Berkeley N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
City of Concord $220,000 $75,000 $85,000 $10,000 $85,000 $10,000 City of Dublin $220,000 $75,000 $100,000 $50,000 $100,000 $50,000 City of Hercules $220,000 $75,000 N/A N/A N/A N/A
City of Livermore $220,000 $75,000 $100,000 $10,000 $100,000 $10,000 City of Orinda $220,000 $75,000 $60,000 $10,000 $60,000 $10,000 City of Pinole $220,000 $75,000 N/A N/A N/A N/A
City of San Leandro $5,000 N/A $200,000 $60,000 $200,000 $60,000 City of San Ramon $5,000 N/A N/A $15,000 N/A $15,000
City of Walnut Creek $220,000 $75,000 $100,000 $50,000 $50,000 $10,000 Agency Name Materials and Equipment Construction Services 7 Relevant Inflationary Changes
• There are two industry standards for
assessing inflation related to procurement
in California local governments
• The change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI)
for the City’s metropolitan statistical area
• The change in the California Construction Cost
Index (CCCI)
• Our analysis reflects an approximately
63% increase in the CPI and 91% increase
in the CCCI since November 2009
• Our analysis reflects an approximately
34% increase in the CPI and 59% increase
in the CCCI since January 2017
8 Summary of Eide Bailly’s Observations
• Observation #1: From a best practices perspective, delegated monetary authority should be set at a level that balances administrative efficiency with oversight by elected officials • Higher monetary thresholds, when grounded in effective written policies and procedures, provide for more efficient and timely procurement processes and service delivery to constituents • Observation #2: The survey data supports a recommendation to increase the City Manager’s delegated authority from $50,000 to $100,000
• In our experience, the recommended threshold is consistent with similar cities throughout California • There has been a significant reduction in the purchasing power of the current $50,000 monetary threshold since 2017 • Observation #3: The survey data supports a recommendation to increase the non-public project procurement thresholds to $100,000 and $10,000
• Aligning the threshold for formal non-construction procurement with the threshold for City Council approval of procurements provides for a single monetary threshold that can be consistently applied • In our experience, the recommended thresholds are consistent with similar cities throughout California 9 eidebailly.com
Thank you
9 Government Advisory Services
CITY OF SAN PABLO · STAFF RECOMMENDATION
Recommendations
20 Following the independent, third-party review and findings presented by Eide Bailly, City staff recommends the City Council proceed with the following actions:
1. Receive presentation and acknowledge independent survey data and findings; and
2. Introduce Ordinance, waive first reading, amending Chapter 3.16 which authorizes the following:
• An increase the City Manager’s delegated authority from $50,000 to $100,000; and
• An increase the non-public project procurement thresholds to $100,000 and $10,000.