County staff told the Board of Supervisors that an addendum to an existing rate contract will add a digital evidence setup and an annual charge for the software the district attorney and other departments use, and that the contract remains a rate (not-to-exceed) arrangement rather than a fixed-dollar contract.

Why it matters: Supervisors sought clarity because the contract has been renewed repeatedly over many years, and the agenda paperwork did not show a not-to-exceed amount or an explicit total for the addendum. Supervisors said that practice makes it hard to track cumulative spending and to know when a formal request for proposals might be warranted.

Staff described the contract as a long-running rate contract that the department converted from a user-count model to a rate model to better reflect actual usage and to reduce overpayments. "By moving it to a rate contract, each February [the vendor] reaches out to me and says, these are the users we see you're using," a county staff member said. The staff member also said annual fees and setup charges for the evidence-upload function are spelled out in the contract paperwork.

The staff member told the board the department reviews contracts and follows county contracting policies, including limits on the number of addenda and requirement to seek the county administrator's approval for further renewals. The staff member also said moving to a rate structure gives less flexibility to negotiate once terms are written into the contract.

Board action: The board approved the consent item that included the addendum after staff explanation. The motion carried with supervisors recorded as voting in the affirmative.

Context and next steps: Supervisors asked the department to continue assessing whether to go out to bid and to bring further review to the county administrator's office if further addenda are needed. The staff member said the department routinely evaluates alternatives but the vendor is widely used and offers features such as digital evidence uploads that the county has adopted.