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Community Power raises procurement threshold to $150,000, clarifies sole-source and grant rules
Summary
The committee recommended board adoption of two companion policy updates: a revised non-energy procurement policy that raises competitive solicitation threshold to $150,000 and a delegated contract authority policy that gives the CEO contract execution authority up to $150,000 and clarifies staff authority to apply for grants.
San Diego Community Power’s Finance and Risk Management Committee on Sept. 18 voted to recommend board adoption of two companion policy updates: revisions to the non-energy procurement policy and revisions to the delegated contract authority policy.
Timothy Magalma, director of finance, presented the proposed procurement updates and said the agency has not revised the procurement policy since 2022. He told the committee the principal change is increasing the competitive-solicitation threshold from $125,000 to $150,000 so that contracts valued at or above $150,000 would generally require formal solicitation (RFP/RFQ). He said the updates also clarify criteria for sole-source procurement, define emergency procurement procedures delegated to the CEO, and add provisions allowing cooperative or piggyback procurements.
Magalma said the proposed revisions also explicitly include legal services on the list of non-energy procurements and would allow flexibility to contract specialized legal services without a full competitive solicitation in some circumstances. Christopher Stevens, procurement manager, participated online and was cited as having contributed to drafting the revisions.
The committee then considered a companion update to the delegated contract authority policy. Director Montlickmon (presenter) and other staff explained that the revision aligns the CEO’s delegated authority with the procurement threshold, expressly delegating to the CEO the authority to execute contracts up to $150,000. The update also clarifies that staff may apply for grant funding on the agency’s behalf but that acceptance and expenditure of grant awards still require board approval. Presenters gave the example that some grants include attribution or branding requirements and so final acceptance should be reviewed by the board.
Committee members asked clarifying questions about legal services and the grant-application process; staff said the changes are intended to provide clearer internal guidance while preserving board oversight for accepting and spending grant funds. The committee approved recommending both policy updates to the board by roll-call vote.
Both changes were presented as recommendations to the board and will return in the board packet with the revised policy language and a rescission of the prior delegated authority resolution referenced in the presentation.
