Sheriff, fleet staff request out‑of‑state ‘ship‑through’ upfitting to clear vehicle backlog; board approves moving forward

Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office and Fleet Management told the Board on Jan. 14 they face a backlog of patrol and detention vehicles that have arrived but sit awaiting upfitting locally. Fleet Manager Randy Campbell and Lt. Tammy Twombly said long local lead times and staffing shortages at regional small upfitters have left dozens of county vehicles parked and out of service; some date back to 2022 and sit with very low mileage but expired warranty periods.

Staff proposed a ship‑through model: vehicles would be sent directly from the dealer to a large upfitter near the manufacturer (an out‑of‑state firm), completed there and returned to service. County staff said the ship‑through cost per car is slightly higher (roughly $1,500 additional per vehicle in the example discussed) but should reduce soft costs — fleet holding expenses, weather‑related damage, warranty exposure for cars stored for long periods and lost patrol capacity while vehicles sit idle.

The Board gave consensus approval for an initial group of eight existing vehicles to be processed using the ship‑through vendor and authorized procurement staff to employ ship‑through upfitting for new emergency vehicle orders where it is operationally appropriate. Commissioners and fleet staff said they would continue to use local upfitters for one‑off or specialty work and to rotate business among qualified local vendors when capacity allows.

No formal roll‑call vote was recorded in the study session; commissioners signaled support and asked staff to proceed with necessary procurement waivers and contract steps.