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Procurement office offers quarterly schedule to reduce CIP bottlenecks; staff warns limited buyer capacity delays projects
Summary
Procurement presented a quarterly project and solicitation schedule showing active workloads and constraints; the office said it averages 35–40 formal solicitations a year and currently had 43 ongoing, with 11 already awarded in FY16.
Randy Burns of the county procurement office told commissioners the office maintains a proactive, quarterly CIP procurement schedule to prevent concentrated peaks and to assign appropriate buyers to solicitations.
Burns said the office began a tracking process four years earlier and had refined it annually; the FY16 planning schedule (current as of Oct. 29) showed 43 active solicitations and 11 awards year‑to‑date. He explained the routine: departments submit project solicitations after CIP approval; procurement reviews and assigns staff; the office identifies possible cooperative contracts and the appropriate solicitation type.
Burns said the county generally does not put projects on the street unless full funding for award is in hand — a risk mitigation step — and that some projects are gated by federal or state grantor review cycles, which add time. "We require that we have 100% of the funds before we start the projects...that's a major risk mitigation," Burns said.
Commissioners asked how long complex construction projects take; Burns estimated architectural/engineering and pre‑award work could take 18–24 months depending on complexity and grantor review; he cited a jail project example where federal review added months to the timeline.
Ending: Commissioners asked staff to convert procurement detail sheets into an accessible quarterly graphic to include in monthly or quarterly CIP updates for the public and to help commissioners explain project timing to constituents.
