Central Services seeks GSA procurement resolution; incident command trailer planned for July 29 consent agenda

Thurston County Central Services told the Board of County Commissioners on July 22 that it will seek a resolution at the July 29 business meeting to buy an incident command trailer through the federal General Services Administration and requested a separate standing resolution authorizing the county to use GSA purchasing programs.

Kim Burnett, director of Central Services, said the incident command trailer purchase had previously received expenditure authority and that state law requires a board resolution when a county purchases through GSA. "We are requesting approval for a resolution to purchase through General Services Administration, an incident command trailer," Burnett said. She added, "This is more procedural where there's an RCW that requires us to have a resolution each time we purchase through GSA."

Burnett also described a second request: a standing resolution to allow Thurston County to use GSA purchasing programs as part of continuous process improvements. "This would allow us to have a standing resolution to allow us to purchase through the General Service Administration, but still taking into account the procurement policy. So, if it was above the 50,000 mark, we would still come back for approval for expenditure authority," Burnett said.

Commissioners had no substantive questions during the work session; one commissioner noted the item had been pushed from a prior meeting to allow extra review. Staff said the standing resolution would not change the county's procurement policy thresholds: purchases above the county's expenditure authority level would still require separate board approval.

At the time of the July 22 work session, the requests were being presented for placement on the July 29 consent agenda; the transcript does not record the board taking final action on either resolution during the agenda-setting session.

IT staff also noted a technical problem with the live stream during the work session; staff recommended recording the meeting for later posting until the stream could be restored.

If approved at the July 29 business meeting, the incident command trailer purchase would be authorized by a formal board resolution required by state law; the standing GSA resolution would allow staff to use GSA contracts subject to existing procurement and expenditure approval requirements.