City finance staff presented the FY26 high-profile procurement forecast and an overview of procurement processes to the Audit Committee on Nov. 5.

Troy Elliott, the city's chief financial officer, said the forecast includes about 382 solicitations over $50,000; staff identified 82 that meet the city's high-profile definition (generally $1,000,000 and above or projects with public-safety or community-impact implications). Staff proposed that many solicitations be handled through consent agendas or delegated to the city manager, while select high-profile procurements will proceed through pre-solicitation hearings (session B) and greater council scrutiny.

Elliott reviewed solicitation types (invitations to bid, quotes, RFQs, RFPs, design-build and CMAR processes), federal/state disadvantaged-business programs (DBE), and the city's local-preference ordinance. He explained the 5 percent price preference band: when a nonlocal low bid is the smallest but a qualified local bid is within 5% of that low price, staff may award to the local bidder to favor businesses that have a one-year presence in San Antonio and local economic ties.

Committee members raised questions about tracking contractor performance and enforcing timelines and budgets. Mike Shannon said the city maintains a list of responsible and not-responsible vendors; vendors with repeated poor performance may be suspended from bidding for up to three years. Members asked whether technology or AI is being used to track vendor performance; staff said much of the current tracking is manual (spreadsheets) and that AI pilots depend on higher-quality data.

Staff also outlined outreach and registration resources for local businesses and described the schedule: pre-solicitation hearings and additional committee briefings in December and February, with final recommendations planned for July 2026.

Why it matters: The forecast shapes which procurements receive committee and council review, affects local-business participation through the preference policy, and frames oversight for large capital and public-safety contracts.

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