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Board narrows on-call contracting authority for flood-control consultants, asks staff for procurement policy review
Summary
Supervisors approved amendments renewing six on-call construction-testing contracts for the Flood Control District and, following a motion to reduce the increase in contracting authority, directed staff to work with an ad hoc to review uniform thresholds for on-call contracts.
The Orange County Board of Supervisors on Sept. 9 approved amendments to renew six on-call construction testing and inspection contracts for the county Flood Control District and curtailed the requested increase in contracting authority after a board member’s motion.
The contracts — with Kleinfelder Inc., Group Delta Consultants Inc., GeoCon West Inc., RMA Group, Nino and Moore Geotechnical Environmental Sciences Consultants, and AEsco Inc. — were originally proposed with larger authority increases. Supervisor Janet Wynne moved to reduce the additional authority from the $1.0 million per vendor reflected in a revised ASR to $500,000 each. "I'll motion to make it half a million dollars versus a million dollars," Wynne said.
Supervisors questioned whether a $500,000 ceiling would be workable and how to prevent a small number of vendors from receiving the bulk of on-call assignments. Public Works staff responded that $500,000 could work but the county might need to return during the two‑year term to request increases if usage grows.
Supervisor Wagner and others supported forming an ad hoc procurement committee to set consistent thresholds across departments. "I would like to bring back the ad hoc committee...so that we can dive into and looking at...what we can land on a universal number for all the departments," Wynne said, urging a uniform approach rather than ad hoc increases.
County Counsel summarized the motion and confirmed there were six affected contracts; the board voted with no recorded public objections and the item was approved as revised.
What the board decided: The board approved the contract renewals with the reduced additional contracting authority (as explained during the hearing) and asked staff to continue work on a procurement policy and an ad hoc committee to review thresholds for on-call contracts.
Next steps: Staff will monitor contract utilization and may return with requests for adjustments or a policy recommendation from the proposed ad hoc committee.
