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Committee approves short extension for APD’s COMPASS tool while department seeks a replacement
Summary
The committee approved a retroactive one‑year extension of the Adult Probation Department’s maintenance contract for the COMPASS risk‑assessment tool to allow time to procure a replacement. Supervisors pressed APD on algorithm transparency and said future contracts should favor publicly auditable tools.
The Budget & Finance Committee on Sept. 29 approved a one‑year technical‑support extension to the Adult Probation Department’s contract with Northpointe (COMPASS) so the department can continue to run and maintain the risk‑and‑needs assessment portal while it procures an alternative tool.
Veronica Martinez of the Adult Probation Department said the amendment covers only maintenance and technical support while APD procures a replacement; the department cited a 2016 local validation study confirming predictive performance for APD’s client population but acknowledged concerns about COMPASS’s proprietary algorithm.
Supervisor Asha Safai pressed APD to require a publicly available algorithm in future procurements, citing investigative reporting that raised concerns about COMPASS’s racial disparities. "If you all bring us a request in the future that does not have an open algorithm ... I will not be in support," Safai said, referring to analysis that found differential error rates across races.
The Budget Legislative Analyst recommended reducing the not‑to‑exceed amount in the resolution to $300,000 to reflect actual and projected expenditures; the committee accepted the recommendation and forwarded the amended item to the full Board with a positive recommendation.
Provenance: Item 1 (Northpointe/COMPASS contract extension) was introduced at SEG 2499; committee action adopting the BLA amendment and forwarding to the Board occurred at SEG 2815.
