Board forwards $82m master-lease contract with Tenderloin Housing Clinic; committee accepts RFQ pool approach

The Budget and Finance Committee recommended that the full board approve a master-lease housing contract with Tenderloin Housing Clinic to provide housing services for formerly homeless single adults across 15 SRO sites.

Dave Curtow of the Human Services Agency described the contract as essentially a renewal and consolidation of two prior contracts that support master-leased hotel rooms: "They have 15 hotels, that they manage providing, 1,500 rooms of the total 2,400 rooms that we currently have, for single adults." Curtow said the program has been in operation since 1999 and that providers qualify through an RFQ rather than a conventional bid because the providers themselves hold leases with hotel owners.

Budget analyst Mr. Rose said the resolution covers a 5½-year contract with a not-to-exceed amount in the packet (presented in some places as about $82.2–82.3 million) and that the financing mix included roughly 79% general-fund support. Rose recommended retroactive approval to Jan. 1, 2010, because the contract begins on that date.

Supervisors pressed staff on procurement thresholds and whether the RFQ process met city procurement rules; HSA and budget staff explained the facility-driven nature of master leases and said the eligible-pool approach meets procurement requirements. There was no public speaker opposing the contract; the committee took the recommendation to forward the item to the full board with the analyst's recommended amendment for retroactive approval.

The committee recorded the motion and took the item to the full board with recommendation.