GSA reports quarterly procurements, waivers and local-hire progress; supervisors press for SLAB enrollment data

Kimberly Gassaway, director of the Alameda County General Services Agency, told the Board of Supervisors9Procurement & Contracting Committee on July 15 that GSA administered eight formal procurements during Jan. 19to March 31, 2024 and handled a variety of exceptions and waivers, including sole-source and piggyback arrangements valued at about $21.7 million.

Gassaway walked the committee through GSA9definitions for sole-source and exempt procurements 9examples she read included commercial off-the-shelf software renewals, certain utility or landlord-controlled services, and proprietary security or maintenance arrangements. She said GSA completed a review of its waiver process and reported 167 new waivers totaling approximately $27 million and 69 amended contracts worth about $12 million, a combined figure Gassaway described as roughly $40 million in waiver-related activity.

Why it matters: supervisors flagged local-hire goals, apprenticeship hours and SLAB (Small Local Emerging Business) participation as important measures of whether county contracting meets stated equity objectives. Gassaway said GSA tracks contractor participation, meets with contractors that fall behind, and relies on a joint advisory committee to request corrective action plans and, if needed, put contractors on notice.

Committee members asked whether referrals into the SLAB program are tracked and whether the county knows how many referrals complete certification. "I can check with staff," Gassaway said, adding that the workload and documentation required for small vendors can be a barrier to certification. She also noted ongoing outreach efforts 9conferences, webinars and technical assistance events intended to increase vendor participation.

Gassaway provided construction- and capital-program-specific figures: informal construction awards showed a strong local share in several categories, while formal construction awards included at least one non-local award around $700,000; in capital programs one local contractor received about $769,000 (reported as roughly 27% of a subset of awards). She also described apprenticeship and local area resident participation metrics and said GSA projects are near or above some county goals.

Public commenters raised project and workforce concerns. A speaker who identified herself as Kelly pointed to the Dublin Transit Center parking garage as the largest project on the report and asked about apparent timing discrepancies in the report's completion dates; she also cited GSA's 13% vacancy rate from a grand jury report and contrasted that with higher vacancy rates in other agencies, asking how GSA is addressing hiring to meet project demands. Clarence Hunt, another caller, asked detailed questions about contract types and alleged a failure to apply the county9s unbundling procedures to a recent solicitation; he requested the committee review a pre-bid protest.

Next steps: the committee scheduled an update on unbundling procedures and asked staff to follow up on SLAB referral tracking and GSA outreach outcomes.