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Alameda County GSA reports $7.9M in formal procurements, strong local vendor participation but apprenticeship hours lag
Summary
The General Services Agency told the Procurement & Contracting Committee it administered 11 formal procurements totaling about $7.9 million and that local and SLUB vendors captured the majority of awards; GSA said countywide local‑hire goals have been exceeded but apprentice hours remain below the 20% state target.
The Alameda County General Services Agency reported to the Procurement & Contracting Committee on July 20 that GSA purchasing administered 11 formal procurements for goods and services totaling approximately $7.9 million and that roughly 62% of contract awards went to local or SLUB vendors, with 59% going to certified SLUBs, GSA Director Kimberly Gassaway said.
Gassaway said the quarter included a high volume of sole‑source approvals and piggyback actions: GSA approved about 151 sole‑source approvals totaling roughly $14.5 million, including both exceptions and exemptions, and 29 piggybacks totaling about $7.6 million. She said piggybacks covered vehicle and equipment purchases for Alameda County Fire, Public Works and the Sheriff, and about $1.7 million of piggybacks were for computer hardware and software.
The presentation clarified procurement terms used in GSA reports: sole‑source exceptions apply when a noncompetitive procurement is justified (single supplier, patent rights, compatibility or maintenance) while sole‑source exemptions generally apply to routine renewals, commercial off‑the‑shelf software, utilities and similar categories, Gassaway said.
GSA reported activity on construction and job order contracts as well. For building maintenance the county issued 12 informal construction contracts to local vendors totaling about $585,000. GSA’s capital programs issued a $575,000 formal construction contract for a juvenile justice center housing‑unit safety barriers project, which staff identified as nonlocal. Job order contract task orders totaled about $3.2 million during the period; approximately 40% of that task‑order value went to local vendors.
On workforce goals, Gassaway said the county‑wide local‑hire target of 40% had been exceeded, with an overall figure of about 50.55% reported in the period. However, she said apprentice hours were at roughly 16%, short of the 20% state requirement for apprentices on covered projects. Deputy County Counsel Kathy Lee told supervisors that state law requires the county to include apprenticeship compliance language in public‑works contracts and that prime contractors bear responsibility for compliance; county enforcement is limited to contract stipulations and the state’s enforcement mechanisms.
Supervisors also asked about unbundling solicitations to allow smaller firms to compete. Procurement Administrator Dietra Dillon said GSA advises client departments during solicitation development and has seen successful unbundling opportunities, but that client departments decide whether to unbundle. Dillon agreed to research recent unbundling examples and to report back at a future quarterly update.
Gassaway described outreach efforts and technical assistance that support small local businesses, including vendor conferences and collaboration with a technical‑assistance contractor. She reminded businesses and bidders to use the GSA website for bid conference information and contracting announcements.
The committee had no public comments on the item and moved to the next agenda topic.
