Improvements to Procurement and Grants

[Colleen Pate]

Colleagues,

This week, I’m bringing an initiative requesting an assessment and overhaul of the City’s procurement and grants processes and oversight. The co-sponsors are MPT Vela, CM Alter, CM Ellis, and CM Qadri.

We’ve heard the results from the City Auditor about failures to properly document the need for certain consultant contracts, and a pervasive failure to diligently monitor contracts and grants to make sure public dollars are being spent efficiently and effectively.

Most recently, information about the Long Center’s contract to distribute cultural arts grant funds from Hotel Occupancy Taxes revealed unusually high administrative costs, which follows an historical lack of oversight of City contracts including those for social services.

This initiative, Item 52, puts us on the path to diligently pursue improvements in process and oversight on tracking deliverables, measuring performance, and vendor review. This effort also includes implementation of innovative technology to track all elements of contracting from initiation to post-delivery reviews. On the grant side, we need to do a better job of oversight as grantor and grantee, such as when we accept state or federal grants, or award dollars to applicants.

I anticipate a large portion of this initiative will be implemented this year and early next, and the initiative asks that regular progress updates come to the Audit and Finance Committee and to the full Council by the end of this year.

Version 2 of the original incorporates adjustments to provide more clarity around the hiring of subcontractors for certain consultant contracts.

Looking forward to our discussion.

Kirk

On behalf of Mayor Watson