Title
Efficiencies in Government - Resolution Increasing Delegated Authority to Award City Contracts
Action
Action:
Adopt a resolution authorizing the City Manager and designees to approve contracts and amendments of less than $500,000, and clarifying and consolidating in a single resolution certain other contract authority.
Body
Committee Chair:
Greg Phipps, Budget and Effectiveness
Staff Resource(s):
Greg McDowell, Internal Audit
Tina Adams, Internal Audit
Bob Hagemann, City Attorney's Office
Cindy White, City Attorney's Office
Explanation
* In 1995, Council delegated authority to the City Manager to award contracts and amendments that do not exceed $100,000.
* The City's internal controls and processes support the increased operational efficiencies which can be gained by raising the dollar threshold of contracts submitted to Council for approval.
* The Internal Auditor recommends increasing the delegated authority to the City Manager to award contracts and amendments of less than $500,000.
* In 2017, City Internal Audit conducted a review to determine whether the thresholds for Council contract approval should be increased. City Internal Audit determined:
* Opportunity exists to increase efficiencies: In fiscal year (FY) 2017, consent items under $500,000 requested for Council approval were almost half of the total number of consent agenda items submitted. However, these items under $500,000 made up only seven percent of the City's consent item spending.
* In FY 2017, 226 items under $500,000 were submitted for Council approval. All but one were unanimously approved.
* Contract approval by Council lengthens the implementation process by four to six weeks per item.
* In addition to standard internal processes, there is an additional layer of purely administrative review required by staff for the documents that go before Council. The estimated administrative staff time is three to six hours per item.
* State level controls in place: State proc...
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