REPORT/RECOMMENDATION TO THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY
AND RECORD OF ACTION
April 29, 2025
FROM
JOANI FINWALL, Registrar of Voters
SUBJECT
Title
Amendment to Contract with DMT Solution Global Corporation dba BlueCrest for Mail Ballot Machines and Support Services
End
RECOMMENDATION(S)
Recommendation
Approve Amendment No. 2 to Contract No. 19-805 with DMT Solution Global Corporation dba BlueCrest, updating the contract language to include additional items in the Pricing Schedule, under Attachment A, and increasing the contract amount by $673,000, from $2,568,488 to an amount not to exceed $3,241,488, with no change to the term of December 10, 2019 through December 9, 2029.
(Presenter: Joani Finwall, Registrar of Voters, 387-2100)
Body
COUNTY AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER GOALS & OBJECTIVES
Improve County Government Operations.
Operate in a Fiscally-Responsible and Business-Like Manner.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
Approval of this item will not result in the use of additional Discretionary General Funding (Net County Cost). Both the one-time purchase cost of new software and hardware for $288,000 and the first-year ongoing cost of $77,000 are included in the Registrar of Voters (ROV) 2024-25 budget. The ongoing costs of $308,000 for the remaining four years of the term will be paid annually and will be included in future recommended budgets.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
On December 10, 2019 (Item No. 37), as the result of a competitive procurement via Invitation to Bid, ITB No. ROV120-ROV3514, the Board of Supervisors (Board) approved Contract No. 19-805 with DMT Solution Global Solution Corporation dba BlueCrest (BlueCrest), for the purchase of two mail ballot sorters, in the amount not to exceed $1,918,488, for the five-year period from December 10, 2019, through December 9, 2024. This included software and hardware components, licensing, warranty, training, and election support services.
On August 20, 2024 (Item No. 80), the Board approved Amendment No. 1, updating contract language to include vendor duties related to data management, increasing the contract amount from $1,918,488 to an amount not to exceed $2,568,487, and extending the contract term by five years from December 10, 2019, through December 9, 2029.
Currently, the ROV manually compares the signatures from the mail ballot return envelope to the signature on file for the voter. The purchase of Automated Signature Verification (ASV) software will allow for a cost-effective method to maximize the volume of mail ballots that can be processed and reviewed while decreasing the labor required to do so. Staff will still be reviewing and auditing the signatures processed, thereby providing a double layer of security. To purchase the new ASV software, ROV will also need to upgrade its existing software. As a result, the Pricing Schedule must be updated to include the new software and the necessary upgrade to the current software.
Amendment No. 2 will improve County government operations by increasing the overall efficiency of mail ballot processing, while enhancing the security and integrity of the election.
PROCUREMENT
Not appliable.
REVIEW BY OTHERS
This item has been reviewed by County Counsel (Jolena Grider, Deputy County Counsel, 387-5455) on April 7, 2025; Purchasing Department (Ariel Gill, Supervising Buyer, 387-2070) on April 10, 2025; Finance (Elias Duenas, Administrative Analyst, 387-4378) on April 9, 2025; and County Finance and Administrative (Valerie Clay, Deputy Executive Officer, 387-5423) on April 10, 2025.