REPORT/RECOMMENDATION TO THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY
AND RECORD OF ACTION
September 24, 2024
FROM
MARK MCCULLOUGH, Director, Fleet Management Department
SUBJECT
Title
Contract with Forward Thinking Systems, LLC for Global Positioning System Units and Monitoring Services
End
RECOMMENDATION(S)
Recommendation
Approve contract with Forward Thinking Systems, LLC for mobile self-contained Global Positioning System units and tracking services, in the total aggregate amount of $2,500,000, for a five-year period of January 29, 2025, through January 28, 2030.
(Presenter: Mark McCullough, Director, 387-7870)
Body
COUNTY AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER GOALS & OBJECTIVES
Improve County Government Operations.
Operate in a Fiscally-Responsible and Business-Like Manner.
Provide for the Safety, Health and Social Service Needs of County Residents.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
Approval of this item will not result in the use of Discretionary General Funding (Net County Cost). The contract will have an aggregate not-to-exceed value of $2,500,000 over five years. Fleet is an internal service fund, and its operational costs are financed through the Board of Supervisors (Board) approved rates charged to customers. Historically, annual expenditures for Global Positioning System (GPS) units and service charges have been approximately $400,000 based on approximately 2,500 units. The annual expenditure for Forward Thinking Systems, LLC (Forward Thinking) is projected to be $500,000 based on approximately 3,100 units. Sufficient appropriation has been included in Fleet Management’s (Fleet) 2024-25 budget (7914064 7911014064) and will be included in future recommended budgets.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
On January 28, 2020 (Item No. 19), the Board approved Contract No. 20-33 with Forward Thinking, which was competitively procured, for a total of $2,000,000, for the five-year term of January 28, 2020, through January 28, 2025. During the current contract period, Fleet Management installed approximately 3,032 GPS units throughout the County’s fleet of vehicles and equipment. The approximate cost to install the hardware was $750,000.
GPS is an effective asset management tool that allows the County to monitor vehicle performance including idle time, vehicle utilization, miles driven, and system diagnostics. GPS units monitor vehicle computer systems and alert County staff if there is a system problem with the unit. Other benefits include loss prevention with vehicle location tracking, smog level reports, and temperature alerts.
PROCUREMENT
County Policy 11-04 requires departments to seek Board approval when contracting for competitive and non-competitive purchases of services in excess of $200,000 during a single annual period. On October 1, 2019, the Purchasing Department (Purchasing) conducted competitive solicitation for GPS units and monitoring services. On November 5, 2019, Purchasing received 16 responsive proposals and one late non-responsive proposal. The committee evaluation held on November 20, 2019, selected Forward Thinking as its highest-ranking proposal.
There are 3,032 GPS devices currently installed on County vehicles with the latest technology. The technology in new GPS units has not changed since the GPS units were originally installed and replacing them would not offer any benefit. Keeping the existing physical units and paying for the data charges offers a cost savings in labor and installation. The cost of installation for the current hardware was over $700,000. Purchasing supports the five-year non-competitive contract for support and continued use of the existing devices. Fleet also recommends approval of the non-competitive contract with Forward Thinking. Approval of the contract will allow Fleet to continue monitoring County equipment undisrupted.
REVIEW BY OTHERS
This item has been reviewed by County Counsel (Adam Ebright, Deputy County Counsel, 387-5455) on July 24, 2024; Purchasing (Lisa Zhu, Lead Buyer III, 387-7849) on July 10, 2024; Finance (Penelope Chang, Administrative Analyst, 387-5423) on August 7, 2024; and County Finance and Administration (Paloma Hernandez-Barker, Deputy Executive Officer, 387-5423) on August 19, 2024.