REPORT/RECOMMENDATION TO THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY
AND RECORD OF ACTION
September 14, 2021
FROM
LEONARD X. HERNANDEZ, Chief Executive Officer, County Administrative Office
SUBJECT
Title
Contract with Cal Poly Corporation for Partnership and Support to Identify and Create Solutions to Innovation Challenges
End
RECOMMENDATION(S)
Recommendation
Approve contract with Cal Poly Corporation for partnership and support to identify and create solutions to innovation challenges, in an amount not to exceed $1,520,028, for the period of September 14, 2021 through September 13, 2024.
(Presenter: Leonard X. Hernandez, Chief Executive Officer, 387-5417)
Body
COUNTY AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER GOALS & OBJECTIVES
Promote the Countywide Vision.
Improve County Government Operations.
Operate in a Fiscally-Responsible and Business-Like Manner.
Ensure Development of a Well-Planned, Balanced, and Sustainable County.
Provide for the Safety, Health and Social Service Needs of County Residents.
Pursue County Goals and Objectives by Working with Other Agencies and Stakeholders.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
Approval of this item will not result in the use of additional Discretionary General Funding (Net County Cost). The cost of $1,520,028 for support related to identification and creation of solutions to innovation challenges will be funded from the $3 million in Discretionary General Funding allocated to the 2021-22 County Administrative Office’s (CAO) Budget for Innovation and Technology Government Efficiency Partnerships that was approved by the Board of Supervisors (Board) on June 8, 2021 (Item No. 112). Adequate appropriation and revenue have been included in the CAO’s 2021-22 budget and will be included in future recommended budgets.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
On June 8, 2021 (Item No. 112), the Board adopted Resolution No. 2021-73 to approve and adopt the County’s 2021-22 Budget, which includes strategic investments in County systems to ensure residents and other County customers receive a necessary and evolving level of service. Innovation and Technology investments maximize organization-wide efficiency and the ability to generate revenue to sustain service levels. The Innovation and Technology Government Efficiency Partnership was created to assist with innovating business practices. The recommended contract reinforces the goals of maximizing efficiency and level of service by providing San Bernardino County (County) with support by Cal Poly Corporation (Cal Poly) in identification and creation of solutions to innovation challenges. Innovation challenges are real-world problems proposed by the County, to which the Cal Poly team will apply innovative methodology to provide solutions. Cal Poly will work closely with County leadership and departments to identify the County’s toughest challenges, thoroughly analyze, and develop innovative solutions that will enhance County department operations and benefit residents. The partnership and collaboration with Cal Poly through this process is anticipated to result in departments’ staff learning the process of innovative problem-solving by utilizing all available resources.
Cal Poly utilizes university resources to bring public sector experts, practitioners, students, and faculty together to create solutions for challenges to be proposed by the County. The resources include the Cal Poly California Cybersecurity Institute (CCI) and the Digital Transformation Hub (DxHub). The CCI teaches protection through cybercrime forensics and statewide tactical response training. The program helps shape California’s cyber standards and practices by offering an environment for cyber defense innovation through advanced study, basic and applied research on emerging issues and technical challenges. The DxHub is a strategic relationship with Amazon Web Services (AWS) and the world’s first cloud innovation center supported by AWS on a university campus. The AWS allows organizations to bring their expertise and work through a challenge engagement, uncover new ways to solve complex problems, and publish their lessons learned to further drive public sector innovation.
The primary goal of the DxHub is to provide real-world problem-solving experiences to students by immersing them in the application of proven innovation methods in combination with the latest technologies to solve important challenges in the public sector, such as homelessness, evidence-based policing, digital literacy, virtual cybersecurity laboratories and many others. The DxHub utilizes the deep subject matter expertise of government, education, and non-profit organizations to clearly understand the customers affected by public sector challenges and develops solutions.
The partnership with Cal Poly will make these resources available to the County and provide a process and the necessary support to tackle some of the most difficult challenges in operations and the provision of excellent services to County residents. Cal Poly will host kick-off meetings with County leadership annually to assist in identification of three challenges for analysis and development of innovative solutions. Identification of the challenges will be followed by ongoing workshops hosted by Cal Poly for County leadership to work through these challenges and develop innovative solutions, with a goal of improved department operations and services to County residents.
PROCUREMENT
The recommended contract is a result of a non-competitive procurement due to Cal Poly’s specialized credentials. Through this partnership, the County may engage Cal Poly’s resources that include public sector experts, students, and faculty to address challenges and find resulting innovative best practices for operations. Purchasing supports the justification for this non-competitive contract.
REVIEW BY OTHERS
This item has been reviewed by County Counsel (Michelle Blakemore, County Counsel, 387-5445) on August 25, 2021; Purchasing (Bruce Cole, Supervising Buyer, 387-2148) on August 26, 2021; Finance (Stephenie Shea, Administrative Analyst, 387-4919) on August 26, 2021; and Finance and Administration (Matthew Erickson, County Chief Financial Officer, 387-5423) on August 26, 2021.