REPORT/RECOMMENDATION TO THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY
AND RECORD OF ACTION
October 26, 2021
FROM
PATRICK SCALZITTI, Interim Director, Purchasing Department
SUBJECT
Title
Temporary Increase to CAL-Card limits for Novel Coronavirus/COVID-19 Purchases
End
RECOMMENDATION(S)
Recommendation
Receive report of actions taken by the Director of Purchasing to temporarily increase CAL-Card limits and make purchases in response to COVID-19 for the previous billing period of April 22, 2021, through June 21, 2021.
(Presenter: Patrick Scalzitti, Interim Director, 387-2074)
Body
COUNTY AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER GOALS & OBJECTIVES
Operate in a Fiscally-Responsible and Business-Like Manner.
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 Discretionary General Funding (Net County Cost). Any use of funds through CAL-Card purchases is accounted for in user department budgets.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The County participates in a CAL-Card program where the typical credit card limit for a County employee is $3,000/single purchase limit (SPL) and $30,000/month. The Board of Supervisors (Board) authorized the Purchasing Agent to temporarily increase CAL-Card limits beginning on March 10, 2020 (Item No. 76), and again on November 17, 2020 (Item No. 99), and on a monthly basis with the latest authorization on September 21, 2021(Item No. 51), which gives authority through October 31, 2021, to procure goods and equipment necessary to support the emergency response to COVID-19 without following the competitive process requirements or additional administrative approvals required by County Policy or the Procurement Card Manual maintained by the Purchasing Agent. The Purchasing Agent is required to report these purchase limit increases quarterly to the Board. Previous dates when the Purchasing Agent reported to the Board were June 2, 2020 (Item No. 31), September 15, 2020 (Item No. 55), December 15, 2020 (Item No. 60), March 23, 2021 (Item No. 55) and June 22, 2021 (Item No. 69).
On November 12, 2020, two CAL-Cards assigned to the Office of Emergency Services (OES) were increased temporarily to $25,000/SPL and $125,000/month in support of emergency response to the COVID-19 pandemic. On December 21, 2020, an additional CAL-Card assigned to OES was increased temporarily to $25,000/SPL and $125,000/month due to increased cleaning measures and supplies for each Specimen Point of Collection (SPOC) site. On February 11, 2021, that additional CAL-Card assigned to OES was increased temporarily to $25,000/SPL and $600,000/month in support of up to 48 stationary and mobile testing and vaccination sites. Twenty-nine sites were supported in this reporting period, with average amount spent around $306,000 per month. These CAL-Cards have been used to pay for cleaning services at the SPOC stationary and mobile sites, to purchase COVID-19 testing and vaccination supplies, and for other emergency response activities. OES has spent a total of $611,982 on these three CAL-Cards for the billing period of April 22, 2021, through June 21, 2021.
PROCUREMENT
N/A
REVIEW BY OTHERS
This item has been reviewed by County Counsel (John Tubbs II, Deputy County Counsel, 387-5455) on October 4, 2021; Finance (Sofia Almeida, Administrative Analyst, 387-4378) on October 5, 2021; and County Finance and Administration (Robert Saldana, Deputy Executive Officer, 387-5423) on October 8, 2021.