Fail to Plan; Plan to Fail

The Countyfailed to adequately specify the scope of the Contractor's work on the history book project. This resulted in an unusable manuscript. Response to Finding 2 The County agrees with this finding Recommendøtion 2 The County should analyze ways it can improve its policies to ensure that contracts include the appropriate specificity regarding terms and conditions to enable the County to pursue legøl recourse when those terms and conditions have been violated by the contractor, including but not limited to County Counsel's and County staff's role in this process. This recommendation should be implemented by November 1, 2024. Response to Recommendation 2 The County agrees with this recommendation, and it has already been implemented, including by way of regular ongoing training within the Office of the County Counsel that specifically addresses review of scopes of work for legal enforceability. When contract terms and conditions are violated, County Counsel and departments weigh the costs and benefits of pursuing any legal action and bring recommendations to the Board accordingly.

The County makes it impractical for members of the public to review contracts like the history book contract, cøusing the public to rely on whistleblowers and news reporters to understand the County's business. Response to Finding 4 The County disagrees with this finding. Both the fourth amendment (June 5, 2018, Board of Supervisors meeting; Item No. 78) and the fifth amendment (May 21,2019, Board of Supervisors meeting; Item No. 57) to the agreement in question were published on the County Board of Supervisors and Boards and Commissions public portal (i.e., posted electronically from a central location on the County's website, www.sccgov.org) six calendar days in advance of the meetings in accordance with Division 417 of the County Ordinance Code. Recommendøtíon 4 The County should require the County Executive's Office to implement a practical contract search system þr the public to view all contracts, including non-competitive (sole and single source) Board contracts and extensions. This recommendation should be implemented by February l, 2025. Response to Recommendation 4 The County agrees with this recommendation, but the timeline is not feasible. The County intends to purchase and implement a new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system to provide one comprehensive procurement system for the entire organization, for which this type of search capability would be a business requirement. But this effort will be a multi-year endeavor requiring considerable resources, identified funding, and an appropriate implementation plan.