The County Administrator, in the capacity of Administrator of Emergency Services (County Code Section 42-2.602) issued an emergency blanket purchase order in the amount of $20 million on Friday, March 20, 2020 for the procurement of services and supplies necessary to facilitate the COVID-19 response within the County. This emergency procurement is authorized as part of the County Administrator's emergency powers outlined in County Code Section 42-2.808(c), among other authorities. The issuance of this emergency blanket purchase order expedites the acquisition of goods and services for faster deployment to the field. To track these costs, three cost centers have been operationalized to track County costs related to the emergency response; one in the Hospital Enterprise Fund I for Health Services department related costs and two in the General Fund: one to track non-Enterprise Fund Health Services Department costs and one to track all other County departments. As purchases are made, suppliers have been provided requisition requests together with documentation establishing the requisition is being made under the blanket purchase order, to ensure that the terms of the blanket purchase order apply to each purchase. The Board of Supervisors ratified issuance of the emergency blanket purchase order on March 31, 2020.
On December 22, 2020, the County Administrator increased the blanket purchase order amount by $5,000,000, to a new payment limit of $25,000,000. The Board ratified the amended blanket purchase order on January 5, 2021. Subsequently, on February 26, 2021 the County Administrator increased the blanket purchase order amount by an additional $5,000,000, to a new payment limit of $30,000,000. The Board ratified the amended blanket purchase order on March 5, 2021.
When practicable, services necessary to respond to this emergency have been and will continue to be procured using existing or new service contracts. In emergency and time-sensitive situations, services can be purchased under the blanket purchase order and charged against the above emergency blanket purchase order authorization.
Today's action requests the Board of Supervisors ratify an additional increase of $10,000,000 to the emergency action of the County Administrator issuing an emergency blanket purchase order for COVID-19 response activities within the County for a new total of $40,000,000 with no change to the termination date of June 30, 2021. The County Administrator amended the emergency purchase order on April 3, 2021 to ensure no interruptions to procurement during current COVID-19 response activities.
The emergency blanket purchase order as originally approved in March 2020 and subsequently amended in December 2020 and March 2021 will be exhausted. This will result in departments needing to originate individual purchase orders for supplies and materials not covered by an existing purchase order resulting in more time to take delivery on those items.