Procurement requests from San Mateo County departments totaling over $100,000 will now be presented to the Board of Supervisors on a quarterly basis, a request made by Supervisor Jackie Speier who has repeatedly shared her desire for further oversight on the spending of taxpayer dollars.
The resolution approved unanimously by supervisors at the board meeting Tuesday will require staff to present to quarterly reports beginning in October 2025 that includes all county purchases of goods that exceeded $100,000, and non-competitive purchases of goods above $10,000.
“Sunshine is the best disinfectant,” Speier said. “By having access to this information, it will help us do our job and protect the taxpayers’ dollar.”
The quarterly report would be informational. Purchase requests for services her over $200,000 will still be required to be approved by the Board of Supervsiors.
Board President David Canpea initially said he would not support the item over concerns it was “cumbersome” and redundant, considering the information is already technically available online.
Although this purchase information is publicly available through the online procurement platform, OpenGov, the information is not aggregated or presented in a way that is accessible for most residents, staff said.
Canepa said he hopes the quarterly report “isn’t politicized.”
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The request by Speier for the regular presentation of purchased goods comes after she has publicly questioned the procurement requests made by the Sheriff’s Office, in particular. At Tuesday’s meeting, Speier again referenced the questionable request for 10 massage chairs by the Sheriff’s Office, which the procurement office ultimately denied. Sheriff Christina Corpus also approved a $74,000 conference table.
“I’m a little concerned about the procurement process within your department,” Speier said to Undersheriff Dan Perea at a previous board meeting.
Chief Financial Officer Roberto Manchia said the quarterly report will simply increase transparency.
“We just want to make sure that we’re showing you that the things that we’re doing are above board on a constant basis, that’s what this is,” Manchia said.
It was clarified by staff that the quarterly report would not interfere with the procurement process or delay purchases, and would not require any additional staff or funding to execute.
The resolution was ultimately approved unanimously.
This appears to be a decent start by Ms. Speier but doesn’t sound like it’d be effective. If the quarterly report would not interfere with the procurement process, what good is the report? Business will continue as usual as there are no incentives to control waste, fraud, and abuse. I’d say add control mechanisms and perhaps a few folks who would analyze data for questionable procurement habits. For instance, are there two purchases of $55,000 or $5500 instead of a single purchase of $110,000 or $10,000 that would be subject to reporting?
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This appears to be a decent start by Ms. Speier but doesn’t sound like it’d be effective. If the quarterly report would not interfere with the procurement process, what good is the report? Business will continue as usual as there are no incentives to control waste, fraud, and abuse. I’d say add control mechanisms and perhaps a few folks who would analyze data for questionable procurement habits. For instance, are there two purchases of $55,000 or $5500 instead of a single purchase of $110,000 or $10,000 that would be subject to reporting?
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Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.