Approve an update to the County's Policy on Procurement to reflect organizational changes in the Procurement Division, clarify the County's apprenticeship requirements on certain projects, and address electronic signatures to achieve efficiencies in the contracting process.  (No general fund impact) (Pistochini/Murphy) (Est. Time: 5 min)

Approve an update to the County's Policy on Procurement to reflect organizational changes in the Procurement Division, clarify the County's apprenticeship requirements on certain projects, and address electronic signatures to achieve efficiencies in the contracting process.  

The County's Procurement Division periodically seeks revisions to the County's Procurement Policy to continually improve the procurement process, reflect changes in state and federal procurement laws, and to implement direction from the Board of Supervisors.

The procurement policy was last updated in December 2021.  The Board is asked to adopt an updated policy consisting of three changes: 1) replacing "Department of Financial Services" with "General Services Department" to reflect the September 27, 2022 Board-approved reorganization of Procurement functions, 2) recognizing electronic signatures as an acceptable means for contract execution to achieve efficiencies in the contracting process, and 3) revising the County's Joint Apprenticeship Committee requirement for public projects to clarify what are applicable projects, what is considered a responsive bidder, and to improve compliance with apprenticeship laws.

Attachment A contains the Procurement Policy with the changes redlined.  Attachment B contains two sample forms that will be required under the proposed Joint Apprenticeship Committee requirement revision.  If the Board approves the policy revisions, the revised policy will take effect immediately.

The General Services Department collaborated with the Department of Community Services, the County Administrator's Office, and the County Counsel's Office.