County Contracting, Costly and Excludes Minority Businesses, Supervisors Say

Los Angeles County Supervisors Hilda Solis and Mark Ridley-Thomas will call today for a county review on how sole source contracts get awarded and will request limits on the use of no-bid agreements.

“Sole source agreements should be the exception and not the rule,” Solis said. “I understand people get comfortable and familiar with existing vendors but that can lead to exclusion and a lack of transparency.”

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The joint motion to be presented at today’s Board meeting by the two supervisors will assert that the county overuses this practice and has been awarding one contract to one vendor for long periods of time, effectively shutting out many businesses, especially new, small, women- and minority-run firms, from effectively competing for county contracts.

Sole source contracts, they say, have led to higher costs for the county because of a lack of competition.

The motion will also ask the Interim Chief Executive Officer of the County, the interim Director of the Internal Services Department and Director of Public Works to review the sole use agreement policy now in place and report back on best to limit the use of no-bid contracts.

• City News Service