The state Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) issued its report Dec. 12 on the Best Value (BV) pilot program, which “allowed CCC and UC to consider non-cost factors — such as quality and experience — when selecting vendors, rather than having to select the lowest‑cost bidder.” Choosing the lowest bidder is referred to in the report as Lowest Responsible Bidder, or LRB.
2012 legislation authorized the UC and CCC systems “to develop BV policies and report information about contracts procured during the pilot period,” the analyst’s report says. “It further required our office to evaluate the pilots and recommend to the Legislature whether to continue CCC’s and UC’s BV authority after the January 1, 2019, sunset.”
The bottom line is that the LAO recommends that the UC system be granted the authority to make BV a permanent procurement practice, while extending the pilot status of the CCC system.
The LAO report notes that the community colleges “did not report any contract information as required by (the law).” It also cited other reasons for not reporting, such as “overly burdensome reporting requirements.”
“Accordingly,” the LAO report concludes, “we recommend the Legislature extend the CCC pilot program and clarify statute to indicate that consideration of non-cost factors in any procurement constitutes participation in the pilot. We also recommend the Legislature simplify reporting requirements and require CCC to develop systemwide BV policies to promote the use of best practices among districts.”
The report also offers more detailed recommendations to the Legislature:
“We also believe UC developed a reasonable set of BV policies, but some of its guidance to campuses could be improved. Accordingly, we recommend the Legislature make UC’s BV authority permanent but require UC to include additional BV best practices in its procurement policies.”
The report includes detailed background about various state departments’ successes in using BV.
“According to a 2016 survey by the National Association of State Procurement Officials, 41 of the 47 states that responded (including the District of Columbia) reported that their central procurement offices have BV authority,” the LAO report notes. “BV is also a common practice among public institutions of higher education.”
In summary, the LAO report states: “The state currently does not have consistent policies for how public agencies may procure goods and services. Whereas the state has granted several public agencies permanent authority to use BV for procuring goods and services, it granted such authority to CCC and UC only on a pilot basis. ...”
It concludes: “We recommend the Legislature extend the duration of the pilot for CCC. Once more contract data are available, the Legislature could revisit the issue of whether to make BV authority permanent for CCC.”
