COUNTY OF SAN MATEO

Sheriff's Office

Inter-Departmental Correspondence

 

DATE:

July 22, 2002

BOARD MEETING DATE:

August 6, 2002

 

TO:

Honorable Board of Supervisors

FROM:

Sheriff Don Horsley

SUBJECT:

Amendment No. 1 to Agreement With APS/Pinkerton Security & Investigation Services

 

Recommendation

Adopt a Resolution authorizing the President of the Board to execute Amendment No. 1 to the existing Agreement with Pinkerton Security & Investigation Services, extending the contract term three years and authorizing annual payments from various departments and funding sources of approximately $2.4 million, based on usage.

 

Background

Contract security guard services are currently utilized at a variety of County campuses and site locations throughout the County. Security guards screen incoming visitors for possible weapons or contraband; provide protection for County employees, clients and customers, jury members, and the general public and contractor employees doing business in County facilities; protect public property, and private property while located on County facilities; respond to emergencies and urgent situations in cooperation with law enforcement agencies; provide information to the public; and through their presence provide a deterrent to threats or acts of violence against County employees, the general public, and private and public property.

On June 27, 2000, your Board authorized a contract with Pinkerton Security & Investigation Services (Resolution 63751) to provide security guard services at various locations throughout the County, including the Redwood City Government Center, San Mateo County Health Center, and various other County facilities including San Carlos Airport, Coyote Point Marina, East Palo Alto Community Services Building, and other Human Services Agency and Health Services Agency branch facilities.

Pinkerton was ultimately selected through a rigorous, year-long Request For Proposals (RFP) process conducted by the Sheriff's Office and the County Manager's County Building Security Committee (CBSC), involving ten responding companies. The original contract term was for a two-year initial trial period from July, 2000 through June 2002, with an option to extend for an additional two years by simple written notification to Pinkerton. The Sheriff's Office, the CBSC and County departments have generally been very satisfied with Pinkerton services and wish to continue our security services contract with them. However, there have been a number of security program changes, additions and expansions before and since September 11th that substantially impact the scope of the initial Agreement, as well as County contractual requirement changes such as the expanded non-discrimination and equal benefits clauses, which were established after the original contract was negotiated. Because of these significant contractual changes, the Sheriff's Office elected to negotiate a formal contract Amendment for your Board's approval, rather than simply administratively extending the term of the original Agreement.

 

Discussion

The recommended Amendment No. 1 includes the following major provisions or changes:

    A three-year term from July, 2002 through June 30, 2005, with an option to extend for a maximum of two additional years thereafter, at County discretion. The Sheriff's Office believes this proposed term (five years from initial contract commencement) strikes an appropriate balance between the need to ensure value by periodically seeking competitive proposals on one hand, with the major commitment of resources and staff cost required to research, update, develop and administer a countywide RFP and contract negotiation process involving the security requirements of virtually every County department and major facility, on the other. Moreover, there is a typical loss of optimum services for a six to 12-month initial "staff-up" recruitment, training and evaluation period following selection of a new vendor. Given continuing national security concerns and recently expanded federal terrorism threat warnings for the Bay Area, the Sheriff's Office believes this would be an inopportune time to consider potentially disruptive changes in the County's security program, provided the Sheriff's Office is satisfied with the current security guard contractor's performance and competitive cost, which has been the case to date.

    Locked-in rates for two years, with a maximum 3% increase in the third year, based on the CPI index. The Sheriff's Office has negotiated fixed hourly contract rates for the first two years, which shall not be changed. (The starting security officer rate is $12.22 per hour, which is $1.52 higher than in 1999-2000; the security supervisor starting rate is $14.43 per hour compared to $13.12 in 1999-2000.) For the third year, a rate adjustment is allowed based on Bay Area CPI, but not to exceed 3%. With the present high demand for security services throughout the national public and private sector, as well as the specific challenges in recruiting security officers for San Mateo County assignments (a challenge which Pinkerton shares with the County, because of the high cost-of-living), the Sheriff's Office believes this rate structure is a good value for the County, and would be difficult to replicate with other firms while maintaining high personnel recruitment standards.

    Expanded number of security service sites. In addition to existing sites, services have been added at additional department branch locations for Northern Courts and the San Carlos and Daly City Human Services Agency branch offices. The Agreement provides for, but does not currently fund, potential future expansion to San Mateo and Hillcrest Courts, as well as Half Moon Bay Airport. (If expansion to those potential sites is desired and eventually financed, a future contract amendment to provide financing will be brought back to your Board for approval.) The table in Schedule B-2 displays the security site locations for this Agreement.

    Reduced security staffing for San Mateo County Health Center. Commensurate with Hospital budget constraints and the need to reduce financing shortfalls, security staffing at the Health Center has been reduced by 264 hours per 7x24 week, or 21%, resulting in an annual savings of $193,896 in 2002 dollars (or about $221,000 under the previous contract rates). The savings are actually greater than this: with the substantial expansion of space and programs in the new Health Center, it had originally been contemplated that security staffing would need to increase commensurate with the new responsibilities; instead a reduction has been implemented. In the opinion of the Sheriff's Countywide Security Unit, the proposed new staffing level is the minimum needed to handle the volume of calls, a significant portion of which involve serious threats or incidents which eventually involve San Mateo Police Department and/or Sheriff's Office Deputies.

 

Vision Alignment

This Agreement advances the County's commitment to help ensure basic health and safety for all, including Vision commitments 5, 6, 7, and 8 - ensuring safe access to healthcare facilities for residents and visitors, including children as well as our vulnerable populations of the aged, disabled, and mentally-ill patients.

 

Fiscal Impact

In development of this Amendment including its various Schedules, the Sheriff's Office has worked closely with all involved County departments and divisions. Involved departments have participated in development or modification of their respective portions of the original Agreement and this Amendment, including costs and financing sources. The Amendment has also been fully reviewed by County Counsel.

The contract annual maximum and funding allocation outlined in Schedule B-2 represents the maximum potential cost at full staffing - actual billed contractual expenses are traditionally less due to turnover and temporary vacancies. Additionally, the County has the right to reduce Pinkerton staffing at one or more specific site locations in the event of further budgetary constraints, without the need for further contractual amendment. This already occurred once under the original Agreement, when Health Services security was reduced and approximately 11 Pinkerton positions were eliminated in midyear 2001-02.

Of the $2,403,614 budget for FY2002-03 detailed in Schedule B-2, $1,988,864, or 82.7% is financed from non-General-Fund sources. An additional $196,997, or 8.2% represents Human Services Agency costs which are almost fully offset by intergovernmental revenues. Only about 9%, or $217,753 represents General Fund department expenses, and a substantial portion of this remainder is offset by various departmental revenues. The actual Net County Cost portion is estimated at approximately $120,000, or about 5% of total contract costs. All security expenses regardless of funding source are already contained within the FY2002-03 Recommended Budget approved by your Board in the June Budget Hearings, and have been prioritized for funding at the proposed level within each respective department's FY2002-03 budget plans.


Cc Nancy Steiger, SMCHC Director
Margaret Taylor, Health Services Director
Peggy Thompson, Superior Courts Administrator
Neil Cullen, Public Works Director
Marsha Raines, Environmental Services Director
Wes Chase, Pinkerton San Mateo Branch Manager
Lt. Gary Hoss, Countywide Security Unit