INTRODUCTION
In 2019 when I was Chair of the Public Works & Infrastructure (PWI) Committee, we adopted an internal reform that since inception has saved the taxpayers of DeKalb County over $132 million. At that time my fellow PWI Committee members were Commissioners Kathie Gannon and Nancy Jester. At this time, I would like to commend and thank both of them for working with me to execute this significant policy reform that has been sustained and greatly benefited the citizens of DeKalb County.
This reform requires that all purchasing contracts in excess of $3 million be reviewed by the Office of Independent Internal Audit (OIIA) for validating the contract values. This additional audit scrutiny always struck me as good public policy. And this additional step in the contract review process has yielded very positive results.
A logical question would be, how did you arrive at the $3 million figure? Well, there is a story to that.
THE STORY
Years ago the consulting firm KPMG conducted a study of DeKalb’s operations. One of the recommendations was that contracts in excess of $1 million be subjected to OIIA review. Given the size of many PWI purchasing items the $1 million figure always struck me as unnecessarily low. Consequently, every recommendation contained in a given study does not always have practical application.
Even so, Commissioner Jester embraced KPGM’s recommendation. And as purchasing items came before our committee she would not vote for contracts over $1 million. This meant that many items were sent to the full Board of Commissioners without a unanimous PWI Committee recommendation. As Committee Chair, this struck me as ineffective and was something that I needed to address.
THE SOLUTION
We needed an effective solution. So, I suggested that Commissioners Gannon, Jester and I get in a room to find that solution. After some discussion I had the three of us write down a threshold number on a sheet of paper that we could live with, undisclosed to the other committee members.
When we revealed the numbers to each other the results were as follows:
Commissioner Jester $2 million
Commissioner Gannon $3 million
Commissioner Bradshaw $5 million
This resulted in an average of $3.33 million. At that point I asked Commissioner Jester if she would come up to $ 3 million if I came down to $3 million. To her great credit she agreed. And that is how a significant policy change was born.
On July 9, 2019 we announced our collective decision at a PWI Committee meeting. And the rest is history. Compromise worked.
THE RESULTS
Since the inception of this policy change by the 2019 PWI Committee all of the other standing BOC Committees have adopted this procedure. The results have been as follows:
Number of Items Reviewed Committee
129…………………………………………….Public Works & Infrastructure (PWI)
51…………………………………………………………….County Operations (OPS)
9…………………………………….Employee Relations & Public Safety (ERPS)
4……….Planning Economic Development & Community Services (PECS)
3………………………………………………………..Finance Audit & Budget (FAB)
Total No. of Agenda Items Reviewed………………………………………….196
Initial Value of Contracts Reviewed………………………….. $2,271,046,044
Amount of Reductions/Savings from OIIA Reviews…………$132,159,211
CONCLUSION
When I took office in 2017 I set two major goals for myself:
- Take care of my district.
- Get big things done.
This change in purchasing policy certainly qualifies as a big thing. Needless-to-say I am very pleased with the results to date, that continue to benefit of DeKalb County Taxpayers.
Unfortunately, in the intervening years, there have been those who have attempted to claim credit for this initiative. This strikes me as sad, and a little unseemly. However, I certainly cannot control what other people do.
What I can do is set the record straight. Everything has an origin. In this case you now know what that is.
Once again, I would like to thank Commissioners Kathie Gannon and Nancy Jester for being great colleagues and being willing to compromise for the benefit of all of DeKalb County. And I would like to thank the citizens of DeKalb County for affording me this opportunity to serve.
Sincerely,
Steve Bradshaw
DeKalb County
Commissioner District 4