Supervisors OK New Rules for Awarding County Contracts

In a move backers hope will reduce the influence of lobbyists in county politics, the Board of Supervisors approved significant changes in the way it selects contractors for government projects.

Orange County is the only urban county in California that gives elected supervisors a central role in selecting contractors for architecture and engineering projects. Under the system, county officials collect the bids and send a slate of three finalists to the supervisors without ranking them. The board then selects the winner.

On Tuesday, the board voted unanimously to have county officials provide them with a ranked slate of the top three contractors. If the board does not select the top-ranked firm, it will now be required to explain the decision in a public meeting.

The vote came seven years after a group of professional associations and good-government activists began their push for contracting reform. While some activists were disappointed that the board didn’t go further, they praised supervisors for finally moving to change the system.

“This is a major step forward for Orange County,” said Shirley Grindle, who sponsored a gift-ban ordinance several years ago. “We are no longer out of sync with the rest of California. It begins to clean this system up and end the back-room deals.”

Grindle and others said the changes make the role of lobbyists less important because both supervisors and the public will see how each firm was ranked after independent staff analysis.

Board of Supervisors Chairman Jim Silva said the new rules open the procurement process up to the public without taking away the board’s ultimate authority to select the firm it wants.

Some activists, however, criticized supervisors for not approving a proposal that would have prohibited lobbyists from accepting contingency fees, commissions and percentages from the contractors they represent.

Vic Opincar, a leader of the Consulting Engineers and Land Surveyors of California, said such forms of payment result in contractors using public funds to pay off their lobbyists.

Supervisor William G. Steiner argued that banning such commissions would unfairly penalize smaller architectural and engineering firms that don’t have professional lobbyists on staff and must hire consultants.

Lobbyist Randy Smith said he didn’t think the new rules would affect his business and said activists’ dark view of the process is inaccurate.

“They have a negative perception that board members base their criteria on things other than what is in the best interests of the county. They are wrong about that,” Smith said. “All this does is give the opinions of staff a little more weight.”