Should the Commission increase the Executive Director's signing authority for contracts from $175,000 to $250,000?  Additionally, should the Commission increase the Executive Director's signing authority for a contract previously approved by the Commission from $25,000 to 10% of an existing contract or $25,000, whichever is higher, but not to exceed $250,000?

POST Commission Policy Manual, section A3, and POST Policy Manual, section ASB-4, provide the Executive Director the ability to approve contracts up to $175,000. Similarly, the Executive Director may subsequently approve a contract amendment by up to $25,000 for contracts previously authorized by the Commission. These policies were last updated on February 28, 2013, when the Commission voted to increase the contract approval amount from $50,000 to $175,000, as well as the contract amendment amount from $12,500 to $25,000.

POST requests authority to increase the Executive Director's approval and signing authority for contracts from $175,000 to $250,000. Additionally, POST requests authority to increase the existing amendment amount from $25,000, to instead be 10% of an existing contract or $25,000, whichever is higher, but not to exceed $250,000.

On February 28, 2013, the Commission approved a modification to POST Commission Policy Manual, section A3, and POST Policy Manual, section ASB-4.  More specifically, the Commission approved an increase to the Executive Director's contract approval limit from $50,000 to $175,000, as well as the contract amendment limit from $12,500 to $25,000.

POST has not increased the Executive Director's signing authority for nine years years, despite annual price increases. As a result, POST has encountered delays in making, at times, minor contract amount adjustments while awaiting for an upcoming Commission meeting to address the issue.

At the meeting of the Commission on December 8, 2021, several Commissioners opined the existing Executive Director contract approval limits were too low and should be increased.  As a result, the Commission directed POST staff to make future recommendations as to how much those limits should be raised. This agenda item addresses the task by the Commission.

POST has not adjusted the Executive Director's contract approval limits for nine years.  Due to increasing costs for external contract work provided to POST, the $175,000 limit inhibits POST's ability to nimbly execute routine contracts, as well as amend existing contracts. For instance, at times POST is faced with short deadlines to execute requests from stakeholders or legislative mandates, and many of those instances involve future or existing contracts. Similarly, allowing the Executive Director the ability to increase an existing contract over the current $25,000 limit will positively impact POST's ability to further the mission in a timely manner.

As with existing policy, POST shall provide an informational agenda item to the Commission, should the Executive Director approve an increase to a Commission previously approved contract.