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Agenda Item 30.

City Council Meeting

Meeting Date:	01/15/2019
FROM:	Bill Gallardo

Subject:

Change Order to the Purchase Order with Ledgent Finance & Accounting for Additional Temporary Staffing Services

RECOMMENDATION

Authorize the Purchasing Agent to issue a change order to the purchase order #218259 with Ledgent Finance & Accounting increasing the amount from $49,999.51 to $100,000.00.

BACKGROUND/DISCUSSION

The standard practice for delivering temporary staffing services during short-term vacancies of professional positions has been to reassign or distribute assignments amongst other existing staff. On certain occasions, a list of on-call administrative staff was maintained and utilized for less critical clerical-type positions, much like a staffing agency would provide. Recent staffing reductions have led to less flexibility in reassigning work. As a result, City staff sought to identify best practices and alternate methods for delivering temporary staffing services. As a part of this process, the on-call clerical list was discontinued, which helped to reduce the City’s workers’ compensation, unemployment insurance, and Affordable Care Act exposure.

During this transition period, the vacancy of a key finance position (Accountant I) occurred. City staff used this as an opportunity to secure outside temporary staffing services on a trial-basis. Ledgent Finance & Accounting (Ledgent), a company that specializes in hiring finance and accounting professionals was utilized. To fill the vacant position, a three-month temporary staffing assignment was required while a recruitment was conducted for a replacement by the end of that period. Accordingly, a purchase order was issued to Ledgent in an amount of $22,657.51. The recruitment process was lengthier than expected and a replacement was not selected despite all of City staff’s efforts. An extension of temporary staffing services through December 2018 was needed and the City Manager authorized an increase to the purchase order in the amount of $27,432.00, in accordance with §3.24.120.E – Special Circumstances of the Purchasing Ordinance, which brought the total to $49,999.51.

Staff are preparing to conduct another recruitment for the Accountant I or Accountant II level with the hope that more qualified candidates with governmental accounting experience will apply for the position. To maintain continuity of the temporary staffing services until this recruitment can be completed, the purchase order will need to be extended through June 30, 2019 and increased to $100,000. There is no implied or guaranteed amount and the services can be canceled at any time. In the meantime, staff will be issuing a request for proposals for future as-needed temporary staffing services and, after completion of the evaluation process, present an award recommendation to City Council.

COMMISSION/COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION

The Finance Committee reviewed staff’s recommendation at their January 8, 2019 meeting. The committee recommended approval of the change order to purchase order #218259 with Ledgent Finance & Accounting in the amount not-to-exceed $100,000 for the period ended June 30, 2019.

FISCAL IMPACT/SUMMARY

Staff recommends authorizing the Purchasing Agent to issue a change order to the purchase order with Ledgent to continue providing the as-needed temporary staffing services to help fill critical positions while the recruitments are being conducted.

There are sufficient salary savings from the vacant position to cover the costs associated with this temporary staffing arrangement. Therefore, there is no fiscal impact. The salary savings have been transferred to the Administrative Services Department’s Professional Services accounts to cover the cost of this temporary staffing.

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:

William Gallardo, City Manager
Prepared by: Jamie Campbell, Human Resources Technician; Neil Groom, Procurement & Contracts Administrator
Concurrence: Mario E. Maldonado, Human Resources Manager; Cindy Russell, Administrative Services Director