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Q&A
Lack of standardization in meal costs and contract bidding processes
0:26:47
ยท
120 sec
Council Member Julie Won criticizes the lack of standardization in meal costs across shelters and questions the competitive bidding process for food contracts.
- Won points out that a year after the initial hearing, there's still no standardized process for meal costs.
- She raises concerns about emergency contracts that were not competitively bid.
- Officials assert that direct contracts were competitively bid and subcontracts require three bids, choosing the lowest responsive bidder.
Julie Won
0:26:47
So what I'm learning is Bud, it's been a year since we had our first hearing, you still have not figured out how to change your process to standardize the cost of each meal and per diem per site and we're still have a huge fluctuation in costs across the board, across the city, and you still have done nothing to change it.
0:27:06
And yes, the cost of food changes and there's market market fluctuations, yet you have not done anything to be in response to it.
0:27:15
Because what you're telling me is it is a fixed cost, and no matter what the market conditions are, that cost will not change and the provider will just have to figure out how they're going to provide three meals within the same cost.
0:27:26
For example, $8 for three meals.
0:27:28
How are you supposed to eat anything?
Jill Berry
0:27:29
Right.
0:27:30
So through the new needs process, every shelter has the opportunity to request new need funding for their contracts and that could be for a variety of things that they're paying for at the shelter including food costs and they have the opportunity to submit a new need for increased food prices for their food vendors.
Julie Won
0:27:47
Can you also help me understand, you said that it was competitively bid, not all of our bids were competitively bid.
0:27:53
There were emergency contracts with emergency subcontracts that were not competitive and they were not the best price because we have people who have called my office, let us know that even though they were the lowest bidder, the city chose to go with Riviera, which we have tons of complaints about, about the food quality and even though they weren't the lowest bidder, you still chose to go with them.
0:28:13
Can you help me understand?
Jill Berry
0:28:15
For the contracts that the direct contracts that we operate, they were all competitively bid and for the subcontracts that the that the shelters are letting out and requesting bids back on, they are required to get three bids.
0:28:31
They are required to choose the lowest responsive bidder.
0:28:34
We do review that documentation.
0:28:37
Of course, if there are instances where that's not happening, we would we would love to have that information so we could follow-up on that specific with that shelter provider who may not be following the process.
Julie Won
0:28:48
I will definitely follow-up.