[CALL TO ORDER]
[00:00:04]
I'M CALLING THE MEETING TO ORDER AGAIN, APOLOGIES.
UM, WE'LL START WITH, UH, DO WE HAVE ANYBODY SIGNED UP TO SPEAK? OKAY.
I'M, I'M GETTING A NO FROM ROHAN, SO WE'LL GO TO THE MEETING MINUTES FROM OUR LAST MEETING.
CAN, CAN WE INTRO THE NEW COMMISSIONERS? YEAH.
WOULD YOU LIKE TO INTRODUCE YOURSELF?
SURE IS, IS GREEN LIVE OR RED? GREEN.
I'M JOSH HILLER FROM PLANNING COMMISSION.
ARE YOU THE NEW PRIMARY FROM THE PLANNING COMMISSION? I HAVE.
DO YOU HAVE AN ALTERNATE OR ARE YOU FLYING SOLO? SOLO.
SOLO FOR NOW, I GUESS WE'LL SEE.
DO WE HAVE OTHER CHRIS? OH YES.
CHRIS, DO YOU WANNA INTER INTRODUCE YOURSELF? HELLO.
I'M, UH, ON THE AUSTIN TRAVIS COUNTY PUBLIC HEALTH COMMISSION.
BEEN ON THAT COMMISSION FOR ABOUT A YEAR AND A HALF NOW.
UM, OUR CHAIR, NATALIE POINDEXTER, WAS ON THIS COMMISSION FOR A LITTLE BIT, WE'RE ON THIS COMMITTEE, BUT, UH, WITH HER OTHER DUTIES, SHE WAS A LITTLE BIT TOO BUSY.
SO I, I AM HERE NOW SERVING IN HER STEAD AND HAPPY TO LIAISE, HOWEVER.
WHO'S THAT IN THE CORNER? I'M NOT MISSING ANOTHER NEW PERSON, AM I? I CAN'T SEE.
[1. Approval of minutes from the April 23rd, 2025 meeting of the Joint Sustainability Committee]
WE CAN LOOK AT OUR MINUTES FROM OUR LAST MEETING.WE'VE GOT A MOTION AND A SECOND.
DID ANYBODY NOTICE ANYTHING THAT WE NEED TO EDIT OR ADJUST IN THE MINUTES? CHAIR? WHITE.
UM, YEAH, THERE'S ONE UNDER PUBLIC COMMUNICATION THAT PROBABLY JUST NEEDS TO BE REMOVED.
THERE'S A, A BULLET POINT WITH A FIRST NAME, BUT THAT'S ACTUALLY CAPTURED IN ITEM TH UNDER THREE TO THREE.
A PUBLIC COMMENT IS UNDER THREE.
SO JUST TO STRIKE THAT, THAT BULLET.
SO HE SPOKE UNDER ITEM THREE, NOT AT GENERAL COMMUNICATION, CORRECT.
I REMEMBER HIM SPEAKING ON THE ITEM.
SO, UH, ROHAN, IT'S ALREADY UNDER I RIGHT.
BUT ALSO ON PUBLIC COMMUNICATION, SO WE CAN DELETE THAT.
DID SOMEBODY ELSE HAVE SOMETHING? OKAY, SO WITH THAT, SO CAN YOU, HOW ARE WE GETTING, OKAY.
SORRY, WE WERE GETTING BAD FEEDBACK IN THE ROOM HERE.
UM, WE'VE GOT A MOTION AND A SECOND.
UH, ALL IN FAVOR RAISE YOUR HAND.
REMEMBER, YOU DO HAVE TO HAVE YOUR CAMERA ON TO BE PRESENT.
WE'VE GOT FOUR HERE AND I'M SEEING 5, 6, 7, OR UP TO EIGHT.
UM, YOU CAN VOTE FOR THE MINUTES EVEN THOUGH YOU WEREN'T HERE.
AND I ENCOURAGE YOU TO DO SO IF YOU'RE COMFORTABLE SO THAT WE CAN POST THEM.
RODRIGO, ARE YOU, ARE YOU WITH US? I'M WITH US, BUT I AM HAVING TROUBLE WITH MY CAMERA SO I CAN TRY TO LOG ONTO MY PHONE REAL QUICK.
I THINK WE, WE NEED A, DO WE NEED 11? WE NEED 10.
RODRIGO, WHERE ARE YOU HERE? UH, HE'S HAVING CONNECTION ISSUES.
I MADE YOU WAIT WAY LONGER THAN THAT.
[00:05:22]
ALL RIGHT.YOU ARE OUR 10TH, SO WE CAN, WE HAVE APPROVED THE MINUTES.
UM, SO WE HAVE A PRETTY SHORT AGENDA, BUT WE DO
[2. Staff Briefing on the Environmentally Preferable Procurement Program – Matt Duree, Capital Procurement, Financial Services Departmen]
HAVE, UH, A BRIEFING THAT I'M, I'M EXCITED ABOUT TO HEAR, UH, WHAT'S GOING ON WITH, UH, ENVIRONMENTAL ENVIRONMENTALLY PREFERENTIAL PURCHASING, UM, BECAUSE I KNOW WE'VE ALL BEEN CALLING IT SUSTAINABLE PURCHASING, BUT I THINK WE'RE GONNA HEAR THAT'S, THAT'S NOT, THAT'S NOT THE PREFERRED TERM AT THE CITY.WE'VE GOT MATT HERE TO PRESENT, UM, FROM FINANCIAL SERVICES.
I, CAN I JOIN YOU OFF THE TABLE? WOULD YOU LIKE ME AT THE PODIUM? WHATEVER YOU'RE COMFORTABLE WITH IS FINE.
I THINK, UH, ALTHOUGH MAYBE THAT'S A QUESTION FOR THE, UM, JUST AS LONG AS YOU GOT A MIC.
SO THAT WAY THERE'S ANOTHER SEAT OVER THERE.
AMANDA, DO YOU WANNA JOIN ME AT SOME POINT? ALRIGHT, WILL YOU BE ABLE TO GET TO MY CAMERA? YES.
CAN EVERYONE HEAR ME ONLINE? EXCELLENT.
SO, MATTHEW DORE, I AM THE, UM, DIVISION CHIEF FOR CAPITAL PROCURE, I'M SORRY, DIVISION CHIEF FOR PROGRAMS DIVISION WITHIN CENTRAL PROCUREMENT.
AND WE'RE GONNA TALK ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENTALLY PREFERABLE PROCUREMENT PROGRAM TODAY.
UH, AS STATED, THIS WAS THE SUSTAINABLE, UH, PROGRAM FOR A WHILE.
AND, UH, WE, WE PREFER THE TERM ENVIRONMENTALLY PREFERABLE.
'CAUSE WHEN YOU TALK ABOUT SUSTAINABLE PROCUREMENT, SUSTAINABLE PURCHASING THAT REALLY FOCUSES, FOCUSES ON US ON CENTRAL PROCUREMENT AND WHAT WE DO, WELL, YOU KNOW, WE HAVE CONVERTED ALL OF OUR, OUR POP OUR PAPER HARD COPY OVER TO ELECTRONICS, RIGHT? WE'VE DONE ALL THIS THINGS TO BE, UM, AS ENVIRONMENTALLY PREFERABLE AS POSSIBLE.
BUT WHEN YOU TALK ABOUT ENVIRONMENTALLY PREFERABLE PROCUREMENT, YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT WHAT WE'RE ACTUALLY BUYING NOW, NOT OUR PROCESSES WITHIN PROCUREMENT ITSELF.
SO TODAY WE'RE GONNA TALK ABOUT A HANDFUL OF THINGS.
UM, AT OUR LAST MEETING, I THINK THERE WAS A QUESTION REGARDING JUST A VERY QUICK OVERALL BRIEFING ON AUTHORITY LEVELS, PURCHASING LEVELS.
SO I'M GONNA GO OVER THAT WITH THE SLIDE.
UH, THEN WE'LL TALK ABOUT OUR PROGRAM ITSELF, JUST A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF WHAT WE CONSIDER ENVIRONMENTALLY PREFERABLE, UM, AND HOW WE INTERACT WITH OCAR.
NEXT, WE'LL GO OVER OUR PROCUREMENT CATEGORY CATEGORIES.
WE HAVE NINE PROCUREMENT CATEGORIES AT THE CITY OF AUSTIN.
UH, FOR EACH OF THOSE, WE HAVE A BRIEF DEFINITION OF THE CATEGORY ITSELF.
THEN WE HAVE SOME KEYWORDS, AND THEN WE HAVE OUR EXISTING MEASURES AS WELL.
SO Y'ALL WILL SEE FOR EACH ONE OF OUR PROCUREMENT CATEGORIES, WHAT ARE WE CURRENTLY DOING WITHIN THAT PROCUREMENT CATEGORY, UH, REGARDING ENVIRONMENTALLY PREFERABLE PROCUREMENT.
UH, NEXT WE'LL TALK ABOUT SOME PROJECTS THAT WE HAVE WITH OAR, UM, AND, AND WHAT WE'RE GONNA BE DOING IN THE FUTURE.
UH, AND THEN QUICKLY GO OVER SOME DATA THAT WAS PROVIDED TO THE PREVIOUS OFFICE OF SUSTAINABILITY THAT IS NOW OAR IN 2022, I BELIEVE, AMANDA.
UM, AND Y'ALL MAY HAVE SEEN SOME OF THOSE NUMBERS, BUT WE FELT IT WAS GOOD TO GO AHEAD AND BRING THOSE UP, UM, AND GET THAT IN FRONT OF THIS COMMITTEE ONE MORE TIME, AND THEN WE'LL OPEN IT UP FOR QUESTIONS AFTER THAT.
SO THROUGHOUT THE CITY, UM, WE HAVE THESE FOUR MAIN PROCUREMENT LEVELS FOR, UM, UH, PURCHASING AUTHORITY.
SO ANYTHING UP TO $3,000, ANY ANYBODY WITHIN THE CITY JUST NEEDS A SINGLE QUOTE.
UM, AND THEN THEY WILL PAY VIA PRO CARD OR DEPARTMENTAL PURCHASE ORDER, AND THE DEPARTMENT APPROVES IT.
SO NO ONE AT CENTRAL PROCUREMENT, UH, SEES ANYTHING BELOW $3,000.
FOR 3000 TO 5,000, WE REQUIRE THREE QUOTES, AND TWO OF THOSE MUST BE FROM MWBE BUSINESSES.
WHAT WE RECOMMEND TO OUR STAFF AT THE DEPARTMENT LEVEL WHEN THEY'RE GETTING THOSE QUOTES, IS TO GO AHEAD AND SEND IT OUT TO ALL MWBES WITHIN THAT COMMODITY CODE.
UH, BUT THE REQUIREMENT IS TO HAVE AT LEAST TWO.
UM, AND THEN THAT METHOD OF PAYMENT FOR 3001, ONE PENNY TO FIVE DO TO $5,000 IS PRO CARD OR DEPARTMENTAL PO.
AND ONCE AGAIN, THAT'S JUST APPROVED AT THE DEPARTMENT.
SO IF IT'S BELOW $5,000, WE AT CENTRAL PROCUREMENT ARE NOT GOING TO SEE THAT.
THAT'S NOW AN INFORMAL SOLICITATION.
SO AN INFORMAL SOLICITATION IS CONDUCTED, TYPICALLY, THAT'S AN IFQ AN INVITATION FOR QUOTE, UH, IN THE PAST THAT WAS CALLED A REQUEST FOR QUOTES, BUT WE REPLACED THAT PROCESS AND AUTOMATED IT A FEW YEARS AGO.
THAT IS GONNA BE A CT OR AN MA.
SO A CENTRAL PURCHASE ORDER, OR A MASTER AGREEMENT IS WHAT'S GONNA RESULT IN THAT SOLICITATION.
[00:10:01]
AND WE AT CENTRAL PROCUREMENT, PROCUREMENT, EXCUSE ME, APPROVE THAT ABOVE 50,000, THAT IS NOW IN THE FORMAL THRESHOLD.SO A FORMAL SOLICITATION MUST GO OUT ON THE STREET, MUST BE ADVERTISED IN THE NEWSPAPER, MUST BE ON THE STREET FOR A SET AMOUNT OF TIME.
THAT STATE STATUTE DICTATES, UH, THE METHOD OF PAYMENT FOR THAT, ONCE AGAIN IS A CT OR AN MA.
AND THEN THE APPROVERS CAN VARY.
SO CITY MANAGER AUTHORITY IS $76,000.
CURRENTLY, IF SOMETHING IS UN UNDER $76,000 AGGREGATE, OR I'M SORRY FOR THE YEAR, WE DO NOT HAVE TO GO TO COUNCIL TO GET IT APPROVED.
WE INTERNALLY WITH OUR DELEGATED AUTHORITY CAN AND CAN APPROVE THAT PURCHASE IF IT IS ABOVE $76,000.
THOSE ARE THE ITEMS THAT YOU SEE GO BEFORE COUNSEL TO BE REVIEWED AND APPROVED.
AND THEN ONCE COUNSEL APPROVES, WE EXECUTE A CONTRACT FOR THAT.
ONE QUICK NOTE ON THAT 50,000 NUMBER, UH, SENATE BILL 1173 WAS APPROVED JUST A COUPLE MONTHS AGO DURING THE LEGISLATURE, AND THEY ACTUALLY MOVED THAT NUMBER FROM 50,000 UP TO A HUNDRED THOUSAND.
UM, SO WE'RE NOT SURE IF WE'RE GONNA GO UP TO A HUNDRED THOUSAND OR IF WE'RE GONNA MATCH CITY MANAGER AUTHORITY.
WE'RE STILL WORKING ON THAT RIGHT NOW.
BUT REGARDLESS, NEXT YEAR, THAT FORMAL AUTHORITY LIMIT FOR A FORMAL SOLICITATION WILL MOVE UP BY AT LEAST $25,000 AND MAYBE UP TO $50,000.
SO THAT WOULD MEAN THAT OUR INFORMAL SOLICITATIONS CONDUCTED WOULD GO FROM 5,000 ALL THE WAY UP TO WHATEVER NUMBER THAT IS, EITHER 76 OR THE CURRENT CITY MANAGER AUTHORITY OR THE FULL $100,000 LIMIT.
SO, AND THAT IS OUR PURCHASING AUTHORITY IN A NUTSHELL.
SO OUR ENVIRONMENTALLY ENVIRONMENTALLY PREFERABLE PROCUREMENT PROGRAM, RIGHT? NO LONGER OUR SUSTAINABLE PROCUREMENT PROGRAM.
UH, WE FACILITATE THIS PROGRAM.
IT IS ONE OF 14 PROGRAMS THAT, UM, OUR PROGRAMS DIVISION WITHIN CENTRAL PROCUREMENT FACILITATES.
HOWEVER, WE DO PARTNER, UM, WITH THE OFFICE OF CLIMATE ACTION RESILIENCE WITH OCAR, YOU KNOW, OBVIOUSLY THEY'RE THE EXPERTS, RIGHT? WE'RE THE KIND OF PROCUREMENT NERDS AND THE FINANCE NERDS AND THINGS LIKE THAT, SO TO SPEAK.
SO WE NEED THAT GUIDANCE, WE NEED THAT EXPERIENCE, UM, AND THAT EDUCATION.
UM, SO WITHIN OUR PROCUREMENT MANUAL, WE HAVE OUR ENTIRE ENVIRONMENTALLY PREFERABLE PROGRAM.
WE'RE CURRENTLY BUILDING OUT ON OUR SHAREPOINT PAGE AS WELL.
UH, BUT IN OUR PROCUREMENT MANUAL, WHICH IS USED BY PROCUREMENT SPECIALISTS AND STAFF THROUGHOUT THE CITY, THAT PURCHASE ITEMS, YOU KNOW, WE DEFINE ENVIRONMENTALLY PREFERABLE PROCUREMENT RIGHT THERE, THAT FIRST BULLET, RIGHT? I'M NOT GONNA READ THE WHOLE THING, BUT ESSENTIALLY IT'S PRODUCTS OR SERVICES THAT HAVE AN IMPROVED IMPACT ON HUMAN HEALTH AND THE ENVIRONMENT WHEN COMPARED WITH COMPETING PRODUCTS AND SERVICES THAT SERVE THE SAME PURPOSE, RIGHT? UM, SO, SO WE DEFINE IN THE MANUAL WHAT WE CONSIDER AN ENVIRON ENVIRONMENTALLY PREFERRED PRODUCT.
UM, AND THEN BELOW THERE, YOU KNOW, THAT'S A STATEMENT THAT IS, IS, UH, ALSO INCLUDED IN OUR PROGRAM.
AND IT JUST BASICALLY SAYS, HEY, YOU AS A CITY EMPLOYEE, YOU'RE GONNA, YOU KNOW, PROCURE THESE MATERIALS, THESE PRODUCTS, ET CETERA, IN A MANNER THAT'S BOTH FISCALLY CONSERVATIVE, UH, OR FISCALLY RESPONSIBLE SOCIAL EQUITY, ENVIRONMENTAL AND, AND HEALTH IMPACTS ARE ALSO CONSIDERED, UM, AND WE'RE GONNA FIND INNOVATIVE WAYS TO BUILD UPON SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES, ET CETERA.
SO THESE NEXT HANDFUL OF SLIDES ARE GONNA BE ALL OF OUR, UM, INDIVIDUAL PROCUREMENT CATEGORIES, RIGHT? SO OUR, OUR ENTIRE, UH, OFFICE THERE AT CENTRAL PROCUREMENT, ALL OF OUR BUYING STAFF FOCUSES ON CATEGORY BASED BUYING.
UH, WE CHANGED THIS TO THIS, UH, ROUGHLY ABOUT 10 YEARS AGO AT THIS POINT, MAYBE A LITTLE BIT LESS.
THIS IS BEST PRACTICES NATIONWIDE, UH, TO FOCUS ON CATEGORY MANAGEMENT AND BUY BASED ON CATEGORIES.
IF IN INSTEAD OF IF PARD IS BUYING, YOU KNOW, VALVES SO TO SPEAK, AND AUSTIN WATER'S BUYING VALVES AND AUSTIN ENERGY'S BUYING VALVES, IT GETS 'EM ALL IN THE SAME CATEGORY.
SO ONE, WE CAN, YOU KNOW, HAVE LESS CONTRACTS, WE CAN HAVE BETTER PRICING, AND THEN OUR STAFF BECOME MORE EDUCATED ON THOSE PRODUCTS AND SERVICES AS WELL, WHICH MAKES FOR BETTER NEGOTIATION, BETTER TERMS, BETTER PRICING, ET CETERA.
UM, SO THESE NEXT NINE SLIDES WILL BE OUR NINE, UM, CATEGORIES THAT, THAT WE WORK IN AT THE CITY OF AUSTIN.
THE FIRST IS, UH, CONSTRUCTION.
SO WITHIN CONSTRUCTION WE HAVE PROFESSIONAL SERVICES, SO OUR ENGINEERING AND ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN AND ACTUAL CONSTRUCTION SERVICES, RIGHT? SO THE, THE, THE CONTRACT TO BUILD THE BUILDING OR, YOU KNOW, BUILD THE ROAD OR WHATEVER IT MAY BE, RIGHT? UM, THIS CATEGORY CONTAINS ALL THE CONSTRUCTION WITHIN THE CITY OF AUSTIN.
FOR THE MOST PART, OUR ENVIRONMENTALLY PREFERABLE TARGET KEYWORDS.
FOR THIS CATEGORY, WE HAVE POST-CONSUMER LOW TOXICITY, LOCALLY SOURCED, AND OF COURSE, YOU KNOW, LEAD CERTIFIABLE, WHICH YOU, Y'ALL ARE PROBABLY FAMILIAR WITH LEAD AT THIS POINT.
UM, TO AVOID, WE HAVE MERCURY LEAD, CHEMICALLY TREATED WOOD.
AND THEN WHAT WE HAVE NEXT IS OUR EXISTING ON THE RIGHT THERE, OUR EXISTING MEASURES.
[00:15:01]
ENGINEERING AND ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN AS MENTIONED.AND THAT'S BEEN AROUND THE CITY FOR A WHILE.
UH, FOR CONSTRUCTION SERVICES, SOME NEW ONES.
WE LOCAL CARBON CONCRETE, WHICH I THINK AMANDA AND HER GROUP HAVE BEEN WORKING WITH THE OFFICE OF THE CITY AND ENGINEER ON PRETTY DILIGENTLY.
UM, EQUIPMENT EMISSIONS, RE UH, REDUCTION, STORM WATER POLLUTION PREVENTION.
AND THEN ALSO IN THERE IS OUR WAGE CATEGORY.
SO PREVAILING WAGE IS ON ALMOST EVERY, EVERY CONSTRUCTION CONTRACT THAT WE EXECUTE AT THE CITY OF AUSTIN.
UM, AND WHILE THAT'S MORE SUSTAINABLE FOCUSED AND NOT ENVIRONMENTALLY PREFERABLE, WE STILL WANTED TO INCLUDE IT IN THIS NEXT SLIDE, PLEASE.
OUR NEXT CATEGORY IS ELECTRIC UTILITY, AND AS YOU CAN PROBABLY TELL FROM THE TITLE, THIS IS PRETTY STRAIGHTFORWARD, AUSTIN ENERGY RELATED.
UM, IT IS ANY SPENDING THAT SUPPORTS AUSTIN ENERGY OPERATIONS, RIGHT? SO WE'VE GOT POWER GENERATION DISTRIBUTION, UH, MARKETING CONSULTING, CUSTOMER BILLING SUPPORT, AND ANY RELATED SERVICES THAT SUPPORT AUSTIN ENERGY.
UM, OUR KEYWORDS, SO THE TARGET MOVING FORWARD, WHAT ARE OUR KEYWORDS WANNA FOCUS ON, ONCE AGAIN IS ENERGY EFFICIENT, CARBON NEUTRALITY, SOLAR POWER.
AND OUR EXISTING MEASURES THAT WE CURRENTLY HAVE FOR THIS CATEGORY ARE FOCUSED ON RENEWABLE ENERGY, CONSERVATION OF ENERGY EFFICIENCY PROGRAMS SUCH AS THE HEAT PROGRAMS AND THINGS LIKE THAT THAT HAVE BEEN AROUND FOR A WHILE.
AND THEN GREENHOUSE GAS REDUCTION, NEXT SLIDE.
OUR NEXT CATEGORY IS FACILITY AND GROUNDS.
AND THIS IS REALLY ANYTHING TO DO WITH CITY OWNED FACILITY AND THE GROUNDS AROUND THAT FACILITY, RIGHT? SO GROUNDS MAINTENANCE, UH, GENERAL TRADE FOR FACILITY REPAIRS, UM, YOU KNOW, FLOORING, DRYWALL, ET CETERA.
UM, ELECTRICAL AND HVAC, AND THEN THE SECURITY SYSTEMS INVOLVED IN THOSE BUILDINGS AS WELL.
I THINK THEY CAN SEE, YEAH, YOU HAVE A QUESTION? OH, I'M SORRY.
DID I HAVE A QUESTION? YEAH, JUST BEFORE WE GET TOO FAR.
SO WHEN YOU, WHEN YOU HAVE LIKE THE, UH, EPP TARGET AND LIKE KEYWORDS, LIKE THOSE ARE BEEN IDENTIFIED? YEAH.
SO THERE'S CURRENTLY NO, UM, YOU KNOW, POLICY OR ANYTHING AROUND THAT, BUT THAT IS SOMETHING THAT THEY HAVE IDENTIFIED THAT OCAR HAS IDENTIFIED IN THE PAST THAT WE SHOULD FOCUS ON MOVING FORWARD.
WE, AS THE CITY SHOULD FOCUS ON MOVING FORWARD.
AND SO, SO KEYWORDS IN LOOKING FOR PRODUCTS OR SERVICES THAT HAS THAT, THAT, THAT EITHER FOCUS ON THOSE KEYWORDS OR SOMETIMES AVOID THOSE KEYWORDS AS WE'LL GET, YOU KNOW, FURTHER INTO THE PRESENTATION, YOU CAN SEE THAT AS WELL.
AND THEN TO THE RIGHT, UM, UNDER THE MEASURES, THAT'S WHAT WE CURRENTLY HAVE.
THOSE ARE EITHER POLICIES, PROCEDURES, THINGS LIKE THAT, THAT ARE EXISTING CURRENTLY.
I DIDN'T KNOW YOU HAD A QUESTION.
SO, FOR FACILITIES AND GROUNDS, UM, A COUPLE TARGETS, RIGHT? WE'VE GOT JANITORIAL AND LANDSCAPING.
UH, SO FOR LANDSCAPING USE, RECOVERED MATERIALS, BIODEGRADABLE MATERIALS, BIO-BASED MATERIALS, AND USE WATER CONSERVING FEATURES, AVOID HERBICIDES, PESTICIDES, AND LANDSCAPING WITH SPECIES THAT HAVE HIGH WATER NEEDS FOR JANITORIAL.
UM, USE ALL NATURAL NON-TOXIC BIO-BASED AND AVOID THINGS CONTAINING BLEACH, HYDROCHLORIC ACID AND PESTICIDES.
OUR EXISTING MEASURES, UH, FOR LANDSCAPE MAINTENANCE SPECIFICALLY, UH, LOW EMISSIONS EQUIPMENT AND BIODEGRADABLE CHEMICALS AND FOR JANITORIAL SUPPLIES, UH, ECO-FRIENDLY PRODUCTS AND CLEAN GREEN CLEANING REQUIREMENTS.
AND I THINK, UM, THOSE REQUIREMENTS AND THOSE MEASURES HAVE BEEN IN OUR JANITORIAL SOLICITATIONS FOR QUITE SOME TIME, UH, FOR SEVERAL YEARS.
5, 5, 6, 7 YEARS, I WOULD SAY AT LEAST PROBABLY.
SO THIS IS FINISHED AND UNFINISHED GOODS THAT JUST AREN'T ASSOCIATED WITH ANY OF THESE CATEGORIES THAT WE'RE GONNA GO THROUGH HERE.
SO IT'S KIND OF A CATCHALL FOR ANYTHING ELSE, RIGHT? SO THIS IS OFFICE SUPPLIES, PAPER, FURNITURE, LIBRARY MATERIALS, ET CETERA.
SO ONCE AGAIN, A COUPLE TARGET CATEGORIES HERE.
ONE FOR FURNITURE, ONE FOR OFFICE SUPPLIES, UH, FOR FURNITURE, YOU FOCUS ON INDOOR AIR QUALITY, RECYCLED CONTENT, UH, LOW VOC AND BFA COMPLIANT, WHICH IS, UM, I IT'S THE BUSINESS, OH, IT'S DOWN THERE AT THE BO BOTTOM.
YEAH, THE, YOU KNOW, FURNITURE MANUFACTURING, UH, ASSOCIATION GUIDELINES, ESSENTIALLY, UM, WHAT TO AVOID IS PACKAGING THAT INCLUDE INK, DYES, PIGMENTS, ADHESIVES, ET CETERA.
ONCE AGAIN, THESE ARE OUR, OUR KEYWORDS AND, AND TARGETS, UH, FOR OFFICE SUPPLIES, KEYWORDS, RIGHT PAPER, RECYCLED MATERIAL BIODEGRADABLE, RECYCLABLE, REFILLABLE, SUSTAINABLY HARVESTED, AND AVOID EXCESSIVE PACKAGING AND BLEACHING.
WHAT WE CURRENTLY HAVE, OUR MEASURES ARE FOR FURNITURE AND INSTALLATION IS SUSTAINABILITY SPECIFIC, UH, SPECIFICATIONS AND GUIDELINES THAT HAVE BEEN IN OUR FURNITURE.
UM, MASTER AGREEMENT AND CONTRACTS FOR QUITE SOME TIME.
SO WE HAVE OUR AMAZON FILTER THAT ANY CITY OF AUSTIN STAFF THAT WANTS TO BUY SOMETHING FROM AMAZON, AMAZON AUTOMATICALLY FILTERS MORE ENVIRONMENTALLY PREFERABLE PRODUCTS TO THE TOP FIRST.
UH, SO THEY WOULD HAVE TO SCROLL DOWN TO GET LESS ENVIRONMENTALLY PREFERRED PRODUCTS.
[00:20:01]
AND THEN PAPER PURCHASING.SO USE 100% POST-CONSUMER CONTENT, UH, CHLORINE AND ACID FREE.
AND, UH, FSC, UH, CERTIFIED, WHICH IS THE FORESTRY STEWARDSHIP COUNCIL CERTIFIED NEXT.
SO VERY SIMILAR, UH, SIMILAR TO, EXCUSE ME, TO GENERAL GOODS.
THESE ARE SERVICES THAT REALLY AREN'T RELATED OR DON'T FIT INTO ANY OTHER CATEGORY, RIGHT? SO THIS ARE THINGS SPECIFIC TO EMPLOYEE BENEFITS, CONSULTING SERVICES, STAFFING SERVICES, TRAINING SERVICES, THINGS LIKE THAT.
UH, FOR THIS ONE, OUR, OUR TARGET IS REALLY FOCUSED ON FOOD.
SO KEYWORDS ARE FAIR TRADE, ORGANIC, LOCALLY GROWN OR RAISED.
AND OUR EXISTING MEASURES, UH, YOU KNOW, A BIG ONE IS ELIMINATE SINGLE USE PLASTICS.
UM, SO SERVICE WARE PROVIDED BY VENDORS, YOU KNOW, INCLUDING PLASTIC STRAWS, STYROFOAM, THINGS LIKE THAT.
I KNOW THAT WAS A, THAT'S A, A BIG ONE IN THE LAST YEAR.
I BELIEVE AN ADMIN BULLETIN CAME OUT RECENTLY ABOUT THAT AS WELL.
UM, USE LOCALLY SOURCED AND USE ORGANIC AND BIODEGRADABLE AS WELL.
NEXT CATEGORY IS OUR INDUSTRIAL AND MAINTENANCE REPAIR AND OPERATIONS, ALSO KNOWN AS MRO.
UH, THESE, THIS CATEGORY IS ESSENTIALLY INDUSTRIAL GOODS, UM, AND SERVICES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH BUILDING SUPPLIES, AGGREGATE SAND, GRAVEL, CONCRETE, ET CETERA, GENERALS AND, UH, EXCUSE ME, GENERATORS AND ANY INDUSTRIAL EQUIPMENT, RIGHT? SO YOUR VALVES, YOUR PIPING, AND THINGS LIKE THAT.
UH, AND ALSO ALL THE SERVICES ASSOCIATED WITH MAINTENANCE, REPAIR, AND OPERATIONS OF INDUSTRIAL FACILITIES.
KEYWORDS HERE ARE, UH, FOR EQUIPMENT SPECIFICALLY IS ENERGY SAVING FEATURES, UH, RECYCLED, REUSED OR REFURBISHED.
OUR MEASURES, OUR EXISTING MEASURES FOR THIS CATEGORY, UH, IS OUR GREEN BUILDING POLICY, RIGHT? SO USE, WELL BUILDING STANDARDS, OBVIOUSLY SOLAR INSTALLATIONS, UM, FOR, FOR PUBLIC ART AS WELL.
AND WATER CONSERVATION ALSO HAS A ROLE IN THIS, UH, USE ENERGY EFFICIENT EQUIPMENT, UH, WHEN POSSIBLE.
AND THE LOW EMBODIED CARBON CONCRETE, SO SIMILAR TO THE CONSTRUCTION CATEGORY, BUT THIS CATEGORY ALSO BUYS CONCRETE IN BULK FOR THE CITY.
SO THAT REQUIREMENT AND THOSE SPECIFICATIONS FOR CONCRETE WOULD ALSO FLOW INTO THIS CATEGORY AS WELL.
ALRIGHT, IT, SO OBVIOUSLY IT IS THE HARDWARE, SOFTWARE, AND THOSE SERVICES SUPPORTING INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY.
UH, WHILE THERE MAY NOT BE A, A WHOLE LOT HERE AROUND THE SERVICES, OBVIOUSLY HARDWARE IS SOMETHING WE CAN FOCUS ON HERE.
SO KEYWORDS ARE POWER SAVING, UH, EXTENDED PRODUCT LIFE OR WARRANTIES.
AND WE WANT TO AVOID EXCESSIVE PACKAGING HERE.
UM, OUR EXISTING MEASURES FOR EQUIPMENT IS OBVIOUSLY OUR ENERGY STAR RATING THAT WE FOCUS ON AND ENERGY EFFICIENCY OVER OVERALL, SPECIFICALLY RELATED TO OUR SERVERS.
I BELIEVE, OH, NOPE, SECOND TO LAST SLIDE HERE.
OUR MOBILITY SLIDE, RIGHT? SO THIS IS, IS EXACTLY WHAT YOU WOULD THINK IT IS, RIGHT? THIS IS A CATEGORY FOR EVERYTHING RELATED TO OUR INFRASTRUCTURE AND OUR VEHICLES, RIGHT? THE STREETS, THE BI BRIDGES, SIDEWALKS, TRAFFIC LIGHTS, UH, AND ACQUISITION AND MAINTENANCE AND FUELING OF CITY OF AUSTIN FLEET VEHICLES.
SO OUR TARGETS HERE FOR VEHICLES, OBVIOUSLY, HYBRID, UM, OR PLUGIN HYBRID, AND THEN VEHICLES APPROPRIATELY SIZED, UH, FOR THAT PURPOSE OR TASK.
AND THEN FOR FUEL, OUR KEYWORDS ARE 99 RENEWABLE AND BIODIESEL EXISTING MEASURES.
SO FLEET VEHICLES, OBVIOUSLY CARBON NEUTRAL AND ELECTRIC POWER.
AND THEN FOR FUEL, NON PETROLEUM AND UNLEADED GASOLINE.
AND I BELIEVE OUR LAST SLIDE HERE IS OUR WASTE CATEGORY.
UH, THIS IS ONCE AGAIN, UM, PRETTY MUCH WHAT IT SOUNDS LIKE.
SO THIS IS EVERYTHING TO DO WITH THE TRASH, THE REFUSE, THE RECYCLING, THE COMPOSTING, AND THEN ANY GOODS OR SERVICES ASSOCIATED, UH, WITH THAT.
OUR TARGET HERE IS SPECIFICALLY TO DO WITH WASTE.
UM, AND THAT IS LIFECYCLE ORGANIC, RECYCLE AND COMPOST.
AND OUR EXISTING MEASURES IS ZERO WASTE AT CITY FACILITIES AND GUIDELINES, UNIVERSAL RECYCLING ORDINANCE, UM, WHICH IS ONSITE RECEPTACLES AND TRANSPORTATION SERVICES, OUR ORGANIC MATERIAL COMPOST AND SINGLE USE PLASTICS PROCUREMENT, UH, TRY TO ELIMINATE THAT.
SO THIS ONE KIND OF FLOWS OVER FROM THAT GENERAL GOOD SLIDE AS WELL.
AND BEFORE I MOVE ON, I MEAN, DOES, DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY COMMENTS OR QUESTIONS ON OUR PROCUREMENT CATEGORIES OR ANYTHING LIKE THAT? YES.
UH, I'M CURIOUS HOW THE KEYWORDS WORK IN, IN PRACTICE.
UM, UH, I IMAGINE FOR LOWER TICKET ITEMS, THERE'S PROBABLY LESS
[00:25:01]
SCRUTINY AROUND, UM, YOU KNOW, THE MEETING OF THESE STANDARDS.UM, BUT YOU KNOW, A LOT OF TIMES KEYWORDS GET THROWN AROUND AND THERE'S A LOT OF GREENWASHING OUT THERE WHEN, WHEN COMPANIES, UH, ADVERTISE PRODUCTS AND SERVICES.
SO HOW DO PURCHASERS KNOW, UM, KIND OF TO BE ABLE TO SIFT THROUGH THAT AND KNOW WHEN SOMETHING IS, YOU KNOW, TRULY MORE ENVIRONMENTALLY PREFERABLE VERSUS BEING GREENWASHING? YEAH, I, AND AMANDA, YOU MAY WANNA JUMP IN HERE, BUT I THINK FOR ME THE KEY WORDS IS, IS TWO POINT, RIGHT? ONE, WE INCLUDE IT IN OUR PROGRAM, UM, TO TRY TO EDUCATE THOSE BUYERS, LIKE YOU SAID, BECAUSE WE AS CENTRAL PROCUREMENT, YOU KNOW, WE'RE NOT GONNA BE THERE FOR THOSE LOW DOLLAR PURCHASES.
WE'RE NOT GONNA SEE THOSE LOW DOLLAR PURCHASES OR APPROVE THOSE, THOSE ARE DELEGATED TO THE DEPARTMENT, RIGHT? SO WHAT CAN WE DO? LIKE HERE'S WHAT WE CAN SAY, HEY, IN OUR PROCUREMENT MANUAL AND WITHIN OUR ENVIRONMENTALLY PREFERABLE PROGRAM, WE WANT TO GIVE YOU SOME KEYWORDS TO THINK ABOUT AND, AND FOCUS ON, RIGHT? UM, SO I THINK ONE IS TO TRY TO EDUCATE, EDUCATE.
I THINK THE SECOND ONE IS THOSE ARE REALLY KEYWORDS THAT, THAT I THINK POLICY WISE WE MAY WANNA FOCUS ON IN THE PU IN THE FUTURE AS WELL.
AND I DON'T WANNA SPEAK FOR OA, BUT I THINK THAT WAS THE THOUGHT WHEN THEY DEVELOPED IT.
IT WAS LIKE, PART OF THIS IS FOR STAFF, AND THEN PART OF THIS IS LIKE, OKAY, WE MAY WANT TO LOOK AT THIS AND DEVELOP THIS MORE IN THE FUTURE AS A POLICY OR AN OFFICIAL PROCESS OR ADMIN BULLETIN OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT AS WELL.
UM, LIKE THE, THE LARGER CONTRACTS YOU HAVE PROCUREMENT SPECIALISTS FOR THOSE PURCHASE
OH, HI, MY NAME'S AMANDA MORTAL AND I'M WITH THE OFFICE OF CLIMATE ACTION AND RESILIENCE.
I'M THE AIR AIR QUALITY PROGRAM COORDINATOR AND ALSO HELP ON SUSTAINABLE PROCUREMENT.
UM, AND SO FOR THE LARGER PURCHASES, I WAS THINKING THAT, I JUST WANNA MAKE SURE, 'CAUSE YOU'RE THE ONE THAT REALLY KNOWS THIS IS THAT, UM, WE HAVE PROCUREMENT SPECIALISTS THAT LIKE, HAVE A CATEGORY THAT THEY ARE KIND OF AN EXPERT ON MM-HMM
AND SO LIKE, THEY KIND OF, IT'S THEIR RESPONSIBILITY TO KNOW, AND IF THEY HAVE QUESTIONS LIKE WE'RE THEIR CONSULTANT AND WE WORK WITH THEM AS NEEDED.
AND THEN FOR THE SMALLER THING, I THINK THAT THAT GUIDANCE STILL APPLIES FOR THE SMALLER PURCHASES.
AND IF THERE WAS SOMEONE WHO NEEDED HELP, LIKE THERE IS A GUIDANCE ALREADY THERE ON OUR SHAREPOINT SITE, BUT AGAIN, I, WE CAN OCAR IS THERE TO HELP ALSO WITH THOSE PURCHASES.
DO YOU GET MANY INQUIRIES? UM, FOR OUR LARGER ONES, LIKE, UM, FOR OUR LARGER ONES, I'M THINKING OF, UM, OUR PRINTING CONTRACT AND STUFF LIKE THAT, THAT WE'RE GETTING ONE.
AND I THINK, I THINK IT REALLY DEPENDS ON THE CATEGORY AS WELL, RIGHT? SO WHEN YOU'RE, WHEN YOU'RE SPEAKING ABOUT THE CATEGORY OF WASTE, LIKE THAT'S AUSTIN RESOURCE RECOVERY, THEY ARE REALLY GOOD ABOUT KNOWING EVERY SINGLE REQUIREMENT, YOU KNOW, THAT HAS COME FROM COUNCIL, ET CETERA, ET CETERA.
WHEN YOU'RE SPEAKING OF A MORE BROAD THING, SUCH AS OFFICE SUPPLIES WHERE WE HAVE A, YOU KNOW, LARGE CITYWIDE CONTRACT, THEN WE AT CENTRAL PROCUREMENT TRY TO DO AS MUCH AS WE CAN UPFRONT IN THE REQUIREMENTS OF BUILDING THAT CONTRACT AND IN THE TERMS OF THAT CONTRACT TO PREVENT WHERE FOLKS CAN'T EVEN BUY THE NON-ENVIRONMENTAL PREFERABLE PRODUCTS WHERE WE CAN.
RIGHT? UH, BUT ONCE AGAIN, THOSE LOW DOLLAR PURCHASES, THAT'S A, THAT'S A LITTLE BIT OF A DIFFERENT STORY.
UM, I DO WANT TO, AND, AND I MADE A MISTAKE NOT INTRODUCING THE CHIEF PROCUREMENT OFFICER FOR THE CITY OF AUSTIN AT THE BEGINNING OF THIS PRESENTATION, BUT JAMES SCARBOROUGH, SO HE MAY, HE MAY BE ABLE TO ENLIGHTEN US A LITTLE BIT TOO.
AND I DIDN'T WANT TO STEAL, UH, UM, UM, OUR COLLEAGUE THUNDER, BUT, UH, HE'S DOING A GREAT JOB.
BUT, UH, THAT'S AN EXCELLENT QUESTION.
UM, SO WE HAVE LITERALLY, WE HAVE, UM, UPWARDS OF, OF FOUR AND 5,000 THAT WILL, THAT WILL CONTRACTS, THAT WILL FLUCTUATE FROM DAY TO DAY BECAUSE OF THE, UM, MANY OF OUR CONTRACTS ARE ONE TIME TRANSACTIONS, SO THEY'RE ACTUALLY DONE WITHIN A DAY.
SOME OF THEM WILL LAST FOR A DECADE.
SO, UM, UM, SOME OF THE, THE, THE TERMS THAT YOU SEE UP HERE IDENTIFIED AS TARGETS ARE A WAY FOR STAFF TO LOOK IN THEIR CATEGORY OF HUNDREDS OF CONTRACTS AND IDENTIFY THE, THE CONTRACTS THAT HAVE THE CONTENTS, THE SUB, THE SUBSTANCE, THE, THE PRODUCTS AND SERVICE THAT RESONATE FOR A GIVEN PROGRAM.
SO, UM, ENVIRONMENTALLY PREFERABLE PROCUREMENT IS ONE OF OUR PROGRAMS WHEN WE HAVE, UM, NINE OF THEM IN, IN THE SUSTAINABLE AREA.
AND IT, AND JUST TO BACK UP, WE DON'T OBJECT TO THE WORD SUSTAINABLE AT, AT ALL,
SO WE HAVE A PROGRAM FOR SMALL BUSINESSES.
WE HAVE A PROGRAM FOR LIVING WAGE, WE HAVE A PROGRAM FOR, UM, UH, UH, LOCAL BUSINESS.
AND ALL OF THOSE ARE SUSTAINABLE ELEMENTS.
SO TO KEEP OUR KIND OF PROGRAM, UM, YOU KNOW, SITES IN, IN A, IN AN AREA WITHOUT OVERLAPPING, UM, OUR PROFESSION, AND THIS IS, UM, ACROSS THE COUNTRY IDENTIFIES THESE TYPES OF PROGRAMS MOST COMMONLY AS EPP OR ENVIRONMENTALLY PREFERABLE.
[00:30:01]
THAT'S, THAT'S THE ONLY REASON WHY WE USE THAT TERMINOLOGY.BUT, UM, FOR THE KEY WORDS, UM, IT'S A WAY FOR STAFF TO LOOK AT THEIR, THEIR PORTFOLIO OF CONTRACTS AND IDENTIFY WHERE TO TAKE ACTION.
UM, BECAUSE, UH, THERE'S NO BIG, YOU KNOW, UM, UH, SUSTAINABLE OR ENVIRONMENTALLY PREFERABLE BUTTON FOR THEM TO PUSH.
IT'S A SERIES OF PRIORITIZED TARGETS.
AND WHEN WE HAVE KEY WORDS, WE CAN GO THROUGH HUNDREDS AND SOMETIMES THOUSANDS OF CONTRACTS, IDENTIFY THE CONTRACTS THAT MATTER FOR PURPOSES OF THIS PROGRAM, AND THEN, UM, LOOK AT THEM AND PRIORITIZE THE ONES THAT HAVE THE MOST PROGRAMMATIC, UM, VALUE.
AND THEN, AND THEN IF YOU IMAGINE THE, THE, THERE WERE THREE COLUMNS THERE, IMAGINE A FOURTH COLUMN OFF TO THE RIGHT, AND THAT WOULD BE OUR WORK PLAN FOR THE CONTRACTS IN THAT CATEGORY THAT HAVE THOSE TARGETS THAT ARE COMING UP THIS YEAR WHERE WE CAN TAKE ACTION.
AND SO AT THE END OF THE YEAR YOU SAY, WELL, WHAT DID YOU DO FOR YOUR ENVIRONMENTALLY, UH, PREFERABLE PROGRAM ACTION? THAT'S HOW WE, THAT'S HOW WE TRACK ACTION.
BUT WE FIRST HAVE TO DEVELOP THE TARGETS.
AND THAT'S WHERE WE, THAT'S WHERE WE USE THOSE TERMS TO LOOK THROUGH OUR CONTRACTS TO DEVELOP THE TARGETS.
WE ALSO USE THOSE TERMS TO HELP OUR DEPARTMENTS MAKE GOOD BUYING DECISIONS IN THE SMALL DOLLAR SPACE.
SO ANYTHING FROM 3000 DOWN TO, YOU KNOW, A DOLLAR, UM, WE WOULD CALL THAT A, THE SMALL DOLLAR SPACE.
UM, BUT THE, THOSE TRANSACTIONS ARE DONE BY DEPARTMENT STAFF, THE CITY MANAGER DELEGATED TO ALL DEPARTMENTS, ALL PURCHASES BELOW $5,000.
WE ASSIST, UM, FOR, UM, BETWEEN THREE AND $5,000 A, A, A MODEST AMOUNT OF COMPETITION, BUT BELOW 3000, THERE'S NO STATE REQUIREMENT FOR COMPETITION.
AND, AND SO THOSE ARE, THOSE ARE ALL DONE BY THE DEPARTMENT STAFF.
THAT'S WHERE WE EDUCATE EVERY YEAR WE HAVE A, A REFRESHER TRAINING THAT, THAT CITY STAFF HAVE TO TAKE.
AND WE, WE REINFORCE ALL OF THEIR OBLIGATIONS.
WE MAKE SURE THAT THEY KNOW THAT, THAT WHEN THEY PURCHASE, IT'S NOT JUST, YOU KNOW, GO OUT AND BUY IT.
THERE ARE CONSIDERATIONS THAT YOU NEED TO APPLY.
AND, AND WE CONSTANTLY, YOU KNOW, STRUGGLE WITH HOW CAN WE BUILD BETTER SYSTEM RESOURCES SO THAT WE CAN SEE THAT THEY ARE COMPLYING WITH THESE, THESE GUIDANCE.
AND THAT'S WHAT KIND OF MATTHEW AND I WORK ON ALL THE TIME, IS HOW CAN WE GET BETTER VISIBILITY, BETTER COMPLIANCE, BETTER, BETTER, UM, UH, POLICY OBJECTIVE, UH, UM, ACHIEVEMENT IN CITY PROCUREMENT STAFF, DO THE WORK.
WE TRY TO DIRECT THAT WORK IN A WAY THAT IT ACHIEVES THE OBJECTIVES OF THE RESIDENTS.
AND SO THAT'S WHAT YOU SEE HERE IS THERE ARE ATTEMPTS AT ACHIEVING THE OBJECTIVES OF, OF THE RESIDENTS BY BUILDING TARGETS AND WORK PLANS TO ACHIEVE THOSE TARGETS.
THIS IS WHY MATTHEW DOESN'T BRING ME TO PRESENTATIONS 'CAUSE I JUST CAN'T SHUT UP.
YOU JUST SPOILED THE NEXT SLIDE WE TALKING ABOUT.
I'LL, I'LL QUIET, I'LL BE QUIET NOW.
NO, I'M JUST, WELL, I DON'T KNOW, MAYBE THIS IS JUMPING AHEAD THEN.
UM, I HAD A FOLLOW UP THERE THOUGH.
YOU JUST WONDERING HOW MANY INDIVIDUALS AT THE CITY HAVE THE ABILITY TO MAKE PURCHASES? UM, SO IT WOULD BE ALL OF THE INDIVIDUALS THAT HAVE PRO CARDS? YEP.
AND ALL OF THE INDIVIDUALS THAT HAVE, UM, ADVANTAGE SYSTEM ACCESS.
THEY, THEY CAN ACTUALLY EITHER MAKE A TRANSACTION OR, UM, WITH THEIR CARD OR THEY CAN ISSUE A PURCHASE ORDER.
IT IT IS A FINITE NUMBER, BUT I I WOULD, I CAN GET YOU THE EXACT NUMBER, BUT I WOULD ESTIMATE AROUND 2000.
AND THERE'S GONNA BE, THERE'S GONNA BE SOME OVERLAP THERE.
THERE IS GONNA BE SOME OVERLAP THERE.
'CAUSE THAT'S A, THAT'S A LOT OF PEOPLE AND IT'S, UM, YEAH.
UM, IS OCAR, ARE YOU IN, ARE Y'ALL INVOLVED IN THAT EDUCATION? RIGHT? YEAH, THE ANNUAL TRAINING, UM, IS GONNA BE SOMETHING THAT WE'RE GONNA CONTINUOUSLY LIKE HELP AND SUPPORT ON TO MAKE SURE THEY HAVE THE MOST UPDATED INFORMATION IN THERE.
UM, AND WE'LL BLEEDING TO THE, LIKE THE RESOURCES AND THE SHAREPOINT AND STUFF.
AND IS, IS THAT ANNUAL AS OPPOSED TO MORE FREQUENT? BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT THERE'S CAPACITY FOR OR, SO OUR, OUR OUR ANNUAL PURCHASING REFRESHER TRAINING, WE DO IT ONCE A YEAR AND IT'S FOR ANYONE WHO HAS ACCESS TO OUR FINANCIAL SYSTEM.
UM, AND THAT COVERS EVERYTHING.
IT'S, IT'S OBVIOUSLY NOT JUST OUR PROGRAMS AND IT WOULDN'T JUST BE ENVIRONMENTALLY PREFERABLE.
IT'S, IT'S ANYTHING FROM THE DOLLAR LIMITS, CHANGES IN STATUTE REMINDERS ABOUT SOLICITATION TYPES, YOU KNOW, UH, YOU KNOW, WARNINGS AGAINST SPLITS, PURCHASING AND SERIAL PURCHASING, ET CETERA, ET CETERA.
SO IT IS, YOU KNOW, A ABOUT A, A 30, 45 MINUTE TRAINING WHERE WE TRY TO COVER AS MUCH AS WE CAN BECAUSE WITH 2000 PEOPLE AND, YOU KNOW, WE, WE'VE GOTTA GET ALL THE IMPORTANT STUFF IN THERE, RIGHT? SO, YOU KNOW, PART OF THIS RELATIONSHIP MOVING FORWARD WITH OCAR, YOU KNOW, MAYBE TO, TO TRY TO DEVELOP SOME ADDITIONAL TRAINING, UM, SOME, SOME IN-PERSON OR, OR VIRTUAL TRAINING FOR, FOR THOSE DEPARTMENTS.
[00:35:01]
I DON'T THINK I COULD GET THROUGH SUSTAINABLE PURCHASING FOR LIKE CLEANING SUPPLIES IN 30 TO 40 MINUTES FULLY, LIKE, YOU KNOW, I MEAN, JUST, YEAH, I DON'T KNOW.THERE'S, THERE'S A LOT IN EACH CATEGORY.
SO YEAH, I WOULD, I WOULD ENCOURAGE MAYBE LOOKING FOR OPPORTUNITY TO LIKE, HAVE SPECIFIC ENVIRONMENTAL PREFERENTIAL TRAINING.
AND THAT'S SEEMS LIKE THAT THAT'S PART OF THE BUILD OUT OF THESE CATEGORY PLANS AS WELL, KIND OF WHAT JAMES WAS TALKING ABOUT THAT FOURTH COLUMN, RIGHT? THAT IS OUR NEXT STEP WHERE WE IDENTIFY THESE CONTRACTS, ET CETERA.
'CAUSE YOU KNOW, YOU MENTIONED JANITORIAL SUPPLIES.
WE'VE CONSOLIDATED OUR JANITORIAL SUPPLY CONTRACTS WHERE REALISTICALLY I THINK WE ONLY HAVE A HANDFUL OF THEM, WHEREAS ABOUT 10 YEARS AGO THERE MAY HAVE BEEN 50 JANITORIAL CONTRACTS.
SO IT'S MUCH EASIER ONCE WE KIND OF GO THROUGH AND SEE WHERE WE'RE AT ON THE CONTRACT SIDE TO THEN TARGET THAT TRAINING, RIGHT? SO YOU'RE NOT GONNA CREATE THIS TRAINING IN THIS GUIDANCE AND SEND IT OUT TO 2000 PEOPLE.
YOU'RE GONNA CREATE THIS TRAINING AND GUIDANCE, SAY, THOSE ARE THE 35 PEOPLE THAT I NEED TO HIT TO BE SURE THAT THEY KNOW NEXT TIME THEY'RE BUYING SOMETHING FOR THAT OFF THE JANITORIAL SUPPLY CONTRACT.
THEY KNOW WHAT THOSE KEYWORDS ARE AND THOSE MEASURES ARE.
AND, AND IF I CAN ADD TO MATTHEW'S, UH, POINT, UM, NOT EVERYBODY THAT CAN BUY FOR THE CITY BUYS EVERYTHING.
MOST OF THE SMALL DOLLAR SPEND IS GOING TO BE IN A, IN A, IN A, A CATEGORY OF GOODS AND SERVICES THAT REPRESENT A SMALL OR OVERALL VALUE OF WHAT THE CITY, UH, CONTRACTS FOR.
SO THE VAST MAJORITY OF OUR SPEND IS UNDER MANAGEMENT, IS UNDER ESTABLISHED CONTRACTS.
SO WHEN WE CREATE THOSE CONTRACTS, WE DETERMINE WHAT PRODUCTS AND SERVICES AND THEIR SPECIFICATIONS, UM, ARE, ARE ALLOWED TO BE PURCHASED UNDER THOSE CONTRACTS.
SO THE MAJORITY OF THE CITY'S SPEND IS GONNA BE MANAGED UNDER THOSE CONTRACTS.
UM, THE, THE SMALL DOLLAR TRANSAC, THE SMALL DOLLAR PURCHASES DO, ARE A RELEVANT AND A MEANINGFUL PART OF THE CITY'S OVERALL BUYING, BUT IS A VERY SMALL PART.
AND IT IS A NARROW, UM, UH, PART FROM A COMMODITIES PERSPECTIVE.
THEY BUY A LOT OF, OF, OF, OF SMALLER DOLLAR, UM, SUPPLIES AND, AND OTHER KIND OF SHORT TERM SPOT MARKET, TRANSACTIONAL TYPE, UM, GOODS AND SERVICES, BUT THEY'RE NOT BUYING MAJOR, YOU KNOW, UM, UH, EQUIPMENT OR, UH, FACILITIES, REPAIR SERVICES, THINGS LIKE THAT, OF THAT NATURE.
THOSE, THOSE, THOSE SERVICE PRODUCTS AND SERVICES ARE UNDER CITY CONTRACT.
IS THAT MARISSA? DO YOU HAVE YOUR HAND UP? YOU CAN GO AHEAD.
UM, THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR THE PRESENTATION.
I HAVE A QUICK CLARIFYING QUESTION ABOUT THE KEYWORDS.
UM, I'M HEARING THAT IT SOUNDS LIKE THEY'RE BEING USED AS LIKE A TRACKING TOOLS AND METRICS AND EXISTING CONTRACTS, BUT ARE THEY BEING UTILIZED CONSISTENTLY, UM, IN A STANDARDIZED WAY WHEN WE'RE SEEKING ADDITIONAL CONTRACTS, LIKE IN SOLICITATIONS AND EVALUATIONS? SPECIFICALLY THE KEY WORDS? IT REALLY KIND OF DEPENDS ON THE CATEGORY AND THE INDIVIDUALS IN INVOLVED, I'LL BE HONEST, RIGHT? BUT THE, THE KEY WORDS ARE IN OUR PROCUREMENT MANUAL AS A GUIDELINE AND, AND TO TRY TO EDUCATE THOSE STAFF THAT WILL BE, YOU KNOW, BUYING, PURCHASING, OR EVALUATING VENDORS FOR THOSE SERVICES.
UM, IF IT IS NOT A, A SPECIFIED MEASURE, THEN IT WOULDN'T BE A REQUIRED THING THAT WE LOOK AT OR INPUT INTO OUR CONTRACTS AT THIS POINT IN TIME.
AND TO CLARIFY, IS THAT, UM, ONLY ITEMS THAT ARE MEASURES THAT WOULD BE KIND OF THOSE REQUIRED PIECES, CORRECT? YES.
AND SO THEN MY FOLLOW UP QUESTION IS, WHAT WOULD IT TAKE TO GET A KEYWORD TARGET TO BECOME A MEASURE? YOU KNOW, THAT'S WHERE WE WOULD NEED TO WORK WITH OR AND OH, I'M APOLOGIZE.
YEAH, I, THAT'S WHERE WE WOULD NEED TO WORK WITH ORR AND WE NEED, WE NEED POLICY DIRECTION, RIGHT? I MEAN, WE'RE, WE'RE PROCUREMENT FOLKS, KIND OF LIKE I SAID, RIGHT? SO THERE NEEDS TO BE SOMEONE, YOU KNOW, AT THE CITY THAT SAYS, THIS IS NOW A REQUIREMENT, RIGHT? THAT JUST LIKE THE, YOU KNOW, ADMIN BULLETIN PASSES THAT SAYS, HEY, NO MORE GAS POWERED LEAF BLOWERS.
LIKE, THEN WE CAN, WE CAN MAKE THAT A REQUIREMENT.
WE CAN LOOK AT THAT, WE CAN REVIEW THAT, RIGHT? BUT I DON'T THINK YOU WANT JAMES AND I MAKING THE DETERMINATION ON, YOU KNOW,
THIS IS WHERE, YOU KNOW, WE NEED EVERYONE'S HELP IN THIS ROOM.
UM, BUT YEAH, IT WOULD BE SOMETHING FORMAL, SOME SORT OF POLICY RECOMMENDATION, SOMETHING FROM COUNSEL AND ADMIN BULLETIN, SOMETHING FROM THIS, YOU KNOW, COMMITTEE OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT.
IF I CAN ADD TO MATTHEWS, UH, THAT'S, THAT'S EXACTLY THE CASE.
THE, THE, THE, THE KEY TERMS IDENTIFIED IN THE PRESENTATION ARE NOT PROCUREMENT TERMS. THESE ARE, ARE, ARE IMPORTANT, UH, ASPECTS OF EACH CATEGORY THAT WE HAVE LEARNED THROUGH OUR COLLEAGUES ARE IMPORTANT TO LOOK FOR.
AND SO WE EXPECT THAT THOSE, THOSE KEY, UH, TERMS WILL CHANGE OVER TIME.
AS, AS YOU BRING THIS, THIS INFORMATION TO US, AS OUR COLLEAGUES BRINGS THIS INFORMATION TO US, AS THE MARKET CHANGES AS AS,
[00:40:01]
AS, UM, UH, ENVIRONMENTALLY PREFERABLE OR SUSTAINABLE, UH, TARGETS CHANGE AND, AND THEIR PRIORITY CHANGE, THEN WE WILL CHANGE OUR KEY TERMS. BUT THAT'S WHAT WE RELY ON YOU AND OUR PARTNERS, UH, TO, TO HELP US, YOU KNOW, ARE WE USING OUTDATED KEY TERMS? OKAY, THEN WE SHOULD UPDATE THEM.WE SHOULD, WE SHOULD CHANGE THEM, WE SHOULD PRIORITIZE THEM DIFFERENTLY.
SO THAT'S, WE EXPECT THAT THEY WILL CHANGE AND THAT THEY WILL EVOLVE OVER TIME.
AND THAT'S PART OF THE REASON WHY WE ENGAGE YOU AND REENGAGE OUR COLLEAGUES, IS THAT WE, WE WANT THE KEY, UM, UH, TERMS TO BE MEANINGFUL SO THAT WE CAN THEN ALIGN THEM TO TARGETS WITHIN OUR CONTRACTS THAT WE CAN TAKE ACTION ON.
AND THEN MY FINAL QUESTION IS ABOUT HOW THOSE TARGETS ARE DETERMINED THEN AT THIS POINT.
IT SOUNDS LIKE THERE'S INFLUENCE FROM LIKE BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS AND THINGS LIKE THAT, BUT, UM, WHAT ELSE GOES INTO THAT? YEAH, I MEAN TO, SORRY, CAN YOU SAY IT AGAIN? BECAUSE I'M THINKING A LOT OF THESE HAVE, LIKE WE'VE HAD HISTORICALLY, SO JUST CAN YOU SAY IT AGAIN THE QUESTION? SURE, YEAH.
UM, IT SOUNDS LIKE THERE'S, UM, IT IS CONSTANTLY EVOLVING THESE TARGET TERMS MAYBE BASED ON PRIORITIES OR INFLUENCE FROM MAYBE BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS OR OTHERS.
BUT I'M CURIOUS WHAT OTHER THINGS GO INTO DETERMINING THOSE TARGETS OR THOSE KEYWORDS.
UM, YEAH, I MEAN THOSE ARE THE THINGS I, WE, RIGHT NOW WE'RE IN THIS, IN THIS FUTURE SLIDE, RIGHT? BUT WE'RE WORKING ON, UM, PURCHASE EACH PURCHASING CATEGORY, LIKE DEVELOPING THAT, UM, ACTION PLAN THAT JAMES WAS TALKING ABOUT.
AND SO AS WE'RE GOING THROUGH THESE PURCHASING CATEGORIES, LIKE KIND OF ONE BY ONE OVER AGAIN, WE'LL BE RENEWING AND UPDATING ANYTHING AS WE GO.
AND SO WE'RE STARTING WITH THE CONCRETE AND THE LANDSCAPING AND THEN JUST GOING DOWN BY PURCHASING CATEGORY TO UPDATE AS NEEDED AS WE DEVELOP THESE PLANS.
IF, IF I COULD ADD TO THAT, WE DON'T BELIEVE THAT THAT, UM, THE, THE, THE KEY TERMS WOULD NECESSARILY BE CONCRETE OR, OR RIGID.
I MEAN, WE'RE, WE'RE PRETTY FLEXIBLE.
IF YOU SAY, WELL, THIS ONE IS NOT REALLY RELEVANT ANYMORE, WE THINK THAT THIS IS ONE IS A BETTER ONE, WE'RE OPEN TO, YOU KNOW, MAKING THOSE ADJUSTMENTS, WE WOULD JUST SUGGEST THAT, THAT WE NOT MAKE THEM FLUID BECAUSE WE'RE TYING THEM TO CONTRACT TARGETS.
AND IT MAY TAKE A YEAR OR TWO BEFORE WE EVEN GET TO THAT CONTRACT, BEFORE WE CAN APPLY THE, THE, THE, THE CHANGE TO IT THAT WOULD BE MEANINGFUL FROM A POLICY PERSPECTIVE.
SO I WOULD SAY, YEAH, WE CAN MAKE ADJUSTMENTS FROM TIME TO TIME.
WE WOULD JUST SAY, DON'T, YOU KNOW, CHANGE IT EVERY MONTH OR SO, BECAUSE THEN WE WON'T HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO ACTUALLY APPLY IT WHEN THAT CONTRACT WINDOW IS OPEN AND WE CAN MAKE SOME CHANGES.
AND I WANNA ADD THAT IT'S LIKE NOT ALWAYS SO SIMPLE TO JUST BE LIKE, LET'S REQUIRE THIS, RIGHT? BECAUSE WHEN WE TALK ABOUT LANDSCAPE, THE COMMERCIAL LANDSCAPE INDUSTRY, WE WOULD LOVE TO BE LIKE ELECTRIC ONLY.
HOWEVER, WE HAVE SMALL BUSINESSES, LIKE THAT'S WHOLE PROGRAM AND WE NEED TO MAKE SURE THAT THEY HAVE ACCESS TO COMPETITION AS WELL.
AND SO WHILE WE'RE CHANGING THESE SPECS, WE'RE ALSO KIND OF STUDYING THE MARKET.
LIKE WE CURRENTLY HAVE A LAND A LANDSCAPE MARKET STUDY OUT.
AND SO WE'RE LIKE, WHAT CHANGES CAN WE MAKE? WHAT CAN BE PREFERRED VERSUS REQUIRED WITHOUT LIKE, WHILE ENHANCING OR PROMOTING COMPETITION AND THAT WE'RE ALSO SUPPOSED TO BE DOING? UM, SO IT'S SOMETIMES IT'S A PROCESS AND THERE'S A STUDY INVOLVED ALSO CONCRETE, YOU KNOW, THERE'S THIS WHOLE PROCESS INVOLVED IN CHANGING THAT SPEC.
SOMETIMES IT MIGHT BE EASY, MAYBE I WASN'T HERE WHEN PAPER HAPPENED, BUT MAYBE PAPER WAS AN EASY ONE.
'CAUSE WE ALREADY HAD A DIVERSITY OF SUPPLIERS.
UM, BUT SOME OF THESE CONTRACTS, LIKE MAYBE NO ONE WILL BID ON IT IF WE DON'T, IF WE CHANGE THE WORDS WRONG.
UM, I KNOW SOME, LIKE, AGAIN, THE LANDSCAPING, THERE'S SOME PLACES THAT ARE JUST RUGGED AND THERE'S, WE ONLY HAVE ONE BIDDER.
AND SO IF WE CHANGE AND SAY, HEY, AT THIS RUGGED LOCATION YOU HAVE TO USE BATTERY POWERED, THAT BIDDER WON'T BID, AND THEN NO ONE'S MOWING OUR LAWN ANYMORE.
SO IT'S A DANCE, IT'S AN ART, IT'S A SCIENCE, IT'S ALL OF IT.
AND WHAT, WHAT WE'RE TRYING TO HELP OCAR WITH IS, IS ONCE AGAIN, THAT THAT FOURTH COLUMN, RIGHT? SO WE CAN SAY, OKAY, YOU WANT TO, YOU WANNA TALK ABOUT LANDSCAPING, YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT WILD LAND, VEGETATION LANDSCAPING, LIKE HERE'S ALL THE CONTRACTS RIGHT IN THAT CATEGORY.
SO THEN THEY CAN LOOK AT THOSE AND THEY CAN, YOU KNOW, KIND OF GET A BETTER, BETTER PICTURE OF, OKAY, HOW MANY BIDDERS ARE THERE? WHAT'S THE SPEND, ET CETERA, ET CETERA.
HOW MUCH INTEREST IS THERE? SO THEN THEY CAN LOOK AT AND KIND OF MAKE, HELP MAKE THESE DETERMINATIONS AND DECISIONS MOVING FORWARD FROM A UNDERSTANDING OF, OKAY, THIS IS, THIS IS WHERE THE CITY'S AT FROM A CONTRACT PERSPECTIVE, RIGHT? SO NOW WHAT CAN WE GO OUT THERE AND CHANGE FOR OUR SPECIFICATIONS AND OUR REQUIREMENTS AND STILL BE ABLE TO DO BUSINESS AS A CITY, BUT MEET OUR ENVIRONMENTALLY PREFERABLE TARGETS.
BUT YOU CAN CONTINUE AND WE'LL PROBABLY HAVE MORE QUESTIONS.
SO UNDER LIKE GENERAL SERVICES, YOU KNOW, THE TARGETED FOOD AND YOU MENTIONED MM-HMM
SO WHEN YOU'RE TALKING FOOD, IS THAT LIKE,
[00:45:01]
HEY, UH, UH, ORDERING, YOU KNOW, FOR THE OFFICE LUNCH, YOU KNOW, EVENTS, RIGHT? NOT JUST LIKE, HEY, LET'S GO BUY SOME SWEET POTATOES.RIGHT? IT COULD, IT, IT COULD BE THAT, RIGHT? IT COULD BE FORMAL CATERING FOR EXECUTIVE TRAININGS.
IT COULD BE, UH, PROVIDING MILLS TO THE HOMELESS AND ANYBODY WHO SO SHOWS UP AT THE SHELTER DURING COOLING OR, OR HEATING EMERGENCIES.
SO IN THAT, YOU KNOW, WITH KEYWORDS, FAIR TRADE, ORGANIC, UH, EXISTING MEASURES, UM, I KNOW IT HAS LOCALLY SOURCED.
I GUESS I WAS JUST THINKING ABOUT IT FROM A, SUPPORTING A LOCAL ECONOMY, WHICH IS NOT NECESSARILY LIKE ENVIRONMENTAL PER SE, BUT RIGHT.
LIKE YOU USE A, UH, RESTAURANT THAT'S LOCALLY OWNED VERSUS A NATIONAL CHAIN.
I GUESS I'M GONNA, YOU KNOW, SO MEANING LIKE, IT DOESN'T NECESSARILY SAY THAT THAT'S ENVIRONMENTAL, BUT THE DOLLARS ARE STAYING, BUT IT'S SUSTAINABLE.
AND SO I GUESS JUST TRYING TO FIGURE OUT LOCALLY SOURCED IS NOT NECESSARILY THE SAME THINGS LIKE LOCALLY OWNED YEAH.
LIKE LOCAL SOURCE FOOD WITHIN THAT RESTAURANT IS ONE THING.
BUT ALSO PROMOTING AND SUPPORTING LOCALLY OWNED.
UM, WHICH AGAIN, MAY NOT NECESSARILY FALL UNDER JUST ENVIRONMENTALLY PREFERABLE, BUT E ECONOMICALLY PREFERABLE.
SO WE DO HAVE A LOCAL PREFERENCE PROGRAM THAT IS ANOTHER ONE OF OUR PROGRAMS. OKAY.
I MEAN, WE DEF SO WE HAVE A SMALL BUSINESS AND A LOCAL PREFERENCE PROGRAM.
AND I, I ALMOST INCLUDED LOCAL IN THIS PRESENTATION JUST AS KIND OF AN EXAMPLE OF WHAT WE WOULD CONSIDER SUSTAINABLE BUT MAY NOT FALL IN THIS ENVIRONMENTALLY PREFERABLE CATEGORY.
'CAUSE WE ABSOLUTELY CONSIDER LOCAL BUSINESSES AND LOCAL PREFERENCE TO THOSE BUSINESSES AS BEING SUSTAINABLE FOR THE CITY OF BOSTON.
JUST WANTED TO, YEAH, NO, MAKE SURE QUESTION IN THIS CATEGORY.
MARISSA, DID YOU CONTEND TO STILL HAVE YOUR HAND UP, OR IS THAT FROM BEFORE? OKAY, COOL.
OKAY, SO REAL QUICK, WE ONLY HAVE A COUPLE MORE SLIDES.
SO, UH, WITHIN OUR, OUR FINANCIAL SYSTEM, WE DO HAVE WHAT WE CALL REPORTING TO CODES.
SO WHEN SOMEONE IS CREATING A MASTER AGREEMENT OR CT OR A CONTRACT IN GENERAL, RIGHT? UM, THEY CAN INPUT THESE CODES.
AND ONCE AGAIN, THIS IS NOT A WAY TO QUANTIFY ANYTHING.
IT'S NOT A, A WAY TO QUANTIFY HOW MUCH, YOU KNOW, GREENHOUSE GAS WAS SAVED OR ET CETERA.
ALL THIS DOES IS MARK, LIKE, HEY, THE PERSON WHO CREATED THIS CONTRACT CONTRACT, WHICH WOULD BE THE PROCUREMENT SPECIALIST, RIGHT, THINKS THAT THIS CONTRACT WILL AFFECT ONE OF THESE KEY AREAS, RIGHT? SO WE'VE GOT AIR POLLUTION, NOISE POLLUTION, POWER AND ELECTRICITY, RECYCLED CONTENT, SOLID WASTE, TOXINS, UH, AND WATER USE REDUCED.
UM, I, I, I WILL BE VERY HONEST, THESE REPORTING TWO CRS WERE CREATED SEVERAL YEARS AGO.
AND WE WILL BE ADDING THEM INTO OUR A PERT BECAUSE, YOU KNOW, I TOOK A LOOK AND I DON'T THINK WE'RE USING THEM WITHIN CENTRAL PROCUREMENT AS EFFECTIVELY AS WE COULD.
SO WE WILL BE REMINDING STAFF OF THESE CODES.
UH, BUT ONCE AGAIN, ALL THIS IS REALLY GONNA TRACK IS A, THE NUMBER OF CON OF CONTRACTS WITHIN WITH THAT CODE.
UM, AND THEN THAT'LL ALLOW SOMEONE TO GO IN LOOK AND, YOU KNOW, THEY CAN HAVE A, HAVE A CLOSER LOOK.
AND THAT, THAT WOULD BE THE INFORMATION WE TURN OVER TO AMANDA AND OCAR, WHICH I'LL TURN, TURN IT OVER TO HER FOR SPEND DATA.
SO ONE THING I LIKE ABOUT THE REPORTING QUOTES ALSO IS THAT, UM, YOU'RE ABLE TO REPORT LIKE HOW MUCH WE'RE SPENDING FOR LIKE ALL CONTRACTS LABELED A CAN ADD UP.
AND WE'RE LIKE, WE'RE SPENDING THIS MUCH ON AIR QUALITY, MORE OR LESS.
IT'S KIND OF, UM, ONE WAY TO TRACK OUR PROGRESS AND THEN WHAT WE SEE ON THE RIGHT, THAT PIE CHART, I HAVE SHOWED THAT TO THIS GROUP BEFORE, ONCE BEFORE.
BUT, UM, JUST AS A REMINDER AND ESPECIALLY FOR THE NEW PEOPLE THAT, UH, WE, FOR A PROCUREMENT EMISSION INVENTORY, WHICH WAS WHAT THE NAME OF THE REPORT IS CALLED, WE TOOK ALL OF THE CITY SPENDING FOR 2022 AND WAS, WERE ABLE TO ASSIGN LIKE GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS TO BASICALLY EVERY PURCHASE.
UM, IT WAS A LOT OF PURCHASES AND THERE WAS PROBABLY AI INVOLVED IN THIS, BUT, UM, IT'S, IT WAS, WE CONTRACTED THIS OUT, SO A CONSULTANT DID DO THIS FOR US.
UM, AND SO THEY WERE ABLE TO, YOU KNOW, CATEGORIZE OUR PURCHASES.
YOU CAN SEE THE CATEGORIES HERE IN THIS PIE CHART.
AND YOU CAN SEE THAT LIKE, ESPECIALLY BECAUSE OF THE AMOUNT WE SPEND ON CAPITAL CONTRACTING, THAT CAPITAL CONTRACTING IS ONE OF OUR BIGGEST LIKE SOURCES OF GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS.
UM, AND SO THAT IS ONE OF THE REASONS WHY WE'VE CHOSEN, OF COURSE, LOW CON, LOW CARBON CONCRETE AS SOMETHING TO LIKE HURRY UP AND WORK ON.
UM, AND SO AS WE'RE WORKING THROUGH THESE PURCHASING CATEGORIES AND UPDATING THEM AND LIKE PRIORITIZING WHICH ONE WE SHOULD WORK NEXT, WE'RE ALREADY WORKING ON CONCRETE AND LANDSCAPING, BUT YOU CAN SEE THAT LIKE THOSE BIGGER PIE CHARTS MIGHT BE THE CATEGORIES THAT WE'RE GONNA JUST PRIORITIZE AS WE GO.
UM, AND LIKE UPDATING AND, AND WORKING ON THESE WORK PLANS.
UM, AND JUST, UH, TO NOTE THAT EMISSIONS NUMBER AT THE TOP 206,000 METRIC TONS, UM, THAT'S,
[00:50:01]
THOSE ARE SO LIKE THE GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS THAT WERE LIKE, RESULTED FROM OUR PURCHASES, UM, THAT'S FOUR TIMES THE AMOUNT OF OUR MUNICIPAL CARBON FOOTPRINT.SO PURCHASING IS A BIG DEAL, LIKE ON OUR CARBON FOOTPRINT.
UM, SO I JUST WANTED TO OH, REMIND AN ANNUAL REMINDER OF OUR PURCHASING, UM, EMISSIONS ARE FOUR TIMES OUR MUNICIPAL EMISSIONS.
THEY, THEY DO USE DIFFERENT, YOU CALCULATE 'EM DIFFERENTLY.
IT IS COMPARING APPLES TO ORANGES.
I'M NOT REALLY SUPPOSED TO LIKE COMPARE 'EM LIKE THAT BECAUSE WE USE DIFFERENT METHODOLOGY TO CALCULATE BOTH OF THEM, BUT IT IS INTERESTING TO NOTE HOW IMPORTANT AND SIGNIFICANT PURCHASING EMISSIONS ARE.
YOU HAVE A QUESTION? AND ANN, DO YOU HAVE A QUESTION BEFORE WE MOVE ON? YOU GO BACK PLEASE.
UM, I JUST, COULD SOMEONE COMMENT ON LIKE, AMANDA, HOW DO THESE CATEGORIES IN, IN, IN, IN THIS SLIDE MATCH UP WITH THESE PREVIOUS, I DON'T KNOW, WHAT WAS IT LIKE FIVE OR SO DIFFERENT CATEGORIES THAT WE'VE JUST SEEN, LIKE CONSTRUCTION, UTILITY FACILITIES AND GROUNDS? LIKE ARE THESE YEAH, NO, THAT, THAT'S A GREAT QUESTION AND I WAS ACTUALLY THINKING ABOUT ADDRESSING THAT.
SO, SO THIS PIE CHART IS BROKEN OUT, UH, BROKEN OUT FOR THE MOST PART BY DEPARTMENT SPEND, NOT PROCUREMENT CATEGORY SPEND, RIGHT? SO WHEN YOU SEE CAPITAL CONTRACTING THERE, THAT'S THE PREVIOUS CAPITAL CONTRACTING OFFICE.
NOW THE CAPITAL CONTRACTING OFFICE PREVIOUSLY AND CURRENTLY IS THE CAPITAL PROCUREMENT OFFICE DOES HANDLE 99% OF THE CONSTRUCTION ENGINEERING AND DESIGN, RIGHT? SO THAT PIE CHART WOULD STILL BE RELATIVE, IT WOULD JUST BE THAT THAT PIECE OF, OF, OF A PIE THERE FOR CAPITAL CONTRACTING WOULD BE OUR CONSTRUCTION CATEGORY, RIGHT? MM-HMM
UM, SO THE, THE GRAY ONE THERE FLEET 9%, MORE THAN LIKELY THAT'S, UH, ALL OF THAT WOULD FIT INTO OUR, UH, MOBILITY CATEGORY, RIGHT? AND THERE WOULD BE SOME OTHER ONES, BUT THIS PIE CHART IS BROKEN DOWN FOR THE MOST PART BY DEPARTMENT, NOT BY PROCUREMENT CATEGORY.
THERE'S ANOTHER PIE CHART THAT IS BY BROKE BY DIFFERENT, UM, CATEGORY.
UM, SO THANKS FOR ASKING THAT ONE.
OH YEAH, MARISSA, I JUST HAD ONE CLARIFYING QUESTION ON THE REPORTING TWO CODES.
UM, ARE THESE, UH, QUANTIFYING IMPACT BOTH POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE IMPACT, OR ONLY, UH, ONE OR THE OTHER? IT IS, I I BELIEVE IT IS ANY, ANYTHING THAT WILL IMPACT EITHER.
SO IF, IF YOU BELIEVE SOMETHING IS GOING TO INCREASE OR DECREASE AIR POLLUTION, IF IT'S SOLID WASTE RELATED AT ALL, ET CETERA, IT'S REALLY JUST, ONCE AGAIN, OUR PROCUREMENT SPECIALISTS AREN'T, UH, AREN'T EXPERTS, RIGHT.
UM, IN SUSTAINABILITY OR ENVIRONMENTALLY PREFERABLE.
SO I BELIEVE THE THOUGHT ORIGINALLY WITH THIS WAS THEY WOULD FLAG IT AND THEN AFTER RUNNING A REPORT LATER ON, YOU COULD THEN GO THROUGH AND REMOVE THE ONES THAT WEREN'T SUPPOSED TO BE RELATED OR, OR OTHERWISE.
YEAH, I CAN, I CAN ADD A BIT TO THAT.
UH, THESE REPORTING CODES AS, AS, AS MATTHEW MENTIONED, ARE ARE OLDER.
IT'S A WAY FOR US TO SIMPLY IDENTIFY THAT IS A CONTRACT THAT HAS A ENVIRONMENTALLY PREFERABLE ELEMENT TO IT.
SO OF THE THOUSANDS OF CONTRACTS THEY'RE GONNA HAVE A REPORTING TO IS JUST SIMPLY A, A SINGLE DATA FIELD ON THAT CONTRACT.
AND IF THERE IS SOMETHING FLAGGED IN THAT DATA FIELD, IT'S GONNA BE ONE OF THOSE CODES AND THAT JUST SIMPLY SAYS, KEEP THIS CONTRACT ON YOUR RADAR.
THAT'S A VERY HIGH LEVEL MEASURE.
WE ARE IN THE PROCESS OF IMPLEMENTING OUR NEW PROCUREMENT SYSTEMS, WE'RE DOING THAT THIS SUMMER.
WE'LL BE ABLE TO REPORT NOT JUST TO THE CONTRACT LEVEL, BUT TO THE LINE ITEM LEVEL.
SO WE'LL BE ABLE TO DO SPEND ANALYSIS ON, UM, CHARACTERISTICS OF, OF LINE ITEMS WITHIN EACH CONTRACT, AND WE'LL BE ABLE TO, TO, UM, ANALYZE LINE ITEMS FOR, UM, ALL OF OUR POLICY AREAS.
SO WE'LL LOOK AT, BE ABLE TO LOOK AT CONTRACT LINE ITEMS THAT IMPACT SMALL BUSINESSES, CONTRACT LINE ITEMS THAT PACK LOCAL BUSINESSES, CONTRACT LINE ITEMS THAT ARE ASSOCIATED WITH LIVING WAGE, CONTRACT LINE ITEMS THAT HAVE ENVIRONMENTALLY PREFERABLE ELEMENTS.
SO THAT'S, YOU KNOW, THESE ARE, THESE ARE, THESE ARE IMPORTANT MEASURES, BUT WE'RE LOOKING BACK AT HISTORY WHEN WE LOOK AT THESE MEASURES, THEY, THEY ALLOW US TO PUT CONTRACTS ON A RADAR SO THAT WE CAN ANALYZE THEM FURTHER.
WE WOULD LIKE TO BE ABLE TO DO THAT IN AN AUTOMATED WAY.
THAT'S WHAT WE'RE DOING, UH, IMPLEMENTING OUR, OUR NEW SYSTEM THIS SUMMER.
SO, SO THEY WOULD ONLY GET THIS CODE IF THEY WERE IMPROVING IN THAT CATEGORY? NOT IF THEY JUST WERE IMPACTING THAT CATEGORY.
I, I BELIEVE THAT THAT IS TRUE.
WE WOULDN'T IDENT, UM, PUT A, UH, A REPORTING CODE TOO IF IT WAS A, A POOR AIR POLLUTION CONTRACT, IT WOULD BE SOMETHING THAT WOULD, WOULD WE WOULD BE TRACKING FOR, FOR POSITIVE PURPOSES, RIGHT? YEAH.
POSITIVE OR, I MEAN IT DEPENDS ON, YOU KNOW, YOU'VE GOT TOXINS THERE, YOU OBVIOUSLY WANT A REDUCTION THERE.
YOU KNOW, MY POINT WAS THAT THE INDIVIDUALS THAT ARE GONNA BE POINTING THESE IN ARE PROCUREMENT SPECIALISTS, RIGHT.
YOU KNOW, THEY'RE NOT BIOLOGISTS AND YOU KNOW, THEY'RE NOT SCIENTISTS.
SO YOU WILL ACTUALLY HAVE SOME THAT MAY JUST THROW IT IN THERE TO FLAG IT JUST TO BE SAFE.
AND I WOULD PREFER THEM TO DO THAT THAN, THAN OTHERWISE.
[00:55:01]
YEAH.I ACTUALLY THINK IT WOULD BE MUCH MORE USEFUL TO JUST FLAG THAT, YOU KNOW, GIVEN THAT YOU'RE DEALING WITH SOMEBODY WHO ISN'T AN EXPERT, THEY'RE LIKE, HEY, THIS MIGHT HAVE A NOISE IMPACT, THIS MIGHT HAVE AN AIR POLLUTION IMPACT.
AND THEN THAT MAYBE COULD FLOW TO A QUALIFIED INDIVIDUAL TO REVIEW BEFORE IT'S FINALIZED, OR AT LEAST BEFORE IT'S REPEATED.
UM, 'CAUSE IT SEEMS LIKE ONLY FLAGGING THE POSITIVE ONES.
LIKE WHAT, HOW, HOW THEN DO YOU IMPROVE ON THE YEAH, AND IT DEPENDS ON WHICH ONE YOU'RE LOOKING AT AS WELL.
AND ONCE AGAIN, YOU'RE, WE'RE SPEAKING OF PROCUREMENT SPECIALISTS, RIGHT? THEY'RE NOT, THEY'RE NOT EXPERTS IN SUSTAINABLE AND ENVIRONMENTALLY PREFERABLES.
WHICH IS WHY I ALMOST THINK LIKE THEM JUDGING WHETHER IT'S POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE MIGHT BE A CHALLENGE.
IT ALSO IS JUST WONDERING, IS AIR POLLUTION INCLUSIVE OF GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS OR ONLY GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS? I, I ASSUME INCLUSIVE, BUT YEAH.
YEAH, I THINK THAT'S FOR EITHER, I THINK GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS GOT ADDED AFTER AIR POLLUTION SINCE THEY'RE RELATED.
AND CHARLOTTE, DID YOU HAVE SOMETHING ELSE? NO, I JUST WANTED TO CLARIFY.
IS THERE JUST ONE FIELD FOR A CODE OR COULD SOMETHING HAVE MULTIPLE IMPACTS? LIKE IT IMPACTS ELECTRICITY AND NOISE AND AIR POLLUTION, LIKE A DATA CENTER OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT? THAT WOULD BE ON THE NEGATIVE SIDE
LIKE I SAID, IT'S A, IT'S AN OLDER MEASURE.
BUT, YOU KNOW, TO JAMES'S POINT, RIGHT? WE'VE, WE'VE BEEN
SO, SO IF WE IDENTIFY A CONTRACT AND IT'S GOT 200 LINE ITEMS IN IT, 25 OF THOSE LINE ITEMS ARE FLAGGED AS ENVIRONMENTALLY PREFERABLE.
SO WE CAN THEN, WE CAN, EACH LINE ITEM WILL HAVE A, A COMMODITY CODE THAT WILL TELL US WHAT KIND OF PRODUCT AND SERVICE IT IS.
SO WE'LL HAVE PRODUCT AND SERVICE INFORMATION PLUS AN ENVIRONMENTALLY, UH, PREFERABLE FLAG.
SO WE WANT TO SEE HOW MANY CONTRACTS THAT WE HAVE FOR FOOD WITH ENVIRONMENTALLY PREFERABLE FLAGS ON THEM THAT WILL GIVE US A, A, A, A, A SPIN REPORT THAT WILL THEN ALLOW US TO, UM, UH, DETERMINE, OKAY, ARE WE MEETING OUR ENVIRONMENTALLY PREFERABLE OBJECTIVES FOR FOOD? ALRIGHT, NEXT SLIDE.
ALL RIGHT, SO I, THIS IS, I THINK WE'VE GOT ONE OR TWO SLIDES LEFT HERE.
AND, BUT I THINK WHAT WE WANTED TO DO HERE IS JUST REALLY TALK ABOUT WHAT WE'VE BEEN DOING AT CENTRAL PROCUREMENT AND WITH OCAR, YOU KNOW, OUR, OUR CURRENT PROJECTS, OUR COLLABORATION, ET CETERA.
UM, YOU KNOW, THAT FIRST ONE TALKS SPECIFICALLY ABOUT WHAT WE'VE MENTIONED THE BUILD OUT OF OUR CATEGORY PLAN, RIGHT? SO BUILDING OUT OUR PROCUREMENT CATEGORY PLANS AND EDUCATING NOT ONLY THE PROCUREMENT SPECIALISTS THAT EXECUTE THOSE CONTRACTS, BUT THE OTHER STAFF, UH, AT THE DEPARTMENT THAT BUY OFF THOSE.
SO OUR RESPONSIBILITIES HERE, WE'RE GONNA PROVIDE THAT DATA TO OCAR.
WE'RE GONNA FACILITATE THE PRO THE PROGRAM, WHICH IS WHAT WE'RE SPEAKING ABOUT TODAY, AND WE'RE GONNA INCORPORATE ANY ADDITIONAL INFORMATION INTO OUR PROCUREMENT MANUAL.
SO OUR PROCUREMENT MANUAL, UM, IS A ONE STOP SHOP FOR ANYBODY THAT WANTS TO BUY AT THE CITY.
IT IS, UM, YOU KNOW, PROBABLY, UH, 200 AND SOME ODD PAGES OF EXHILARATING READING.
NOW WE'RE YOU WE'RE CLOSER TO 400, I APOLOGIZE,
SO, WHICH, WHICH, YOU KNOW, WE WILL TALK ABOUT ON THE NEXT ONE, SOME OTHER THINGS WE'RE DOING, UH, BECAUSE SOMETIMES THAT CAN BE OVERWHELMING TO STAFF.
UH, SO FOR OAR, UH, TO HELP US BUILD OUT OUR CATEGORY PLAN, WE'RE LOOKING FOR THEM TO IDENTIFY THE TARGETS FOR US, PROVIDE THAT PROGRAM GUIDANCE FOR US, YOU KNOW, HELP US DEVELOP THAT TRAINING AND OUTREACH AND, YOU KNOW, WE CAN HELP THEM ON WHO WE NEED TO TARGET TO, ET CETERA.
AND THEN COMPILE THAT DEPARTMENT FEEDBACK, RIGHT? SO WE CAN CONTINUE TO BE SURE, ONE, THE DEPARTMENT BUYERS ARE ENGAGED, UH, BUT THEN LET US KNOW WHAT WE NEED TO DO BETTER AND WHAT THEY NEED, UH, FROM US.
UM, ONGOING INITIATIVES, AS I MENTIONED JUST NOW, OUR, OUR PROCUREMENT MANUAL, SO OAR IS, I THINK WE'RE ACTUALLY CURRENTLY DOING THIS, IS UPDATING OUR PROCUREMENT MANUAL, OUR SUSTAINABLE LANGUAGE, ET CETERA, FOR OUR ENVIRONMENTAL, UH, PROCUREMENT PROGRAM.
UM, TRAINING, UH, WE'VE MENTIONED THIS A COUPLE TIMES.
WE'RE OBVIOUSLY, UH, GOING TO BE REMINDING SOME OF OUR STAFF, NOT SOME OF OUR STAFF, ALL OF OUR STAFF AT OUR ANNUAL PURCHASING REFRESHER TRAINING, BUT THERE MAY BE ADDITIONAL TRAINING THAT IS NEEDED TO PROVIDE TO NOT ONLY PROCUREMENT STAFF, UM, AT CENTRAL PROCUREMENT, BUT ACROSS THE CITY AS A WHOLE.
AND THEN OUR RESOURCE WEBSITE, OUR SHAREPOINT WEBSITE THAT, UH, HONESTLY GETS VISITED QUITE A BIT BY DEPARTMENT BUYING STAFF, CONTINUE TO BUILD THAT OUT TO PROVIDE GUIDELINES, EDUCATION, UH, ET CETERA FOR STAFF ACROSS THE CITY.
SO, UM, SO THIS SLIDE JUST REPRESENTS THE PLAN.
WE HAVE TO, LIKE, THE THINGS WE PLANNED ON WORKING ON THIS YEAR
[01:00:01]
AND THE, AND SO YOU, WE HAVE OUR, YOU KNOW, OUR VISION, OUR PRIORITY ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS, UM, AND THEN REALLY OUR, LIKE, THE THREE AREAS OF FOCUS THIS YEAR THAT WE'D REALLY LIKE TO LIKE DOCUMENT PROGRESS ON LOW CARBON, CONCRETE, UM, YOU KNOW, WE HAVE OUR GOALS, UM, AND OUR METRICS.YOU KNOW, WE WANNA REDUCE OUR CARBON EMISSIONS FROM OUR CONCRETE.
AND WE, UM, AS, AS THIS LIKE HELPS ALIGN WITH OUR CLIMATE EQUITY PLAN THAT TALKS ABOUT REDUCING OUR PROCUREMENT EMISSIONS BY 50%.
UM, AND SO THERE ARE ACTIVE PROJECTS ON, FOR LOW CARBON CONCRETE IS ESTABLISHING THAT LIKE REPORTING STRUCTURE, LIKE HOW ARE WE GONNA SHOW OR DOCUMENT HOW MANY GREENHOUSE GASES WE WERE ABLE TO REDUCE THROUGH OUR PROCUREMENT? AND SO WE'RE WORKING WITH THE CITY OF OFFICE, CITY OFFICE OF THE ENGINEER.
UM, ONCE THEY KNOW HOW MUCH CONCRETE WE BOUGHT IN A YEAR, THEY CAN TELL US, RIGHT? AND THEN WE HAVE OUR ENVIRONMENTAL PRODUCT DECLARATIONS THAT ARE GONNA TELL US EXACTLY EVERY KILOGRAM GIVES YOU THIS MANY GREENHOUSE GASES RELEASED.
SO WE'LL BE ABLE TO DOCUMENT THAT BASICALLY AS OUR PROJECTS ARE COMING IN.
SO WE'VE, WE'VE ESTABLISHED THE PROCESS AND NOW WE'RE JUST WAITING FOR THE CONCRETE REPORTS SO THAT WE CAN THEN UPDATE OUR CLIMATE EQUITY, UM, DASHBOARD FOR THIS ONE.
THE NEXT, UH, PROJECT THAT WE'RE WORKING ON INVOLVES OUR LANDSCAPE SERVICES AND EQUIPMENT.
UM, OF COURSE, THIS HELPS US NOT ONLY WITH THE CLIMATE EQUITY PLAN, BUT HELPS US STAY IN FEDERAL AIR QUALITY, UM, COMPLIANCE.
AND SO ONE OF THE WAYS WE CAN DOCUMENT THIS, YOU KNOW, IF WE'RE GONNA BE DOCUMENTING PROGRESS, WE CAN MEASURE THIS BY THE VALUE OF OUR CONTRACTS IMPACTED.
UM, YOU KNOW, MOVING FORWARD AS WE'RE REPORTING, AND THE ACTIVE PROJECT HERE IN THIS CATEGORY IS THE DEVELOPMENT OF OUR SPECTRUM REQUIREMENTS FOR CONTRACTS IS OUR GOAL.
BUT WE'RE DOING A MARKET STUDY, UH, SERVING COMMERCIAL LANDSCAPE, UM, SERVICE, SERVICE, UM, PROVIDERS ABOUT THEIR TRANSITION, THEIR JOURNEY TO TRANSITION TO ELECTRIC AND WHERE THEY ARE IN THAT AND WHY THEY ARE, AND, YOU KNOW, WHERE THEY ARE IN THAT JOURNEY AND HOW THE CITY CAN HELP THEM, UM, IN ANY WAY.
SO WE'RE, WE'RE DOING A LANDSCAPE MARKET STUDY.
AND ALONG WITH THAT, UH, THE SAME CON UH, VENDOR CONTRACTOR THAT'S HELPING US IS HELPING DESIGN A PILOT PROGRAM FOR PAR.
SO THEY'LL BE INTERVIEWING PAR, UH, PARKS AND REC DEPARTMENT STAFF ASKING THEM THEIR USE CASE, LIKE, WHY DO YOU NEED THIS EQUIPMENT AND FOR, YOU KNOW, WHAT, WHAT KIND OF NEEDS DO YOU HAVE SO THAT THEY CAN DESIGN A PILOT SO THAT, YOU KNOW, MOVING FORWARD WE CAN, UM, TRY OUT SOME OF THIS NEW EQUIPMENT THAT, THAT WE MIGHT NOT HAVE HAD A CHANCE TO DO SO BEFORE.
AND THEN FINALLY, UM, THE PLASTIC PACKS WAS MENTIONED AND REDUCING OUR PLA SINGLE USE PLASTIC, THAT WAS A COMMIT, A RECENT COMMITMENT THAT WE HAVE.
UM, SO WE'RE STILL TRYING TO REDUCE OUR PLASTICS.
AND SO, UM, THAT IS ONE ASPECT OF THAT ZERO WASTE SLASH CIRCULAR ECONOMY.
UM, THING THAT ACTUALLY ISN'T ON THIS SLIDE NOW THAT I REALIZE IT, BUT, UM, THAT'S REALLY BECAUSE THIS INTERNAL REUSE PLATFORM PILOT IS WHERE I WANTED TO MAKE SURE AND SHARE THAT WE HAVE LIKE, DOCUMENTED PROGRESS ON, UM, THE, I'M NOT SURE IF Y'ALL ARE FAMILIAR WITH OUR INTERNAL REUSE PROGRAM PILOT, BUT IT'S, THE VENDOR IS NAMED RELEY.
SO IT'S LIKE THOSE RELEY APP WHERE IF, UM, ANYONE IN THE CITY HAS SOMETHING THAT THEY, YOU KNOW, THEIR DEPARTMENT DOESN'T NEED ANYMORE, DOESN'T WANT ANYMORE.
UM, I THINK THE CONVENTION CENTER HAD LIKE ALL THESE LIKE AC FILTERS OR SOMETHING, AND I WANTED TO DO WHATEVER.
I WANTED TO MAKE A BOX FAN FILTER FOR MY AQ PROJECT.
SO I WAS LIKE, OH, I WANT THAT FILTER.
AND SO, UM, INSTEAD OF ME BUYING ONE, I WAS ABLE TO PREVENT PURCHASING, RIGHT? AND PREVENT GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS BY USING RELEY TO GET THAT AIR, YOU KNOW, THAT AIR FILTER OR WHATEVER.
AND SO ANYONE CAN ON THE CITY HAS ACCESS TO THIS APP, AND I WISH I HAD THE LATEST NUMBERS, BUT, UM, THE COST OF THE PROGRAM IS 50,000.
I KNOW WE'VE SAVED USING THEIR APP, LIKE DOCUMENTATION OVER 200,000, UM, OF LIKE AVOIDED PURCHASING.
UM, THAT APP ALSO SHARES, UM, THE GREENHOUSE GAS REDUCTION FOR EACH OF THAT, YOU KNOW, PURCHASE AVOIDANCE.
SO IT QUANTIFIES THE MONEY SAVINGS AND THE GREENHOUSE GAS AVOIDANCE.
UM, SO WE'RE, WE HAD THE PILOT THIS YEAR, IT'S ALMOST OVER AT THE END OF THIS, YOU KNOW, IN, IN FALL IT'S OVER, AND THEN WE'RE WORKING RIGHT NOW TO RENEW THAT PILOT OR REALLY RENEW THE CONTRACT WITH THAT VENDOR ANOTHER YEAR TO KEEP THAT PROGRAM GOING ANOTHER YEAR.
UM, SO AS PART OF, YOU KNOW, THAT RELEY PILOT AND REDUCING OUR PLASTICS, UM, PART OF THE, THAT ACTIVE PROJECTS INVOLVES WHAT YOU'VE ALREADY MENTIONED, WHICH IS LIKE CREATING THE TRAINING MATERIALS FOR PURCHASERS, UPDATING OUR PROCUREMENT MANUAL AND OUR FSD HUB AND OUR SHAREPOINT THAT PROVIDES GUIDANCE.
SO WHEN WE DEVELOP THE TRAINING FOR, YOU KNOW, THE PLASTICS, THAT'S, YOU KNOW, GONNA BE UPDATED THROUGH THE UPDATING PROCESS THAT WE HAVE.
SO THOSE ARE THE THINGS THAT WE'RE HOPING TO BE ABLE TO SHARE WITH YOU.
BY THE END OF THIS YEAR, WE WILL BE ABLE TO SAY, WE DID THIS, THIS, AND THIS.
UM, AND THEN AGAIN, THESE ARE JUST SOME OF THE PURCHASING CATEGORIES AND, YOU KNOW, MOVING FORWARD WE'LL
[01:05:01]
JUST GO ON TO THE NEXT HIGH PRIORITY PURCHASING CATEGORIES TO MAKE THE PLANS.UM, AND THAT'S IT FOR, FOR THAT ONE.
SO ANY MORE QUESTIONS? I'M NOT SURE IF I CAN SEE ANYBODY, EVERYBODY ONLINE.
UM, I'M STILL, UH, APOLOGIES IF, IF THIS WAS COVERED.
UM, BUT I, I STILL WANNA UNDERSTAND LIKE HOW THE PURCHASING DECISION HAPPENS, RIGHT? SO IT, IT SOUNDS LIKE, YOU KNOW, YOU, YOU FIGURE OUT A DOLLAR AMOUNT OF WHAT YOU WANT.
LET'S SAY I AM LIKE, I DON'T KNOW, DEPARTMENT X AND, AND I, YOU KNOW, FIGURE OUT WHERE IN THAT SET THAT THAT REQUEST GETS SENT TO.
LET'S SAY IT GETS SENT, UM, TO FINANCIAL SERVICES.
UH, AND I SAY, HEY, I WANT, I DON'T KNOW, BALES OF HAY OR, OR, OR I DON'T KNOW, CARBURETORS OR LIKE, WHATEVER.
AND THEN YOU GO THROUGH AND, AND, AND YOU'VE GOT ALL OF THESE VARIOUS DIFFERENT PROGRAMS, UH, TO ASSESS AND YOU'VE GOT EXISTING VENDORS, LIKE WHAT HAPPENS THEN, RIGHT? LIKE, LET'S SAY, YOU KNOW, YOU'VE GOT LIKE A REALLY LOW COST PRODUCT AND THEN YOU'VE GOT SOMETHING THAT COMES IN HIGHER WITH ALL THESE OTHER ATTRIBUTES.
WALK, WALK ME THROUGH WHAT HAPPENS, LIKE AFTER YOU'VE GONE THROUGH THIS PROCESS AND YOU'VE GOTTEN LIKE, YOU KNOW, BIDS OR HAVE OPTIONS.
SO, I MEAN, AND IT'S, IT'S REALLY A DECISION TREE AND, YOU KNOW, KIND OF, YOU KNOW, THE SLIDE I SHOWED YOU WITH THE DOLLAR VALUES ON IT, IT REALLY DEPENDS ON, YOU KNOW, WHAT IS THE AGGREGATE DOLLAR VALUE YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT.
YOU KNOW, YOU MENTIONED A, A CARBURETOR, RIGHT? UM, WE WOULD, WE WOULD NEVER SEE AN INDIVIDUAL CARBURETOR 'CAUSE IT DOESN'T RISE TO THE LEVEL, RIGHT? HOWEVER, WHAT WHAT MAY HAPPEN IS WE HAVE DEVELOPED A MASTER AGREEMENT FOR AUTO PARTS FOR FLEET THAT COVERS NOT JUST CARBURETORS, BUT 1200 OR 12,000 AUTO PARTS, RIGHT? FROM A MAIN AUTO SUPPLIER.
AND FLEET CAN BUY ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING THEY NEED, NOT ONLY THE ITEMS THAT WE BID OUT, BUT ADDITIONAL ITEMS AT A 10% DISCOUNT.
THAT POINT IN TIME FLEET WOULD JUST CUT A DO OFF THAT MASTER AGREEMENT AND, AND IT CAN BE ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN.
SO IT REALLY KIND OF DEPENDS ON, YOU KNOW, OUR, IF IT'S COMING TO US AS A FORMAL, THAT'S, THAT'S ONE QUESTION.
IF IT'S AN INFORMAL RIGHT? THAT'S ANOTHER QUESTION.
IF IT'S A LOW LOW DOLLAR DEPARTMENT PURCHASE, THEN THAT'S ANOTHER OR ANOTHER ANSWER, EXCUSE ME, NOT QUESTION.
THAT, AND THAT, THAT WAS MAYBE A, LIKE A CARBURETOR IS A TERRIBLE EXAMPLE.
UM, BUT, UH, LIKE, ARE WE DOING THE LOWEST COST? IS THIS OKAY? LIKE THE, WHAT DO YOU CALL, LIKE, UM, VAST VALUE PROCUREMENT, IB YEAH, SO THERE, THERE'S MULTIPLE SOLICITATION AND I'M SORRY, I DIDN'T MEAN TO INTERRUPT YOU IF YOU WEREN'T DONE.
THERE'S A, THERE'S MULTIPLE SOLICITATION TYPES, RIGHT? AND THAT'S WHERE KIND OF THE EXPERTISE OF THE PROCUREMENT, UH, SPECIALIST COMES INTO PLAY.
SO A DEPARTMENT FOR, FOR EXAMPLE, YOU KNOW, YOU MENTIONED, UH, THEY'LL COME TO US WITH THIS LIST OF PARTS AND SERVICES THAT THEY MAY NEED, RIGHT? BUT THEY'RE NOT SURE HOW THEY WANT TO GET IT, RIGHT.
SO THE PROCUREMENT SPECIALIST WILL WORK WITH THAT DEPARTMENT AND SAY, HEY, IT LOOKS LIKE EVERYTHING HERE IS AVAILABLE AT MULTIPLE PLACES.
THERE'S NOT A LOT OF DEVIATION AND NOT A LOT OF CUSTOMIZATION AND A LOT OF OPTIONS, UM, THAT, THAT A DIFFERENT VENDORS CAN PROVIDE.
SO I THINK YOU NEED TO GO WITH AN IFB OR AN INVITATION FOR BID, AND AS LONG AS THOSE ITEMS MEET THIS MINIMUM SPECIFICATION, THEN IT'S THE VENDOR WHO HAS THE LOWEST COST, RIGHT? UM, OR WE COULD GO OUT FOR A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL, WHICH IS ESSENTIALLY LIKE, HEY, WE NEED THIS DONE AND NOW WE WANT PROPOSALS ON HOW TO GET THAT.
A LOT OF THE TIMES THERE'S SERVICE INVOLVED WITH THAT.
SOMETIMES THERE ARE GOODS INVOLVED WITH THAT AS WELL.
BUT MOST OF THE TIME AN RFP IS REALLY KIND OF SERVICE ORIENTED, NOT STRICTLY GOODS ORIENTED.
UM, THERE'S ANOTHER, UH, SOURCING TYPE AS WELL, A QUALIFICATION BASED SELECTION OR AN RFQS.
UM, AND THAT IS WHERE WE DO NOT CONSIDER PRICE AT ALL.
UM, IT IS, WE ONLY CARE ABOUT WHO IS THE MOST QUALIFIED TO PERFORM THIS SERVICE.
SO A GOOD EXAMPLE OF THAT IS OUR ARCHITECTURAL AND ENGINEERING CONTRACTS AT THE CITY OF AUSTIN.
UM, THOSE ARE REQUIRED TO BE QUALIFICATION BASED ONLY BY A STATE STATUTE.
AND WE CANNOT TAKE INTO ACCOUNT PRICE FOR THOSE CONTRACTS AT ALL UNTIL AFTER WE HAVE DETERMINED WHO THE MOST QUALIFIED IS.
AND THEN AT THAT POINT IN TIME, WE'LL NEGOTIATE A PRICE WITH THAT VENDOR AS PART OF THE CONTRACT EXECUTION PROCESS.
I HOPE I SOMEWHAT ANSWERED YOUR QUESTION.
I MEAN, CAN YOU SHARE LIKE WHAT PERCENTAGE OF THIS GET YEAH.
FALLS INTO WHAT CATEGORY? LIKE WHAT PERCENTAGE OF THE TIME IS IT LOWEST COST CONTRACT? WHAT PERCENTAGE OF THE TIME ARE WE TAKING INTO ACCOUNT, YOU KNOW, ANY OF THESE OTHER PROGRAMS OR FACTORS? YEAH, JUST FOR, AND JAMES CORRECT ME IF, IF YOU THINK DIFFERENTLY, BUT I THINK IF WE'RE, IF WE'RE JUST TALKING AMOUNT OF CONTRACTS, WE'RE NOT TALKING DOLLAR VALUE.
THE VAST MAJORITY OF, I DON'T WANNA SAY VAST MAJORITY, THE MAJORITY OF OUR CONTRACTS ARE PROBABLY LOW BID CONTRACTS.
UM, AND THEN RFP AND REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS ARE PROBABLY TIED FOR, FOR SECOND PLACE THERE.
[01:10:01]
DOLLAR VALUE.UM, I WOULD, I GUESS IFP AS WELL FOR CONSTRUCTION, PROBABLY, I WAS GONNA SAY QUALIFICATION BASED FOR OUR ENGINEERING AND ARCHITECTURE.
UM, AND, AND DESIGN IS A, IS A BIG CHUNK OF MONEY AS WELL, BUT, BUT PROBABLY WITH THE CONSTRUCTION IBS IN THERE, I WOULD SAY IFB IS PROBABLY OUR NUMBER ONE.
AND IF I COULD ADD TO THAT, UM, WHEN WE DO A, WHAT MATTHEW WAS DESCRIBING IS WHAT WE REFER TO AS FORMAL SOLICITATIONS.
WHEN WE DO FORMAL SOLICITATIONS, UM, AND WE USE AN INVITATION FOR BIDS PROCESS, UM, THE CITY HAS THE MOST AMOUNT OF CONTROL WHEN IT COMES TO DETERMINING THE SPECIFICATIONS USED IN THE PRODUCTS AND SERVICES PURCHASED.
SO WE ARE BASICALLY TELLING THE MARKET THIS IS WHAT WE WANT, NOT NECESSARILY A BRAND NAME, BUT WE, WE WE'RE SPECIFYING THE PRODUCT OR EXPRESS SPECIFYING THE SERVICE.
SO WE HAVE THE MOST AMOUNT OF CONTROL WHEN WE ARE, UH, CONDUCTING A REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS.
WE HAVE LESS, UM, CONTROL, WE'RE GIVING MORE DISCRETION TO THE MARKET, TO THE, TO THE OFFERS TO TELL US HOW TO BEST TO PROVIDE THIS, THIS SERVICE OR TO PROVIDE THESE PRODUCTS.
SO WE, WE HAVE GENERAL REQUIREMENTS, WE HAVE SOME SPECIFICATIONS, BUT WE ALLOW THE OFFERS TO TELL US HOW BEST TO PERFORM THESE SERVICES.
THAT'S WHERE WE, WE, WE REFER TO THE, THE, THE, THE, UH, THE BEST PROPOSAL AS, AS, AS, AS HAVING BEST VALUE.
AND THEN IN, IN QUALIFICATIONS BASED SOLICITATIONS, WE DON'T SPECIFY HOW AN ARCHITECT DESIGNS A BUILDING.
WE DON'T SPECIFY HOW AN ENGINEER, UM, UH, SOLVES A, AN ENGINEERING PROBLEM.
WE PICK THE MOST QUALIFIED ARCHITECT OR THE MOST QUALIFIED ENGINEER.
SO, UM, THAT'S, THAT'S REALLY KIND OF WHERE WE START TO NERD OUT.
AND, AND THIS IS WHERE WE HAVE ALL OF OUR HUNDREDS OF PAGES OF PROCEDURES ON, ON HOW TO, UM, DETERMINE WHO TO CONTRACT WITH AND, AND THE METHODS THAT WE USE TO, TO CONTRACT WITH THEM.
BUT IF I CAN BACK UP ON, ON, WHEN, WHEN CITY STAFF MAKE A PURCHASE, IF IT'S, IF IT'S WORTH A DOLLAR AND IT'S ON CITY CONTRACT, THEY'RE GONNA USE THE CITY CONTRACT.
IF, IF THE PRODUCT OR SERVICE IS NOT ON THE CITY CONTRACT, THEN THEY HAVE TO GO THROUGH THE, IS IT, IS IT, YOU KNOW, BELOW 3000? IS IT, IS IT 3000 TO 5,000? THEN THAT'S, THAT'S WHAT WE CALL THE, THE SOURCE SELECTION, UH, DECISION.
THEY HAVE TO GO THROUGH THAT, THAT RANGE OF, OF DECISION TREE, YOU KNOW, POINTS AND DETERMINE, OKAY, WHICH METHOD DO I NEED TO USE? UM, BECAUSE THIS PRODUCT OR SERVICE IS NOT ON CONTRACT, WE WOULD RATHER, UM, THAT AS MANY OF THE, UH, PRODUCTS AND SERVICES THAT CITY STAFF BUY ARE ON CONTRACT, THAT WAY WE CAN MANAGE THE TYPES OF PRODUCTS AND SERVICES THAT THEY BUY.
WE HAVE, UM, UH, ECONOMIES OF SCALE, WE GET BETTER TERMS AND CONDITIONS, WE GET BETTER PRICING.
SO WE TRY TO GET AS MUCH OF THE SPEND AS POSSIBLE UNDER CONTRACT.
BUT, BUT FOR THE AMOUNT OF, OF SMALL DOLLAR SPEND THAT'S NOT UNDER CONTRACT, WE TRY TO GIVE THEM AS MUCH GUIDANCE AND ASSISTANCE IN MAKING GOOD BUYING DECISIONS WITHIN THE CATEGORY AS POSSIBLE.
SORRY, I JUST WANTED YOU, YOU SAID REQUEST FOR BIDS WAS WHERE YOU HAD THE MOST CONTROL, WAS THAT WHAT YOU SAID? INVITATION FOR BIDS.
Y YEAH, NO, I WAS GONNA JUST TWO, LIKE A COUPLE QUICK CLARIFYING QUESTIONS.
I KNOW YOU SAID, UM, EARLIER, UH, THAT YOU, LIKE SOMEBODY ASKED LIKE, WHAT PERCENTAGE OF OF SPEND IS LIKE LARGE CONTRACT, AND YOU SAID THE MAJORITY WHAT? YEAH.
DO LIKE, WHAT IS MAJORITY LIKE 50%, 75% OF, OF ARE, ARE DONE ON IF FB SO SPEND IS IS HARD TO QUANTIFY.
I'M, I'M REALLY JU GUESSING IT'S SPEND FOR, FOR NUMBER OF CONTRACTS THAT ARE IFBI, I CAN, I CAN VERY CLEARLY, YOU KNOW, STATE THAT WE DO MORE IFPS THAN WE DO RFPS OR RFPS SPIN'S DIFFERENT, RIGHT? UM, BECAUSE YOU CAN HAVE A, UM, A CONSTRUCTION IFB, THAT'S ONE IFB, IT'S, IT'S, IT'S JUST GONNA BE THE LOW BID BECAUSE WE'VE GOT THE DESIGN, WE HAVE EVERY LITTLE THING THAT NEEDS TO BE INCLUDED IN THIS BUILDING THAT WE'RE GONNA BUILD.
AND SO I'M JUST INTERESTED IN WHO THE LOWEST BIDDER IS, BUT THIS BUILDING IS GONNA COST US $150 MILLION, RIGHT? AND THAT'S JUST ONE IFP, RIGHT? UM, AND THEN YOU COULD DO AN RFP FOR CONSULTING SERVICES, UM, YOU KNOW, FOR THE HOMELESS STRATEGY OFFICE.
AND, YOU KNOW, MAYBE, MAYBE THAT RFP IS ONLY $200,000.
SO I THINK I CAN GET BACK TO YOU WITH SOME NUMBERS IF YOU'RE INTERESTED IN, HEY, WHAT IS, WHAT IS BASED ON SPEND TOTAL, WHAT SOLICITATION TYPE DO WE PERFORM MOST? I I, I CAN PROBABLY GET BACK TO YOU WITH THOSE NUMBERS AS WELL.
AS YOU MENTIONED EARLIER, THE TOTAL NUMBER OF, UH, INDIVIDUALS AUTHORIZED TO BUY FOR THE CITY.
UM, I, I GUESS SPECIFICALLY, LIKE FOR THE BUILDING EXAMPLE, I THINK I'M, I STILL WANNA UNDERSTAND LIKE WHERE SOME OF THESE, UH, YOU KNOW, EN ENVIRONMENTALLY PREFERRED, UH, STANDARDS LIKE, WOULD COME INTO PLAY.
SO LIKE, LET'S SAY, YOU KNOW, WE SAY WE, WE WANNA BUILDING AND WE'VE GOT EXISTING EPP MEASURES FOR LEAD, IF I'M READING THIS, RIGHT? SO, RIGHT, LIKE, SO IS, IS THIS A SITUATION WHERE THE CITY'S LIKE, HEY, WE NEED TO GET A LEAD BUILDING BUILT AND IT NEEDS TO HAVE, YOU KNOW, FOUR WALLS
[01:15:01]
AND A ROOF AND, AND, AND ALL OF THE THINGS, OR ARE WE SAYING, HEY, YOU KNOW, WE NEED A BUILDING BUILT.AND THEN SOME PEOPLE COME IN AND SOME QUALIFIED PEOPLE ARE LIKE, HERE'S A BUILDING WE PROPOSE, AND THEN SOMEBODY ELSE SAYS, HEY, WE'D LIKE THIS LEAD BUILDING.
SO DOES THAT SHOULD MAKE SENSE.
LIKE THAT'S WHAT I'M, I UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU'RE SAYING.
I THINK THAT'S A GOOD EXAMPLE, BECAUSE THAT'S PROBABLY ONE OF OUR MORE CUT AND DRY TYPE OF EXAMPLES.
SO FOR YOUR EXAMPLE OF, YOU KNOW, A LEAD BUILDING, RIGHT? THAT WOULD BE, YOU KNOW, OUR ARCHITECTS AND ENGINEERS AT THE CITY WHO KNOW LEAD IS A REQUIREMENT AT THE CITY, RIGHT? SO EVEN WHEN WE CONTRACT FOR ARCHITECT AND ENGINEERS TO DESIGN SOMETHING, THEY'RE GOING TO KNOW BEFORE THEY PROVIDE A PROPOSAL TO THE CITY, THIS IS GONNA BE A LEAD CERTIFIED BUILDING.
SO I NEED TO DESIGN THIS AS SUCH, RIGHT? AND THEN ONCE YOU GET PAST THE DESIGN, NOW YOU HAVE A LEAD CERTIFIED DESIGN TO BUILD THIS BUILDING HERE, RIGHT? THEN IT'LL GO ONCE AGAIN OUT TO OUR PROJECT MANAGERS, OUR ARCHITECTS AND ENGINEERS HERE AT THE CITY, AND THEY'LL KNOW THAT THEY'VE BEEN WORKING WITH, UH, WITH OCAR AND THE CITY ENGINEER'S OFFICE ON THIS SUSTAINABLE CONCRETE INITIATIVE, RIGHT? AND NOW THEY KNOW THAT IT'S BEEN COMMUNICATED THAT THAT'S NOW A REQUIREMENT, OR THEY NEED TO AT LEAST LOOK AT IT TO SEE IF IT'S A POSSIBILITY.
AND THEY WOULD PUT THAT IN AS A SPECIFICATION, WHICH MEANS IT'S REQUIRED, YOU HAVE TO USE THIS CONCRETE IN THE BUILDING NOW, RIGHT? AND ALL OF THAT OCCURS BEFORE IT GETS TO US AT FSD TO THEN PUT ON THE STREET TO THEN REVIEW THE BIDS, NEGOTIATE AND EXECUTE THE CONTRACT, AND ADMINISTER THE CONTRACT.
IF, IF YOU'D LIKE, UM, YOU'RE, YOU'RE ALL WELCOME PUBLIX'S, WELCOME TO GO TO AUSTIN FINANCE ONLINE.
GO TO THE PROCUREMENT TAB, AND, AND WHEN IT, IT DROPS DOWN, YOU'LL SEE SOLICITATIONS PICK ACTIVE SOLICITATIONS.
ALL OF THE SOLICITATIONS THAT ARE CURRENTLY ON THE STREET, THEY'RE IDENTIFIED BY CATEGORY.
YOU CAN IDENTIFY THE CONSTRUCTION CATEGORY, AND YOU CAN SEE ALL OF OUR IFPS, YOU CAN SEE OUR RFPS AND REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS TOO.
BUT IF YOU LOOK AT THE IFPS, YOU CAN ACTUALLY OPEN THEM UP AND YOU CAN SEE THE SPECIFICATIONS.
THE SPECIFICATIONS ARE VOLUMINOUS, HUNDREDS OF PAGES BROKEN INTO CATEGORY BY THE TYPE OF WORK THAT'S BEING DONE.
SO THERE'S A CATEGORY OF SPECS THAT ARE GONNA BE ASSOCIATED WITH FOUNDATIONS, UH, A A CATEGORY OF SPECS THAT ARE GONNA BE ASSOCIATED WITH CONCRETE WORK, WITH FRAMING, WITH BUILDING EXTERIORS, WITH PLUMBING, WITH ELECTRICAL.
SO YOU CAN SEE ALL OF OUR SPECIFICATIONS BY CATEGORY AND OF THOSE SPECIFICATIONS, THERE'S GOING TO BE SOME THAT HAVE ENVIRONMENTALLY PREFERABLE ELEMENTS TO THEM.
SO AS WE DEVELOP THESE STANDARDS AND DEVELOP THESE TARGETS, AND THE TARGETS THERE LEAD TO CONTRACTS THAT WE CAN THEN APPLY STANDARDS TO, IT'S JUST A WAY FOR US TO TAKE A HUGE AMOUNT OF INFORMATION AND THEN NARROW IT TO SPECIFIC TARGETS WHERE WE CAN TAKE CONTRACT ACTIONS.
SO THAT'S, I GUESS THAT'S THE MAJOR TAKEAWAY FROM WHAT THE PRESENTATION THAT YOU SAW TODAY, THOUSANDS OF CONTRACTS.
SOME OF THEM HAVE RELEVANT TARGETS WHERE WE CAN TAKE ACTION TO, TO, TO AFFECT CITY ENVIRONMENTALLY PREFERABLE POLICY.
UM, AND, AND OTHERS HAVE LESS.
SO WHERE ARE THOSE TARGETS? AND THEN, AND THEN, AND THEN WHAT DO WE, WHAT DO WE DO DIFFERENTLY IN THOSE CONTRACTS SO THAT WE CAN MOVE THE NEEDLE ON A CONTRACT BY CONTRACT BASIS TO HAVE MORE ENVIRONMENTALLY PREFERABLE CONTRACTS AND, AND, AND OUTCOMES.
KI I HAVE MORE QUESTIONS, BUT I, I NEED TO SEAT THE FLOOR TO LET I SEE JOHN HAS QUESTIONS.
WE'LL, WE'LL COME BACK AROUND AND, UH, UH, JOHN, YOU CAN GO.
UM, I KEEP COMING BACK TO THIS, THIS, UH, TOPIC OF RESILIENCY AND I'M CURIOUS TO KNOW HOW RESILIENCE RESILIENCY IS GONNA, UM, MEASURE ENTITIES, UH, CATEGORIES.
AND IF THERE'S ANY, BEEN, IF THERE HAS BEEN ANY CONVERSATIONS ABOUT HOW RESILIENCY AS A MEASURE COULD BE, UH, UTILIZED FOR ANY OF THOSE CATEGORIES, CAN YEAH.
I MEAN, I, I GUESS CAN YOU CLARIFY, ONCE AGAIN, I'M, I'M A, A PROCUREMENT PROFESSIONAL.
CAN YOU, CAN YOU CLARIFY WHAT YOU MEAN BY RESILIENCY? 'CAUSE I HEAR RESILIENCY AND I THINK OF, YOU KNOW, UH, WAGE THEFT AND LIVING WAGES AND OUR LOCAL BUSINESS PREFERENCE AND, YOU KNOW, THINGS LIKE THAT.
UM, NOT SO MUCH ENVIRONMENTALLY PREFERABLE.
SO CAN YOU CLARIFY WHAT YOU MEAN BY THAT? YEAH.
SPECIFIC TO PROCUREMENT CATEGORIES, SORRY.
SO I GUESS LOOKING BACK AT, OR AT THE TOPIC THAT WE WERE JUST DISCUSSING AS FAR AS THE BUILDING AND THE LEAD, UM, THAT, YOU KNOW, EVEN THOUGH A BUILDING THAT WE'RE CONTRIBUTING TO IS LEAD CERTIFIED, IT DOESN'T MEAN THAT IT'S NECESSARILY RESILIENT AND PARTICULAR MEASURES OF ENVIRONMENTAL, UM, WEATHER.
IT'S SOME EXTREME WEATHER CONDITIONS THAT WE HAVE.
AND SO, ARE THERE ANY MEASURES THAT ARE REQUIRING, 'CAUSE THE BUILDING BEING RESILIENT IS ONE THING.
IT'S MADE UP OF MANY COMPONENTS THAT NEED TO BE RESILIENT, UH, WHICH FOLLOW INTO VARIOUS OTHER CATEGORIES THAT YOU HAVE.
SO I'M WONDERING IF THAT IS EVER, IF THAT'S BEEN DISCUSSED YET.
'CAUSE I I DO KNOW RESILIENCY IS AT ITS INFANCY.
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'CAUSE THERE'S A CERTIFICATION PROCESS, RIGHT? YOU CAN BE CERTIFIED LEAD, UH, RESILIENCY IS, IS REALLY UP TO INTERPRETATION AND OF COURSE ALWAYS TRYING TO CONTRIBUTE TO A MORE RESILIENT NETWORK AS A CITY.UM, CURIOUS TO KNOW IF THAT, YOU KNOW, THAT THOSE CONVERSATIONS ARE BEING OKAY.
HAD I, I THINK I, SO, SO, UM, ESSENTIALLY RESILIENCE, RESILIENCY WOULD BE, UM, PRODUCTS THAT LAST LONGER THAT WITHSTAND YES.
WITHSTAND EVENTS AND THAT DO NOT HAVE TO BE REPLACED AND THEREFORE THERE'S LESS WASTE.
DOES THAT SOUND RIGHT? THAT THAT SOUNDS RIGHT.
SO, SO WE WOULD, WE WOULD ACHIEVE THAT BY HAVING ONE IDENTIFYING WHERE WE BUY PRODUCTS, UM, AND, AND, UM, YOU KNOW, WITHIN A GIVEN CATEGORY.
AND THEN ARE THERE SPECIFICATIONS FOR PRODUCTS THAT LAST LONGER THAT HAVE TO BE REPLACED LESS OFTEN, THAT WITHSTAND CERTAIN EVENTS? RIGHT? RIGHT.
SO WE WOULD JUST, THAT, THAT WOULD BE A PART OF OUR KIND OF MORE GENERAL ANALYSIS OF, YOU KNOW, WHERE DO WE FIND THOSE TARGETS? AND WE WOULD LOOK FOR, YOU KNOW, UM, UM, UH, UH, AIR QUALITY PRODUCTS, UH, TARGETS.
WE WOULD LOOK FOR WATER QUALITY TARGETS, AND IN THIS CASE WE WOULD LOOK FOR PRODUCTS THAT LAST LONGER AND STOOD UP TO EVENTS BETTER.
SO IT WOULD JUST BE A PART OF OUR LARGER EVALUATION.
BUT, BUT IF, IF THOSE WERE NOT ADEQUATELY REPRESENTED IN OUR TARGETS, WE WOULD NEED TO ADD ADDITIONAL TARGETS.
WE WOULD NEED TO REFINE OUR TARGETS AND PRIORITIZE THEM FOR CERTAIN CATEGORIES WHERE WE'RE BUYING A LOT OF STUFF, A LOT, A LOT OF THINGS THAT ARE, THAT WOULD BENEFIT BY LASTING LONGER.
SO WE WOULD PROBABLY FOCUS MORE ON RESILIENT AND RESILIENT PRODUCTS IN, UM, UM, OUR INFRASTRUCTURE, OUR INDUSTRIAL MRO, AND IN OUR CONSTRUCTION CATEGORIES.
YEAH, AND I THINK THOSE, THOSE MEASURES NEED TO BE DEFINED, AND I THINK THAT'S KIND OF WHERE WE'RE AT.
UM, AS A CITY IS TRYING TO UNDERSTAND WHAT ARE THOSE MEASURES.
UM, AND SO I WAS JUST CURIOUS TO SEE IF Y'ALL HAVE GIVEN THAT SOME THOUGHT OR IF THAT'S BEEN DISCUSSED INTERNALLY AS A POSSIBLE MEASURE IN THE FUTURE.
UM, SO I APPRECIATE YOUR, UH, PRESENTATION AND EXPLANATION.
ON THAT, I WOULD MAYBE SAY RESILIENCE MIGHT BE A LITTLE BROADER THAN JUST OH, YEAH.
YOU KNOW, IT MIGHT BE LIKE, DOES IT ENABLE THE USE OF THE PRODUCT AND OR WHATEVER IT IS IN OUR CONDITIONS THAT WE HAVE AND THAT ARE EVOLVING.
UM, ONE THAT KIND OF COMES TO MIND IS LIKE THE PLAYGROUNDS THAT ARE GOING IN WITH LIKE RUBBERIZED SURFACES MM-HMM
AND YOU GO OUT THERE WHEN IT'S HOT AND IT'S EXTRA HOT THERE MM-HMM
SO I'M LIKE, THAT WASN'T, IT MIGHT NOT BE BREAKING DOWN, OR ACTUALLY IT PROBABLY IS
SO I'D SAY THAT'S LIKE NOT ALIGNED WITH RESILIENCE.
MAYBE THAT'S SOMETHING WE CAN WORK TOGETHER TO ABSOLUTELY TRY TO DEFINE, THERE'S REQUIREMENTS LIKE A, OR ASPHALT, RIGHT? UM, OR AGGREGATE CONTRACTS WHERE, YOU KNOW, YOU KNOW, THERE'S A REQUIREMENT THAT, YOU KNOW, SHOULD, IT SHOULD LAST SO LONG OR IT SHOULD EMIT LESS HEAT OR ABSORB LESS HEAT SO IT DOESN'T CRACK AS EASILY, AND THINGS LIKE THAT.
SO I THINK THOSE CONVERSATIONS ON RESILIENCY HAVE HAPPENED.
I THINK IT REALLY DETERMINES, OR YEAH, DETERMINES THE DEPTH OF THE CONVERSATION BASED ON WHO'S HAVING IT AND LIKE WHAT CATEGORY AND PRODUCT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT.
I JUST HAD ONE THAT WAS KIND OF A CLARIFYING.
ONE OF Y'ALL MENTIONED THE RF, I THINK YOU WERE TALKING ABOUT RFPS AND, UM, THE SPECIFICATIONS, AND IT JUST WASN'T CLEAR TO ME, CAN SOMETHING BE INCLUDED AS A SPECIFICATION IN AN RFP IF IT'S NOT FORMALLY REQUIRED BY LIKE, ORDINANCE OR CITY COUNCIL ACTION? SO COULD YOU SAY, YOU KNOW, WE WANT A CONTRACT FOR, YOU KNOW, FURNITURE THAT IS IN PLASTIC, OR DO YOU JUST HAVE TO SAY, WE WANT TABLES? NO, ABSOLUTELY.
I MEAN, KEEP IN MIND WITH THE, THE RFP, RIGHT? YOU WANT, YOU WANT SOMETHING A VENDOR IS GOING TO PROVIDE YOU THAT YOU DON'T KNOW HOW TO DO OR DON'T KNOW HOW TO DO BEST OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT, RIGHT? IF YOU KNEW YOU WANTED, UM, YOU KNOW, THIS TABLE, BUT AT A CERTAIN, YOU KNOW, MA OR NOT MADE OF PLASTIC, RIGHT? THEN YOU WOULD JUST PUT THAT AS A SPECIFICATION AND THEY WOULD BE ABLE TO PROVIDE SERIAL MODEL OR SERIAL NUMBER MODEL, ET CETERA, AND YOU COULD VERIFY THAT BEFORE AWARDING TO THE LOWEST BIDDER WITH A PROPOSAL, YOU WANT THEM TO PROVIDE SOMETHING, UM, THAT, THAT YOU CAN'T DO YOURSELF, HAVEN'T THOUGHT OF A, A, A SOLUTION FOR THE CITY, ESSENTIALLY, OKAY.
SO YOU CAN INCLUDE SPECIFICATIONS IN THERE, BUT THERE NEEDS TO BE THAT THE, THE VENDOR IS GIVING YOU A PLAN THAT, THAT YOU DON'T KNOW HOW TO SOLVE, AND THEY'RE SAYING, THIS IS HOW YOU'RE GONNA GET FROM POINT A TO POINT B.
OKAY? SO IF YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOU WANT, THEN THAT'S
[01:25:01]
THE BID B.THANKS FOR CLARIFYING, MARISSA.
UM, THE FIRST IS, IF THERE ARE ANY EXTERNAL REGULATIONS THAT GOVERN YOUR PROCUREMENT PROCESSES, OR IF THE CITY IS DEVELOPING ALL THESE PROCESSES AND PROTOCOLS INTERNALLY? THERE ARE, THERE ARE THOUSANDS OF PAGES OF REGULATIONS THAT GO THAT GOVERN PROCUREMENT.
UM, MOST OF OUR REGULATIONS COME FROM THE STATE OF TEXAS.
UH, WE HAVE SEVERAL STATUTES THAT DEAL DIRECTLY WITH PROCUREMENT AND THEN ALSO THE CITY OF BOSTON.
SO, YOU KNOW, UH, ADMINISTRATIVE BULLETINS, UM, AND THINGS LIKE THAT.
THERE ARE FEDERAL REGULATIONS WHEN IT COMES THAT WE FOLLOW AS WELL WHEN IT COMES TO WAGE, UM, PROBATION, SUSPENSION, DEBARMENT, ET CETERA.
SO YES, FROM FEDERAL, DOWN TO STATE, DOWN TO THE CITY OF AUSTIN, THERE'S A LITANY OF PROVISIONS THAT, THAT, THAT GUIDE US.
AND THEN IS, UM, AWARDING THE LOWEST COST BIDDER PART OF THOSE REGULATIONS? YES.
THERE'S STRICT, UH, PROCEDURE AND PROCESS WHEN IT COMES TO, FOR AN IFB AWARDING TO THE LOWEST PRICE BIDDER.
AND THEN CLARIFY, DOES COST NEED TO BE THE MOST HEAVILY WEIGHTED FACTOR OR THE ONLY FACTOR? SO FOR, FOR AN IFB, IT IS THE ONLY FACTOR DETERMINING AWARD, BUT THERE ARE FACTORS THAT GO INTO WHETHER YOU CAN E EVEN CONSIDER THAT VENDOR, UM, A RESPONSIVE AND RESPONSIBLE VENDOR.
RIGHT? SO I'M GONNA TRY TO LIKE A A, A SIMPLE EXAMPLE.
WE'RE GONNA BUY A VALVE, BUT THIS IS AN EXPENSIVE VALVE, WHICH IS WHY WE'RE GONNA DO AN IFB.
IT'S NOT GONNA BE A, AN INFORMAL, RIGHT? SO IT'S A, A $300,000 VALVE, SO WE KNOW THE EXACT MODEL, THE EXACT SERIAL NUMBER, ET CETERA, OF THIS VALVE.
WE WOULD ISSUE OUR IFB, WE WOULD GET PRICES WE WOULD AWARD TO THE LOWEST, BUT ONLY IF THEY MET THE SPECIFICATIONS THAT THAT VALVE REQUIRED.
IF ONE OF OUR VENDORS SAID, OH, HERE'S THE VALVE I'M GONNA GIVE YOU, YOU ASKED FOR A 500 PSI RATING, THIS ONE DOES 400 PSI, WE WOULDN'T CONSIDER THEIR OFFER BECAUSE OUR MINIMUM SPECIFICATION WAS NOT MET PRIOR TO, UH, REVIEWING THEIR OFFER.
WE CAN ALSO LOOK AT THINGS SUCH AS PAST BIDDING EXPERIENCE WITH THE CITY, UH, OSHA SAFETY EXPERIENCE, ET CETERA.
IT KIND OF DETERMINES OR DEPENDS ON THE CATEGORY YOU'RE IN, THE PROCUREMENT CATEGORY ON, WHAT ALL YOU'RE GOING TO LOOK AT TO DETERMINE IF A VENDOR IS RESPONSIVE AND RESPONSIBLE PRIOR TO THEN TAKING ALL THOSE RESPONSIVE AND RESPONSIBLE VENDORS PRICES AND THEN RANKING THEM AND THEN AWARDING TO THE LOWEST PRICE.
I, UM, SO IT SOUNDS LIKE THE LEVER HERE IS IN THE SPECIFICATIONS, NOT IN AN EVALUATION RUBRIC.
IS THAT THE CASE FOR ONLY AN IFB OR FOR ALL PROCURE? OKAY.
SO IS THERE, ITS PROCUREMENT TYPE THAT WOULD ALLOW YOU TO INCLUDE AN EVALUATION RUBRIC WHERE COST IS THE MOST HEAVILY WEIGHTED FACTOR, BUT YOU CAN INCLUDE SOME OF THESE KEY TERMS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL PREFERENCE, FOR EXAMPLE, WHERE SOMEBODY MAY BE, UM, AWARDED AN ADDITIONAL POINT OR TWO OUT OF A HUNDRED FOR ACHIEVING THOSE SPECIFICATIONS.
SO IT'S MAYBE INCLUDED IN THE SPECIFICATIONS, BUT ALSO THE EVALUATION.
YEAH, I MEAN, UH, AN AN RFP ALLOWS YOU TO HAVE EVALUATION CRITERIA, YOU KNOW, BASED ON THE, THE SCOPE OF WORK AND HOW THEY MEET THE SCOPE OF WORK, THE VENDOR AND THINGS LIKE THAT.
SO YOU COULD ABSOLUTELY DO AN RFP, BUT YOU KNOW, IF FOR AN IFB YOU COULD AS WELL, IF YOU KNEW YOU WANTED THESE SPECIFIC ENVIRONMENTALLY PREFERABLE PRODUCTS, UM, THEN THEY WOULD HAVE TO GIVE YOU THOSE, RIGHT? UM, THAT, THOSE ARE THE ONLY THINGS YOU COULD CONSIDER.
UM, YOU COULD ALSO HAVE MULTIPLE DIFFERENT CATEGORIES WITHIN AN IFP AS WELL.
UM, AND YOU COULD HAVE A PERCENTAGE DISCOUNT CATEGORY, SO IT, IT CAN, IT CAN GET A LITTLE BIT MORE COMPLICATED IN DEPTH.
BUT TO ANSWER YOUR ORIGINAL QUESTION, FOR THE MOST PART, AN IFB IS STRAIGHTFORWARD BASED ON PRICE, DEPENDING ON YOUR SPECIFICATIONS, AN RFP ALLOWS YOU TO THEN REVIEW AND AWARD POINTS BASED OFF OF OTHER CRITERIA.
YOU MENTIONED, UH, I THINK THAT YOU HAVE, I THINK IT WAS NINE DIFFERENT, UM, CATEGORIES.
WELL, YOU WERE TALKING ABOUT LIKE SMALL BUSINESS, AND I DON'T, YOU DIDN'T LIST THEM ALL, BUT YOU SAID PROGRAMS. PROGRAMS, YEAH.
SO IS THAT, IS THAT CORRECT? YOU HAVE NINE DIFFERENT, UH, 14.
UM, ARE THERE STAFF DEDICATED SPECIFICALLY TO ALL OF THOSE, OR WHICH OF THOSE HAVE STAFF ATTACHED TO THEM? ALL OF THEM HAVE STAFF DEDICATED TO THEM.
UM, ONE WAY OR THE OTHER, MYSELF OR ONE OF MY MANAGERS, SUPERVISORS, AND THEN THEY HAVE STAFF.
SO WITHIN PROGRAMS WE DO, WE DO A COUPLE THINGS.
WE MANAGE ALL OF THE, THE PROGRAMS FOR CENTRAL PROCUREMENT, RIGHT? WHICH INCLUDES ALL THE SOPS, UM, ALL THE INFRASTRUCTURE, ALL OF OUR SYSTEMS, UH, AND THEN PROGRAMS LIKE THIS, THE ENVIRONMENTALLY PREFERABLE PROGRAM, WHILE ALSO RUNNING A TEAM OF, UH, PROCUREMENT SPECIALISTS THAT
[01:30:01]
ACTUALLY BUY AND PERFORM BUYING.SO IT'S, IT'S, UH, IT'S KIND OF A MIX, RIGHT? WE'RE, WE'RE, WE'RE NOT JUST PROGRAMS. WE ALSO PERFORM PROCUREMENT AS WELL.
UM, BUT WE HAVE, I MEAN, THAT FOCUS SPECIFICALLY ON PROGRAMS, UM, YOU KNOW, PROBABLY 10 INDIVIDUALS, UH, THAT ARE JUST 100% ONLY PROGRAM DEDICATED.
AND ARE ANY OF THEM ON ENVIRONMENTAL? UH, I MEAN, NOT, NOT, UH, A HUNDRED PERCENT DEDICATED.
THERE'S NO ONE THAT'S A HUNDRED PERCENT DEDICATED TO ENVIRONMENTAL? NO, I THINK, I MEAN, UM, I, I THINK I UNDERSTAND YOUR, YOUR LINE OF QUESTIONING.
I MEAN, UM, I THINK THAT THAT WOULD BE BENEFICIAL FOR THE CITY TO HAVE SOMEONE LIKE THAT.
I THINK THAT INDIVIDUAL WOULD BE BETTER HOUSED WITHIN OAR TO BE HONEST, THAN WITHIN CENTRAL PROCUREMENT.
UM, ARE THE OTHER FOLKS HOUSED AT PROCUREMENT? THE OTHER, THE OTHER 10 STAFF THAT YOU MENTIONED WERE, UM, OH, THAT FOCUS ON OUR BUSINESS AND OUR POLICY PROGRAMS? YES.
BUT NONE OF THEM ARE DEDICATED TO A, A GIVEN PROGRAM? NO.
ALL OF THEM HAVE MULTIPLE PROGRAM RESPONSIBILITIES.
I MEAN, OUR, OUR, OUR, UM, MINORITY OWNED, WOMEN OWNED, WE, WE, YOU KNOW, WE DON'T HAVE A, A SINGLE PERSON DEDICATED TO THAT.
OUR LOCAL, THERE'S NO D SINGLE, EACH STAFF HAS MULTIPLE PROGRAM RESPONSIBILITIES.
AND, AND WE WILL ADJUST THAT DEPENDING ON THE, THE, THE WORKLOAD FOR A GIVEN PROGRAM.
SOME OF THEM DON'T, UH, NEED AS MUCH SUPPORT.
AND SO HOW MANY OF THEM ARE WORKING ON, IN THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRAM AREA? ONCE AGAIN, IT KIND OF EBBS AND FLOWS, RIGHT? MM-HMM.
BUT IT WOULD BE REALLY MYSELF AND ONE OTHER INDIVIDUAL.
ADRIANA DOES, AND ADRIAN, YEAH.
SO THREE REALLY, UM, THAT WOULD SHARE TIME DEPENDING ON WHAT THE ROLE OR TASK IS MM-HMM
IN REGARDS TO REPORTING OR DEVELOPING TRAINING OR UPDATING PROCUREMENT MANUAL, ET CETERA.
AND, AND THAT'S JUST IN FSD CENTRAL PROCUREMENT? YES.
THAT'S, THAT'S NOT COUNTING THE, THE, THE RESOURCES THAT WE RECEIVE FROM, FROM OUR COLLEAGUES IN OCAR.
SO WHY WOULD Y'ALL NOT WANT ANOTHER STAFF PERSON TO HELP WITH THAT INTERNALLY? IT SEEMS LIKE THAT WOULD INTEGRATE IT INTO YOUR WORK, LIKE THE OTHER PROGRAMS. WHAT, WHAT DO YOU SEE AS DIFFERENT? I WAS JUST GONNA SAY, WE, WE DON'T HAVE A HUNDRED PERCENT DEDICATED STAFF.
I DON'T KNOW IF SOMEONE AT CENTRAL PROCUREMENT BEING A HUNDRED PERCENT DEDICATED WOULD PROVIDE THE BENEFIT THAT THEY WOULD ELSEWHERE.
SO IF I, IF I, IF I CAN ADD, SO EACH ONE OF OUR PROGRAMS IS REALLY IMPORTANT BECAUSE THEY, THEY REPRESENT THE INTEREST OF THE PUBLIC FOR A GIVEN KIND OF, UH, UM, UM, LENS OF CITY'S, UH, PROCUREMENT ACTIVITIES.
SO ENVIRONMENTALLY PREFERABLE IS IMPORTANT, LOCAL IS IMPORTANT, SMALL IS IMPORTANT.
UM, BUT YOUR PROCUREMENT STAFF, UM, ARE, WE DEVELOP EXPERTISE, WE ARE TRAINED, WE'RE CAREER IN PUBLIC PROCUREMENT.
UM, IF WE WERE ALSO TRAINED AND, AND CAREER IN ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABLE, LOCAL, SMALL, OUR, OUR, OUR, OUR MISSION WOULD OVERLAP MANY OTHER DEPARTMENTS, INCLUDING OUR COLLEAGUES AT, AT, AT, UM, AT OR.
SO, UM, WHEN IT COMES TO ASKING FOR OR GETTING SUPPORT AND EXPERTISE FOR CONSTRUCTION MATTERS, WE LOOK TO CAPITAL, UH, DELIVERY SERVICES WHEN IT COMES TO EXPERTISE AND, AND POLICY DIRECTION FOR MINORITY OWNED AND WOMEN OWNED.
WE LOOK TO THE SMALL BUSINESS RESOURCES.
SO WE LOOK TO THE, THE, THE PROGRAMS THAT HAVE THAT PARTICULAR, UM, ACTIVITY AS THEIR MISSION.
AND WE, AND WE BENEFIT FROM THEIR EXPERTISE AND BRING THAT EXPERTISE INTO OUR CONTRACTS SO THAT WE CAN ACHIEVE POLICY OBJECTIVES FOR THE CITY.
WE DON'T OBJECT TO HAVING ADDITIONAL STAFF THAT, UM, THAT, THAT ARE, ARE, ARE SUPPORTING OUR PROGRAM ACTIVITIES, BUT THEY WILL BE, THOSE STAFF IN PROCUREMENT WILL BE DEVELOPING EXPERTISE THAT'S GONNA OVERLAP OUR COLLEAGUES AT, AT OCAR.
SO IF THEY CAN WORK AT OCAR, THEY'RE GOING TO, THEY'RE GONNA HAVE MORE EXPOSURE TO THIS SUBJECT MATTER AND DEVELOP BETTER EXPERTISE.
THEY WORK WITH US, THEY'RE GONNA LEARN HOW TO DO PROCUREMENT, AND THEY'RE GONNA GET REALLY GOOD AT PROCUREMENT AND A LITTLE BIT OF, OF, OF EXPERTISE IN ENVIRONMENTAL, UH, MATTERS.
THEY'RE GONNA GET MORE EXPOSURE AND, AND, AND BETTER DEVELOPMENT OVER A OCAR WHEN IT COMES TO, YOU KNOW, WHERE THE STAFF RESIDE.
IF THE MANAGER WANTS THEM IN PROCUREMENT, THEY'RE GONNA BE IN PROCUREMENT.
WELL, I THINK MAYBE JUST TO, UM, I, I HEAR WHAT YOU'RE SAYING.
I THINK THE WAY WE'VE BEEN LOOKING AT IT IS NOT SO MUCH WHERE WILL THAT STAFF PERSON GET THE MOST EXPOSURE, BUT ACTUALLY HELPING TO INCREASE THE, UM, EXPERTISE AND EXPOSURE OF Y'ALL'S TEAM.
AND PERHAPS IT'S HELPING THOSE OTHER 10 INDIVIDUALS, UM, THAT ARE, THAT ARE FOCUSED ON
[01:35:01]
A VARIETY OF PROGRAM AREAS.UM, I WOULD HOPE THAT IF, YOU KNOW, IF YOU'LL DO AT SOME POINT GET THAT FTE, THAT THE HIGHER WOULD, YOU KNOW, HOPEFULLY BE OF SOMEBODY WHO COMES WITH EXPERTISE MM-HMM
'CAUSE THAT IS AN, AN, AN AREA THAT I THINK YOU CAN FIND PEOPLE WHO THE, THAT'S, UM, SURE THAT'S WHAT THEY DO.
UM, THAT'S, THAT IS THEIR AREA OF EXPERTISE.
SO IT WOULDN'T NECESSARILY BE THAT THEY WOULD HAVE TO, UM, OF COURSE THEY WOULD GO STILL DO I THINK THAT COORDINATING WORK, RIGHT? 'CAUSE SOMEBODY'S UNLIKELY TO HAVE THE DEEPEST EXPERTISE IN EVERY SINGLE AREA, BUT, UM, YOU KNOW, SO YOU WOULD STILL NEED, I THINK THAT COORDINATING ROLE.
UM, BUT I THINK IT COULD ACTUALLY BE A PERSON WHO COULD LIKE, HOPEFULLY DEDICATE A LOT OF TIME TO THAT SPECIFICALLY.
SO THAT'S, I THINK WHAT WE'VE BEEN, I DON'T KNOW, TALKING ABOUT AND ENVISIONING HERE TO TRY TO HELP, UM, ADD CAPACITY TO, TO GET THIS, UM, INCREDIBLY LIKE MASSIVE BODY OF WORK CLEARLY THAT Y'ALL HAVE.
I MEAN, IT'S, IT'S KIND OF DAUNTING TO HEAR ALL THE NUMBERS.
WE WILL TAKE IT HOWEVER WE GET IT.
UM, ANNA, DO YOU HAVE OTHER QUESTIONS? I KNOW YOU SAID YOU DID
YEAH, I MEAN, I GUESS I'LL JUST, I'LL TRY AND BE BRIEF.
UM, YOU KNOW, ONE, ONE THING I THINK THAT'S COME OUT FOR ME IN THIS CONVERSATION IS, YOU KNOW, I'D LOVE TO HAVE AN UNDERSTANDING OF LIKE, WHERE WE'RE AT AND, AND TO ME, UH, UNDERSTANDING LIKE, YOU KNOW, STATUS AND PROGRESS ALL COMES, COMES BACK TO, TO MEASUREMENTS.
UM, YOU TALKED ABOUT SWITCHING, UH, THE PROCUREMENT SYSTEM WITH THIS NEW SYSTEM.
YOU KNOW, WE'VE, WE'VE TALKED ABOUT HOW THERE'S SOME OF THESE CATEGORIES FOR, FOR TRACKING PROGRESS.
YOU KNOW, SPECIFICALLY WITH THE CONCRETE, THERE ARE THESE ENVIRONMENTAL PRODUCT DECLARATIONS THAT COME WITH A NUMBER, YOU KNOW, LIKE A CARBON INTENSITY TYPE NUMBER.
IS THERE ANY THINKING OR THOUGHT ABOUT INCLUDING THE ABILITY TO TRACK SOME OF THESE SUSTAINABILITY RELATED NUMBERS? UM, AS PART OF PURCHASING? I MEAN, YOU KNOW, WITH THE NEW PROCUREMENT SYSTEM, I THINK IT'S A LOT MORE POSSIBLE, UH, TO DO, YOU KNOW, QUITE A FEW THINGS THAN WE HAVE NOW.
I MEAN, AS OF RIGHT NOW, WHEN YOU, WHEN YOU LOOK AT CENTRAL PROCUREMENT, YOU KNOW, WE'VE GOT OUR PROGRAM WE'RE TRYING TO EDUCATE, ET CETERA, BUT WE CAN TELL YOU, WE CAN TELL YOU A NUMBER OF CONTRACTS.
WE CAN TELL YOU DOLLAR VALUES.
YOU KNOW, WE CAN TELL YOU REPORTING CODES AND, YOU KNOW, WE CAN QUANTIFY THOSE TYPES OF THINGS.
BUT IF YOU'RE LOOKING FOR NUMBERS ON HOW MUCH GAS WAS, WAS, WAS, UH, EXCUSE ME, HOW MUCH GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSION WAS REDUCED OR, OR THINGS LIKE THAT, THAT'S NOT SOMETHING CENTRAL PROCUREMENT'S GONNA BE ABLE TO TELL YOU.
THAT'S SOMETHING THAT WE'RE GONNA RELY ON OUR PARTNERS AT OR UM, AND, AND OTHER INDIVIDUALS TO BE ABLE TO QUANTIFY THOSE TYPE OF NUMBERS WITH THE DATA WE'RE ABLE TO, TO GIVE THEM.
JUST AS A QUICK FOLLOW UP, TO BE CLEAR, LIKE IF YOU HAD THAT NUMBER RIGHT, LIKE LET'S SAY IT WAS REPORTED, LIKE FOR EXAMPLE, THERE'S A SUPPLIER I USE FOR LIKE ROBOTICS PROTOTYPING, WHERE ON THEIR WEBSITE THEY GIVE YOU, YOU KNOW, THE PRODUCT, THE PRICE AND LIKE THE CARBON AND SOME OTHER ENVIRONMENTAL ATTRIBUTES, RIGHT? AND SO YOU, IN MY MIND, YOU COULD TRACK THAT IF IT'S USER PROVIDED DATA, LIKE IS THAT SOMETHING YOU HAVE, YOU'D HAVE THE ABILITY TO, TO TRACK.
I MEAN, IF, IF WE REQUIRED IN A CONTRACT, SO SAY WE WERE, WE WERE, YOU KNOW, PURCHASING WHAT YOU WERE BUYING, RIGHT? AND THEN WITHIN THAT CONTRACT YOU SAID YOU HAD TO PROVIDE THESE NUMBERS, THEN THAT INDIVIDUAL WOULD HAVE TO PROVIDE THOSE TO THE CITY.
THEN IT'S JUST A MATTER OF THE INDIVIDUAL.
THEY PROVIDE THAT TO INPUTTING THAT INTO A SYSTEM OR SENDING THAT TO SOMEONE THAT WOULD INPUT THAT INTO A SYSTEM OR, OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT.
I MEAN, WE CAN PUT ANY REQUIREMENTS WE WANT ON ANY VENDOR, UM, PRIOR TO, TO SIGNATURE DURING THAT NEGOTIATION PROCESS, RIGHT? IT'S JUST A MATTER OF ARE WE PUTTING REQUIREMENTS THAT THE VENDORS ARE OKAY WITH, OR ARE WE LIMITING COMPETITION AS A RESULT? IS THAT SOMETHING THEY'RE ALREADY DOING, WHICH IS WHAT IT SOUNDS LIKE.
AND THEN AT THAT POINT, IF THEY ARE, THEN IT'S JUST HOW DO WE GET IT IN OUR SYSTEMS, RIGHT? IF I CAN ADD, UM, SO CURRENTLY BASED ON THE, THE REPORTING TWO CATEGORIES, UM, WE CAN IDENTIFY WHICH CONTRACTS HAVE ENVIRONMENTAL ELEMENTS TO THEM AS TO SPECIFICALLY WHAT THEY ARE.
WE WOULD'VE TO DIG THAT OUT MANUALLY.
THAT'S WHY WE'RE HOPING THAT, UM, UM, AS WE IMPLEMENT THE NEW PROCUREMENT SYSTEM, WE'LL BE ABLE TO IDENTIFY PRODUCTS AND SERVICES AT THE LINE ITEM LEVEL.
SO WHEN WE HAVE IT, WE'RE SETTING UP AND ENABLING A CONTRACT IN, IN OUR SYSTEM, WE'LL BE ABLE TO IDENTIFY LINE BY LINE WHICH OF THOSE, THOSE, THOSE GOODS AND SERVICES HAVE ENVIRONMENTAL ELEMENTS.
SO IF WE'RE INFORMED BY A CONTRACTOR, THIS PARTICULAR PRODUCT HAS A,
[01:40:01]
A PREFERABLE ELEMENT, WE CAN IDENTIFY THAT AND THEN REPORT OUT AS WE SPEND AGAINST THAT CONTRACT.DOES THAT INCLUDE THE SMALL PURCHASES MADE BY INDIVIDUALS AT DEPARTMENTS? WE CAN REPORT THE SMALL DOLLAR SPEND.
MOST OF THAT IS GONNA BE ON UNDER A PRO CARD, UH, UH, UH, PURCHASING CARD.
UM, THAT, THAT SPEND DOES NOT OCCUR UNDER OUR CONTRACTS.
UM, BUT WE CAN REPORT AGAINST IT DIFFERENTLY.
IT'S JUST HARDER TO GET BECAUSE, UM, SMALL DOLLAR SPEND UNDER, UNDER PURCHASING CARDS ARE IDENTIFIED BY, UH, WHAT THEY CALL MERCHANT COATS.
AND SO WE CAN, WE CAN IDENTIFY WHO WE'RE BUYING IT FROM, BUT WE HAVE TO USE A, A, UH, WHAT WE CALL A, A PRODUCT AND SERVICE CODE CROSSWALK TO DETERMINE WHAT THEY'RE BUYING.
AND THAT'S, THAT'S HARDER TO, THAT'S HARDER TO GET, GET TO.
ONE OF THE CHALLENGES, ONE OF THE THINGS THAT MATTHEW AND I ARE WORKING ON NOW IS HOW TO GET BETTER SPEND VISIBILITY IN OUR PURCHASING CARDS.
AND THAT'S, THAT'S NOT A ONE AND DONE.
THAT'S, THAT, THAT IS, THAT IS SOMETHING THAT WE'RE ACTIVELY WORKING ON.
ARE STAFF NOT REQUIRED TO FILE ANY SORT OF PAPERWORK FOR EVERY TRANSACTION? THEY HAVE TO FILE IT, BUT WE DON'T HAVE A WAY TO, TO AUTOMATICALLY, UM, IDENTIFY ALL THE PRODUCTS AND SERVICES THAT THEY BUY, UH, BY RUNNING REPORTS.
WE CAN SEE THEM, BUT WE HAVE TO, WE HAVE TO GO THROUGH EACH ONE OF THEM TO FIND OUT WHAT THEY WERE BUYING.
SO IT'S NOT SOMETHING THAT'S NOT AUTOMATED, JUST SO YOU WOULD SEE THAT THEY WENT TO WALMART, BUT NOT WHAT THEY FOUND.
WE SEE, WE COULD SEE THAT THEY WENT TO WALMART AND WE COULD SEE THE, THE, THE RECORD OF WHAT THEY PURCHASED, BUT THE RECORD OF WHAT THEY PURCHASED IS A, IS A RECEIPT AND, AND THE, WHAT THE PRODUCTS AND SERVICES ON THAT RECEIPT ARE NOT INDIVIDUALLY LOGGED IN A WAY THAT WE CAN REPORT AGAINST THEM.
AND THAT'S THE THING THAT MATTHEW AND I ARE WORKING ON NOW.
HOW DO WE CAPTURE THOSE INDIVIDUAL LINES ON A RECEIPT IN A WAY THAT WE CAN REPORT TO SEE WHAT THEY'RE BUYING AND COMPARE THAT TO THE, THE CITYWIDE CONTRACTS.
WE WANT TO GET THAT TRANSACTION ACTIVITY INTO THE CONTRACTS AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE, BUT WE NEED A BETTER WAY TO SEE THAT, THAT INDIVIDUAL PRODUCT BREAKDOWN IN THOSE, IN THOSE, UM, UH, PURCHASING CARD TRANSACTIONS.
AGAIN, I, I, WELL, ONE OF THE THINGS THAT WE'RE ACTIVELY WORKING ON NOW.
UH, MARISSA, UM, YES, JUST QUICKLY WANTED TO CONFIRM, UM, AND I APOLOGIZE IF I MISSED THIS, BUT IS THE PROCUREMENT SYSTEM THAT YOU GUYS ARE SWITCHING TO, IS THIS SOMETHING THAT'S COMING IN THE FUTURE OR SOMETHING THAT'S CURRENTLY UNDERWAY? AND WHAT IS THE ESTIMATED TIMELINE FOR THE TRANSITION? THIS IS ALL YEAR
YEAH, SO THE, UH, THE REVIEW AND SOURCING OF DIFFERENT PROCUREMENT TYPES IS UNDERWAY.
UM, OUR EXPECTED TIMELINE WOULD BE IMPLEMENTATION, IDEALLY IN JANUARY OF NEXT YEAR, WE WOULD START THE IMPLEMENTATION.
BUT TO, TO, TO CLARIFY, WE ARE, UM, WE ARE, UM, MOVING TO A, UH, THE HIGHER VERSION OF OUR FINANCIAL SYSTEM PROCUREMENT SYSTEM RIGHT NOW.
SO THAT IMPLEMENTATION IS CURRENTLY UNDERWAY.
THE CITY USES, UH, CGI ADVANTAGE PROCUREMENT, THAT'S OUR UNDERLYING, UM, FINANCIAL SYSTEM PROCUREMENT MODULE.
WE ARE GOING FROM THREE 11 TO 4.0.
THAT IN ITSELF WILL GIVE US A LOT MORE VISIBILITY INTO OUR SPEND.
WE ALSO USE A SUPPLEMENTAL SYSTEM IN ADDITION TO OUR FINANCIAL SYSTEM, TO DO THE, THE PROCUREMENT FUNCTIONS, UM, BETTER.
SO THE ONLINE, UM, PORTAL WHERE, UH, OFFERS SEE ALL OF OUR SOLICITS, THEY SUBMIT THEIR OFFERS, WE FACILITATE THE EVALUATIONS.
THOSE SUPPLEMENTAL SYSTEMS ARE, ARE PURPOSE BUILT.
AND SO THEY, THEY TEND TO DO THAT, THAT PARTICULAR PROCESS, UH, A LITTLE BIT BETTER.
WE USE A COMBINATION OF SYSTEMS NOW, BUT THE UNDERLYING FINANCIAL SYSTEM THAT IS IMPLEMENTING NOW AND THAT IMPLEMENTATION WILL RUN THROUGH THE REST OF THIS FISCAL YEAR.
WE HOPE TO, IF WE GO WITH AN ADDITIONAL SUPPLEMENTAL SYSTEM THAT WILL, UM, UM, KIND OF, IF YOU THINK ABOUT IT LIKE A GANTT CHART, IT WILL START SOMETIME IN THE FALL, SOMETIME IN THE, IN THE WINTER AND IMPLEMENT THROUGH THE BEGINNING OF THE NEXT, UH, CALENDAR YEAR.
SO YOU'RE LOOKING FOR, IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR A NEW SYSTEM, IT WOULD BE A SUPPLEMENTAL NOT TO REPLACE THE CGI ADVANTAGE.
IS THAT CORRECT? UH, CGI ADVANTAGE, UH, THOSE LICENSES ARE, ARE PAID FOR.
UM, THEY ARE PART OF OUR FINANCIAL PACKAGE.
UH, SO IF WE ARE USING, UH, CGI FOR OUR, UH, GENERAL LEDGER, OUR ACCOUNTING AND REPORTING SYSTEM, IT JUST COMES WITH PROCUREMENT.
SO THAT, THAT, THAT IS NOT A LICENSE THAT WE CAN SPLIT.
WE'RE GONNA HAVE, UH, ADVANTAGE PROCUREMENT.
UH, IN SOME RESPECT WE, WE COULD USE IT ENTIRELY.
UM, BUT, UH, LIKE I SAID, THOSE PURPOSE-BUILT SYSTEMS, UH, TYPICALLY, UH, DO THE PROCUREMENT FUNCTION, UH, A LITTLE BIT BETTER.
AGAIN, BECAUSE THEY'RE PURPOSE-BUILT, THEY'RE BUILT FOR PUBLIC PROCUREMENT.
UM, BUT WE ARE EVALUATING THAT NOW AND WE WILL MAKE THE DETERMINATION WHETHER WE'RE GONNA GO FOR, UH, A SINGLE SYSTEM OR, OR IF WE'RE GONNA GO FOR A COMBINATION, UH, OF, UH, OF THE UNDERLYING ERP UM, FINANCIAL SYSTEM AND THE PURPOSE-BUILT SYSTEM, UM, THAT THE DECISION IS, IS OCCURRING CURRENTLY.
[01:45:04]
ARE THERE ANY MORE QUESTIONS? HAVE KIND OF A HIGH LEVEL QUESTION IF, IF WE'RE WRAPPING.SO MY QUESTION IS ABOUT KIND OF BACKING OUT TO THE PURPOSE OF ENVIRONMENTALLY MM-HMM
WOULD, WOULD EITHER OF Y'ALL HAVE A RESPONSE TO WHAT, WHY? LIKE, WHAT, WHAT IS, WHAT IS THE OBJECTIVE IN DOING THAT FOR ENVIRONMENTAL, ENVIRONMENTAL ENVIRONMENTALLY PREFERABLE PURCHASING? YEAH.
LIKE WHAT'S THE PER LIKE, I MEAN, I ASSUME LIKE FOR SMALL BUSINESSES, THE PURPOSE IS TO, YOU KNOW, SUPPORT OUR LOCAL ECONOMY MM-HMM
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE AS YOU SEE IT? YOU KNOW, THAT'S THE, I DON'T MEAN TO CUT YOU OFF MATTHEW, BUT I MEAN THAT, THAT'S REALLY, UM, UM, WE REPRESENT THE VALUES AND INTEREST OF, OF, OF OUR SHAREHOLDERS, OF OUR RESIDENTS, OF YOU.
UM, WE DON'T, WE DON'T DETERMINE PROGRAMS ON OUR OWN.
UM, UH, WE, WE ACTUALLY HAVE ALL OF OUR WORK ACTIVITY IN TWO LARGE CATEGORIES.
ONE OF OUR BUSINESS PROGRAMS, WE DETERMINE THE BUSINESS PROGRAMS. WE, WE PROVIDE A BUSINESS SUPPORT FUNCTION TO THE CITY, AND THEN WE HAVE OUR POLICY PROGRAMS AND, AND, AND THAT IS, UM, DIRECTION FROM THE ELECTED OFFICIALS, UM, UH, AND, AND THE PUBLIC, UM, AS TO HOW WE SHOULD DO OUR BUSINESS, UM, FUNCTIONS IN A WAY THAT BEST REPRESENTS THEIR INTERESTS.
SO WE HAVE AN ENVIRONMENTALLY PREFERABLE PROGRAM BECAUSE OUR RESIDENTS WANT US TO HAVE ONE.
AND, AND THAT HAS BEEN COMMUNICATED TO US THROUGH OUR ELECTED OFFICIALS, THROUGH OUR, OUR CONSTITUENTS IN THE PAST.
AND, UM, AS THAT ADVISEMENT CHANGES, IT INCREASES, IT DECREASES, IT GOES FROM, FROM ONE, UM, UH, PRIORITY TO ANOTHER PRIORITY.
WE WILL CHANGE OUR PROGRAMS TO MEET IT, BUT WE HAVE AN ENVIRONMENTALLY PREFERABLE PROGRAM BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT THE RESIDENTS, UM, UM, DESIRE OF US.
UM, I THINK PROBABLY I DIDN'T ARTICULATE THE QUESTION
I, I GUESS I SORT OF SEE, UM, THE POTENTIAL FOR TWO KIND OF BIG PICTURE BENEFITS.
ONE IS REDUCING THE CITY'S IMPACT ON THE ENVIRONMENT, RIGHT? LIKE BE THAT HEALTH OR OTHER, UM, ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS.
UM, BUT THE OTHER I THINK IS MAYBE MORE IN LINE WITH LIKE YOUR OTHER PROGRAMS. AND BY THAT I MEAN LIKE, YOU KNOW, SUPPORTING THE BUSINESSES THAT ARE, YOU KNOW, CREATING AND SELLING MORE ENVIRONMENTALLY BENIGN PRODUCTS MM-HMM
UM, AND I, YOU KNOW, I JUST KIND OF WANTED TO LIKE DROP THAT AS SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT BECAUSE THIS STRATEGY THAT Y'ALL ARE USING TO FOCUS ON WHERE IS THERE THE MOST IMPACT IN TERMS OF REDUCING EMISSIONS DEFINITELY ADDRESSES THAT FIRST, UM, AMBITION OF REDUCING THE IMPACT OF THE CITY.
BUT I DO THINK IT, UM, IT, IT, IT KIND OF BY NATURE MISSES THE MARK ON THE OTHER ONE.
AND BY THAT I MEAN, IF, IF, YOU KNOW, YOU'RE FOCUSING JUST ON A COUPLE PRODUCT CATEGORIES, UM, THE BUSINESSES THAT ARE OUT THERE TRYING TO SELL THESE MORE ENVIRONMENTAL PRODUCTS IN ALL THE OTHER CATEGORIES ARE NOT GETTING THE POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT FROM THE CITY IN THE WAY THAT A SMALL OR LOCAL BUSINESS OR WOMAN OWNED BUSINESS MIGHT BE GETTING FROM THE CITY.
SO I WOULD JUST MAYBE ENCOURAGE THINKING ABOUT THAT AS A, A FUNDAMENTAL OBJECTIVE THAT IS ALSO, I THINK, WORTHY OF CONSIDERATION IN ADDITION TO JUST REDUCING THE NUMBERS.
LIKE I THINK IT'S, I THINK IT SHOULD BE BOTH.
OUR, OUR SMALL BUSINESS PROGRAMS JUST AS IMPORTANT.
OUR MINORITY OWNED WOMEN OWNED PROGRAM JUST AS IMPORTANT, LOCAL PREFERENCE, JUST AS IMPORTANT.
SO WE, WE, WE ATTACH, UH, ADDRESS THEM ALL WITH, WITH EQUAL SERIOUSNESS AND, AND EQUAL VALUE.
AND I GUESS I'M JUST SAYING LIKE, YOU KNOW, IF YOU HAVE A BUSINESS THAT IS MAKING WHATEVER RECYCLABLE, UM, YOU MENTIONED REDUCING SINGLE USE PLASTICS, SO, YOU KNOW, OR COMPOSTABLE, RIGHT.
UM, OR, OR OFFERING A REUSE, YOU KNOW, WE, WE'LL BRING YOU THE PLATES AND TAKE 'EM AWAY AND WASH 'EM, WHATEVER IT IS.
UM, EVEN IF THAT'S A SMALL PERCENTAGE OF THE CITY'S BUDGET BEING SPENT ON THAT, YOU KNOW, ON, ON PLATES AND UTENSILS
[01:50:01]
MM-HMMTHE CITY, BEING A, A CUSTOMER OF ONE OF THOSE BUSINESSES CAN HAVE A SIGNIFICANT IMPACT.
AND I THINK WHEN IT COMES TO, UM, SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTS LIKE THE, THERE IS A LOT OF INNOVATION NEEDED AND, UM, A LOT OF TIMES THE, THE BUSINESSES COULD USE SUPPORT.
THAT'S, THAT'S WHY I'M MENTIONING IT.
I THINK THE SAME WAY THAT A SMALL BUSINESS LIKE COULD USE THE CITY'S SUPPORT.
SO, SO TOO COULD POINT WELL TAKEN.
WELL, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE, UM, THE PRESENTATION AND THE GOOD DISCUSSION.
OBVIOUSLY WE'VE GOT A LOT OF INTERESTS, UH, HERE AND, AND THANKS FOR THOSE WHO ARE MOSTLY, MOSTLY IN LISTENING MODE.
UM, SOME OF US REALLY GEEKED OUT.
UM, IN TERMS OF LIKE NEXT STEPS WITH THE JSC, UM, YOU KNOW, AS, AS YOU WERE GOING THROUGH THE DIFFERENT CATEGORIES, I DID MAKE SOME NOTES OF KIND OF LIKE THINGS THAT, YOU KNOW, I WOULD MAYBE SUGGEST COULD BE ADDED TO LIKE EITHER THE AVOID OR LOOK FOR LIST, UM, THINGS LIKE THAT.
WHAT WOULD BE THE BEST WAY FOR US TO CONTINUE A CONVERSATION WITH YOU ALL? I MEAN, I WOULD SAY WITH AMANDA AND MYSELF, MORE THAN LIKELY.
MAYBE ANYTHING SPECIFIC TO, HEY, THIS IS AN ENVIRONMENTALLY PREFERABLE THAT WE WANT, WE NEED TO GO THROUGH THE CITY'S DESIGNATED OFFICE TO MAKE THAT DETERMINATION.
WELL THEN MAYBE, WE'LL, WE'LL CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION IN OUR WORKING GROUP SOMETIME SOON.
THANKS AGAIN, THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR INTEREST.
[3. 2024-2025 Joint Sustainability Committee Annual Report]
IS JUST, UH, TO LET FOLKS KNOW ABOUT THE ANNUAL REPORT.UM, JUST SOMETHING WE NEED TO DO FOR, YOU KNOW, ALL COMMISSIONS ARE ASKED TO SUBMIT THIS, UM, ANNUAL REPORT.
PART OF IT IS REALLY JUST A LISTING OF WHAT WE HAVE DONE, UM, BUT THEN THERE'S ALSO, UM, AN OPPORTUNITY TO LIST OUR GOALS AND OBJECTIVES FOR THE COMING YEAR.
SO I JUST WANTED TO SEE IF FOLKS WANTED TO WEIGH IN, UM, ON THAT.
TECHNICALLY IT'S MY RESPONSIBILITY TO SEND THIS IN, BUT I WOULD LIKE IT TO, YOU KNOW, REPRESENT UM, KIND OF ALL OF OUR VISION.
UM, WE DO HAVE KIND OF A LIST THAT OF COURSE IS FROM LAST YEAR THAT WE CAN PROBABLY SOME OF THOSE WE CAN BUILD OFF OF.
BUT IF THERE'S ANYTHING IN PARTICULAR, CHARLOTTE, GO AHEAD.
UM, I WAS JUST GOING TO SUGGEST, UM, JUST, YOU KNOW, PARTLY IN THE INTEREST OF TIME, UM, IF WE COULD MAYBE LOOK AT LAST YEAR'S REPORT AND LOOK AT THE, YOU KNOW, WHAT THE OBJECTIVES FOR THE FOLLOWING YEAR WAS AND THEN MAYBE THINK ABOUT THOSE THINGS AND SHARE THEM AROUND MAYBE THROUGH THE LIAISON.
AND WE CAN, WE CAN DO THAT AND THAT WAY WE CAN HAVE A DRAFT FOR THE JULY MEETING WHERE WE CAN DISCUSS IT, UH, I GUESS A LITTLE MORE, MAKE, UM, RECOMMENDATIONS OR AMENDMENTS AND THEN APPROVE IT IF WE WANT TO APPROVE IT.
I DON'T THINK IT TECHNICALLY NEEDS TO BE APPROVED BY THE COMMITTEE, BUT I THINK IT'S GOOD PRACTICE.
I THINK WE DID THAT LAST YEAR.
UM, BUT THIS WOULD JUST BE A, UM, A RECOMMENDATION TO MAYBE DO SOME OF THAT OFFLINE RATHER THAN TONIGHT AS IT'S GETTING LATE.
'CAUSE 'CAUSE IT'S DUE END OF JULY, I BELIEVE, RIGHT? IT'S DUE AT THE END OF JULY.
UM, SO THEN, I MEAN, IT WOULDN'T BE TOO MUCH TIME IN BETWEEN THIS MEETING AND THE END, END OF JULY, IF YOU, LIKE CHARLOTTE IS SUGGESTING, YOU KNOW, TAKE RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THE COMMITTEE MEMBERS FOR GOALS AND THEN PRESENT THAT AT THE MEETING, JULY MEETING FOR JSC AND THEN A FEW DAYS LATER HAVE IT FINALIZED TO BE ABLE TO SUBMIT TO THE CITY JULY 30TH.
BUT WE DON'T HAVE TO DO A FORMAL VOTING OF THAT REPORT.
AND, AND, AND MY SUGGESTION WAS REALLY JUST IF PEOPLE HAVE, UM, YOU KNOW, SUGGESTIONS OR THINGS THAT THEY WANNA SEE, I MEAN THE, THESE THINGS ARE, ARE GENERALLY, YOU KNOW, SIMILAR YEAR TO YEAR.
UM, AND IF WE HAVE THINGS THAT WE WANNA SEE THAT ARE DIFFERENT TO, WE CAN SHARE THEM THROUGH THE LIAISON WITH THE, WITH THE WHOLE COMMITTEE OR, UM, YOU KNOW, TO
I THINK, YOU KNOW, WE'LL SHE, WE COULD HAVE A DRAFT TO REVIEW AT THE NEXT MEETING AND THEN MAKE, YOU KNOW, SUGGESTED REVISIONS IF, IF WE FEEL STRONGLY TO DO THAT.
UM, THAT'S, THAT'S JUST MY THOUGHT.
[01:55:03]
YEAH, THAT'S, THAT'S FAIR.UM, AND IF, IF, YOU KNOW, IF ANYBODY HAS SOMETHING ON THEIR MIND RIGHT NOW THAT THEY THINK IS LIKE NEW AND UPCOMING, FEEL FREE TO, TO SAY SOMETHING.
BUT OTHERWISE I'LL DO WHAT CHARLOTTE'S SUGGESTING.
AND, UM, I THINK USUALLY STAFF HELPS US KIND OF GO THROUGH OUR, SOME OF OUR ACTION, GET, YOU KNOW, GET THE ACTION LIST THAT WE'VE DONE AND THEN, UM, WE CAN START WITH WHAT WAS ON THERE FROM, FROM LAST YEAR'S.
AND IF THERE'S ANYTHING THAT JUST CLEARLY IS NOT, UM, CURRENT, THEN, THEN I'LL, YOU KNOW, STRIKE THAT OR SUGGEST STRIKING IT AND THEN ANYBODY CAN REPLY BACK, UH, WITH SUGGESTIONS BY EMAIL.
[4. Recommendation in support of Solar on City Facilities and a Revolving Fund]
THAT I PUT ON HERE FOR CONSIDERATION, UM, IS PROBABLY FAMILIAR TO A CERTAIN EXTENT BECAUSE IT IS, UM, SIMILAR IN NATURE TO ONE OF OUR BUDGET RECOMMENDATIONS.UM, THIS, UH, SOLAR ON CITY FACILITIES AND THE REVOLVING FUND, UM, DID, HAS GOT SOME TRACTION.
THERE WAS A, UM, RESOLUTION PASSED IN MAY, I THINK IT WAS, YEAH, IN, AT THE, TOWARD THE END OF MAY.
UM, DIRECTING THE CITY MANAGER TO DO SOME ANALYSIS ON THE, THE SOLAR FOR CITY FACILITIES AND DIDN'T EXACTLY, UM, SAY REVOLVING FUND, BUT MORE OR LESS SAID, PUT THE MONEY BACK INTO OTHER SIMILAR UPGRADES FOR CITY BUILDINGS.
UM, SO, YOU KNOW, BASICALLY ENDORSED THAT.
UM, I THINK IT WAS, IT WAS GOOD.
I THINK IT'S NOT, IT'S BY, IT'S CERTAINLY NOT THE END OF THE ROAD.
IT WAS, YOU KNOW, LIKE ANY RESOLUTION, IT WAS, IT WAS A STEP ALONG THE PATH.
SO I PUT TOGETHER THE RESOLUTION THAT WAS CIRCULATED, UM, REALLY JUST AS A WAY TO TRY TO, UM, BOTH KEEP MOMENTUM AND SIGNAL SUPPORT FOR THIS BEING SOMETHING THAT THE OFFICE OF CLIMATE ACTION AND RESILIENCE, UM, SHOULD OWN.
AND, UM, YOU KNOW, ENCOURAGING THE CITY TO NOT OVERANALYZE IT BEFORE GETTING STARTED.
'CAUSE I THINK THERE'S THE POTENTIAL FOR THAT.
SO I CAN PUT IT ON THE SCREEN IF THAT WOULD BE HELPFUL.
UM, I DON'T KNOW IF, IF FOLKS HAVE ALREADY HAD A LOOK, HAVE Y'ALL SEEN THE DRAFT? DO YOU WANT IT ON THE SCREEN? ANY THOUGHTS? YEAH, YOU CAN PUT IT ON THE SCREEN.
OH, WE, WE LOST OUR, OUR IT HELP.
UM, IF YOU'RE IN THE MEETING, I WASN'T ON THE MEETING THIS TIME, BUT I CAN GET ON THE MEETING SO THAT I CAN SHARE, UH, KAA, I, I HAVE IT UP OR I JUST HAD IT UP BEFORE I CLICKED TO THIS MEETING.
IT, SINCE YOU'RE ALREADY ON THE MEETING.
UM, AND WHO KNOWS WHAT, UM, WEBEX IS GONNA DO TO ME? UH, I WILL, I'LL START GETTING ON, BUT IF YOU WANNA SHARE IT THEN GO FOR IT.
WELL, ANNA'S BRINGING THAT UP.
ROHAN AND I DID MEET WITH THE CITY MANAGER TO PLUG SOME OF OUR BUDGET RECOMMENDATIONS.
WE TRIED TO LIKE TAKE A SELECTION THAT CUT ACROSS OUR DIFFERENT ISSUE AREAS.
'CAUSE YOU MEAN TO SAY ROHAN, I'M SORRY.
RODRIGO AND I, MY BRAIN ROHAN WAS NOT IN THE MEETING FOR THE RECORD.
UM, THIS WAS ONE OF THE ONES THAT WE TALKED ABOUT.
THE EZ IS OUR PRETTY STANDARD FAIR, BUT WE CAN CERTAINLY REVIEW THEM.
UM, SOME COMMENTS ABOUT THE OTHER, THE INFORMATION THAT WE'VE BEEN PRESENTED ABOUT OTHER CITIES DOING REVOLVING FUNDS, CALLED OUT SPECIFICALLY SAN ANTONIO 'CAUSE THEY'VE PUT A LOT OF MONEY INTO THEIRS, INCLUDING FOR SOLAR.
SO HERE IS I, HERE'S THE TOFU OF IT.
[02:00:05]
THAT, THAT'S IT, MARISSA, UH, JUST SMALL FORMATTING THING, BUT I'M NOT SURE IF THE NOW THEREFORE NEEDS TO BE, UM, DOWN ON THE NEXT LINE BEFORE BE IT RESOLVED.DO YOU KNOW IF IT COULD FOR REASONS THAT I DON'T UNDERSTAND.
I THINK IT'S USUALLY IN THIS FORMAT, BUT I WILL VERIFY.
THAT LOOKS DIFFERENT THAN OUR FOOD POLICY BOARD ONCE, SO.
UM, THANKS FOR THAT SEMANTICS.
CAN, CAN YOU MAYBE JUST TALK ABOUT THE THREE, UM, RECOMMENDATIONS IN THERE? IT LOOKS LIKE, UM, THE FIRST ONE IS ESTABLISHING A, A REVOLVING SUSTAINABLE FUND, BUT THERE'S NOT A DOLLAR FIGURE.
UM, THE SECOND ONE IS FOR A, A HEAD COUNT OF AN FTE.
AND THE THIRD ONE IS FOR, UM, KIND OF LIKE A HURRY UP AND GET GOING ON THESE THINGS THAT HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED PLUS A, A STUDY, AN ANALYSIS OR STUDY THAT THE ANALYSIS IS ALREADY HAPPENING PER THE RESOLUTION.
WELL WHAT I'M REFERENCING IS LIKE I THINK SOME ANALYSIS HAS ALREADY BEEN DONE.
THE RESOLUTION BROADENS THAT, WHICH IS GREAT, BUT ALSO MEANS THAT NOW THERE'S, YOU KNOW, I THINK GONNA BE SOME CONSULTANT INVOLVED, WHICH AGAIN COULD BE POSITIVE, BUT YOU KNOW, JUST ARE WE GONNA END UP ANOTHER YEAR DOWN THE ROAD BEFORE ANYTHING ACTUALLY HAPPENS, IS WHAT I'M TRYING TO AVOID.
SO THE, WHILE A MORE COMPLETE ANALYSIS OF ALL NEEDS IS CONDUCTED, THAT'S REFERENCING SOMETHING THAT IS IN PROGRESS.
IT'S NOT SAYING THAT WE'RE RECOMMENDING THAT THAT HAPPEN.
AND MAYBE THAT SHOULD BE LIKE PER THE RESOLUTION, ESPECIALLY MAYBE IF THERE'S A, IF THERE'S A RESOLUTION NUMBER TO IT.
SO YEAH, IT CAN BE REFERENCED.
UM, AND, AND SO THE SUSTAINABLE FUND REVOLVING FUND, THERE'S NO DOLLAR FIGURE REFERENCED AND CAN YOU TALK ABOUT HOW THAT CHOICE WAS MADE? OH, I WOULD BE HAPPY TO ADD A DOLLAR FIGURE.
I JUST HONESTLY FIGURED IT MIGHT BE BETTER FOR US TO DISCUSS THAT TOGETHER.
UM, I THINK WE ASK FOR RECOMMENDED LIKE THE 14 MILLION, UM, THAT WAS BASED OFF OF THE, UM, OCAR ANALYSIS OF SOLAR POTENTIAL ON BUILDINGS PAID FOR FROM THE GENERAL FUND.
UM, BUT THAT DID ASSUME THAT THERE WAS A FEDERAL INCENTIVE, WHICH, YOU KNOW, TBD, WHETHER OR NOT THAT WILL EXIST AND VERY WELL MIGHT NOT BY THE TIME THIS ROLLS AROUND, WHICH WOULD'VE MADE IT THE FULL $20 MILLION, UM, STILL HAS GREAT PAYBACK, UM, LESS THAN NINE YEARS ACCORDING TO THEIR ANALYSIS TO RECOVER THAT MONEY AND THEN OF COURSE KEEP EARNING AFTER THAT.
UM, SO YOU KNOW THAT THAT IS A NUMBER OUT THERE.
UM, I THINK ANYTHING IS BETTER THAN NOTHING.
AND MY UNDERSTANDING IS THIS DOESN'T HAVE TO COME FROM GENERAL REVENUE, UM, AS WE SPECIFY IN OUR BUDGET RECOMMENDATION, YOU KNOW, RECOMMENDING THAT IT DON'T, DOESN'T COME FROM GENERAL REVENUE SINCE THERE'S LIKE NEGATIVE MONEY TO GO AROUND THERE.
SO WE COULD JUST, YOU KNOW, EITHER REVIVE THE NUMBER, THE 14 MILLION THAT WE, UM, THAT WE PUT IN OUR BUDGET RECOMMENDATION.
WE COULD BE A LITTLE MORE REALISTIC ABOUT THE, YOU KNOW, INCENTIVE DOLLARS.
IF WE WANTED TO DO THE SAME AMOUNT OF SOLAR FOR EXAMPLE, AND RECOMMEND 20 MILLION, WE COULD, YOU KNOW, I FEEL LIKE IT WOULD BE BETTER WITH A DOLLAR AMOUNT.
I MEAN, JUST SOMEONE COULD SAY, THE CITY COUNCIL WOULD SAY, GREAT, OKAY, YOU RECOMMEND HERE'S A A HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS OR WHATEVER.
UH, SO THE, THE AMOUNT, 14 OR 20, I, I DON'T KNOW.
I MEAN, WHAT'S THE RIGHT THERE? I MEAN, I, BUT DEFINITELY I FEEL LIKE BEING MORE PRESCRIPTIVE FROM A DOLLAR AMOUNT TO SET UP, ESPECIALLY SINCE IT'S A REVOLVING FUND,
[02:05:01]
WOULD MAKE MORE SENSE, UM, FROM A RESOLUTION RECOMMENDATION.ARE THERE, ARE THERE ANY, ANY OBJECTIONS? OBJECTIONS? OH GOD, I'M SORRY.
SORRY, I JOINED ON MY COMPUTER.
UM, DOES ANYBODY HAVE ANY QUALMS WITH PUTTING IN ONE OF THOSE TWO NUMBERS? I'M HAPPY WITH THE 14 MILLION.
I, I WOULD ONLY SUGGEST THAT MAYBE YOU INCLUDE LIKE A, I DON'T KNOW, LIKE AN APPROXIMATE MEGAWATT TARGET IN THAT.
LIKE, HEY, LIKE WE RECOMMEND YOU SPEND X MILLION TO GET OUT, YOU KNOW, Y MEGAWATTS OF GENERATION OR INVEST, I WOULD USE INVEST LANGUAGE, NOT PAY.
'CAUSE I THINK THIS IS ACTUALLY A, A LONG-TERM MONEY SAVING PROPOSITION.
SO I GUESS IF 20 MILLION WAS GONNA GET 10 MEGAWATTS, THEN 14 WOULD GET SEVEN OR, YOU KNOW, THEY CHANGED THEIR MIND AND THEN CONTINUE THE TAX INCENTIVE.
I GUESS IT'S NOT TECHNICALLY A TAX INCENTIVE FOR THE CITY, BUT I'M SORRY, WE'VE LOST FOUR.