Title
Continued COVID-19 Incident Response Efforts (Ordinance S-46931)
Description
Request to ratify contracts executed by the City Manager, or his designee, necessary to acquire emergency services, personal protective equipment, cleaning supplies, teleworking/E-Government equipment and other COVID-19 expenses up to $10 million and further request authorization for the City Controller to expend and accept all funds necessary to mitigate further health incidents related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Report
Summary
The City Council declared a local emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic on March 20, 2020. Immediately after the confirmation of the emergency, the City engaged with specialized vendors to ensure the health and safety of staff and members of the public. The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in additional procurement and contracting complications due to the need to respond timely coupled with the lack of supplies and a deterioration in supply chains failing to support the heightened national demand, especially for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and teleworking equipment.
Most of the costs associated with the City's response to the COVID-19 pandemic will be recovered through funding from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act signed into law on March 27, 2020 to address the economic decline resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. The City’s allocation of funding from the CARES Act Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF) was $293 million and is intended to recover the necessary expenditures associated with the City’s pandemic response. On May 5, 2020, the City Council approved a strategic plan for the utilization of the City's CRF funds which included a $75 million allocation for City Operations, a $75 million allocation for Community Investment and $143 million reserved for public safety costs. The City has implemented a process to ensure staff has a full accounting of all COVID-19 related expenditures for the purposes of recovering these expenditures through all possible sources of available funding.
On May 6, 2020, the City Council approved Ordinance S-46605 providing authority to execute contracts, expend and accept all funds necessary to mitigate further health incidents related to the COVID-19 pandemic up to $20 million. Since the start of the COVID-19 crisis the City has utilized this funding to actively procure $20 million of personal protective equipment, testing supplies, teleworking resources and other items supporting the City’s response efforts.
The State of Arizona experienced a resurgence of the Coronavirus throughout the months of June and July. The Finance Department is sourcing goods to support the Community Investment and City Operation portions of the CRF strategic plan along with estimated values through Sept. 30, 2020:
- Teleworking / E-Government: $4,500,000
- Personal Protective Equipment: $400,000
- Enhanced Cleaning: $300,000
- PPE for Schools: $2,500,000
- Estimated Future COVID Procurement: $2,300,000
(PPE, teleworking, public building retrofits, etc.)
Total: $10,000,000
Financial Impact
City staff is tracking all expenses related to the COVID-19 pandemic separately and regularly reporting these expenses to the City Council. The estimated value of $10 million is based on the actual goods received, purchase orders processed and estimated future testing, additional PPE and teleworking expenses. The City may request future authorizations based on the longevity of the COVID-19 pandemic. These amounts are part of the CRF funds allocated to city operations not to exceed $75 million and of the funds allocated to community investment not to exceed $75 million.
Concurrence/Previous Council Action
On May 6, 2020, the City Council approved Ordinance S-46605 providing authority to execute contracts, expend and accept all funds necessary to mitigate further health incidents related to the COVID-19 pandemic up to $20 million.
Department
Responsible Department
This item is submitted by City Manager Ed Zuercher and the Finance Department.