Contracts will get less scrutiny by Cook County Board

Purchasing rules for Cook County government are changing under new policies enacted Wednesday that officials say will streamline the buying process, but it also results in less oversight from the county board.

County Board President Toni Preckwinkle announced the initiative ahead of Wednesday’s unanimous board vote. Preckwinkle called the measures an “overhaul of the county’s procurement process.”

She contends the new practices will eliminate redundancies and delays in the bidding and awarding of contracts, resulting in quicker delivery of services at a cheaper cost to taxpayers.

On the flip side, the county board will now vote only on expenditures of more than $150,000. That’s a sixfold increase above the current $25,000 expense mark for service and managerial contracts and a $50,000 increase above the current rules of purchasing supplies and equipment.

Preckwinkle said the previous rules included several superfluous steps and intimated that because of the board’s constant involvement in purchasing processes, things were often delayed.

“Previous board approval required a series of steps,” she said. “There was a time gap between the selection of the actual vendor and signing the contracts.”

Under the new policies though, all purchases will go through the procurement office before contracts are awarded, said Lourdes Coss, the county’s chief procurement officer. In the past, Coss said, department heads could award contracts of less than $25,000 without any scrutiny.

The county’s inspector general, Patrick Blanchard, also signed off on the new policies, saying they accomplished “critical steps to protect Cook County and its residents from the unlawful steering of contracts.”

Additionally, the new policies include changes to the county’s payment program. The new rules require documentation that work was actually performed, Blanchard said.

All contracts and awards will be available at the county’s website, officials said.

In addition to the rules governing board oversight, the new policies also affect the county’s regulations regarding businesses owned by minorities and women. Officials said the proposed changes would involve setting goals on spending funds at those types of businesses rather than requiring that a certain percentage of those companies are hired each year.

“This is absolutely a step in the right direction to institutionalizing best practices proven to increase the level of inclusion of minority and women-owned businesses,” said LaVerne Hall, director of contract compliance for the county’s bureau of finance.