[Adopted 8-17-2010 by L.L. No. 49-2010 (Ch. 143, Art. IX,
of the 1985 Code)]
A.
This Legislature hereby finds and determines that New York General
Municipal Law requires that when goods and services are not procured
by competitive bidding, they must be procured in a manner so as to
ensure the prudent use of public money, the acquisition of goods and
services of maximum quality at the lowest cost possible, and to guard
against favoritism, extravagance, fraud and corruption.
B.
This Legislature also finds that Chapter 1065, Purchasing, Article II, of the Suffolk County Code governs procurement of consulting services by the County of Suffolk. While this article of the Suffolk County Code generally requires advertised requests for proposals (RFPs) for consultant contracts in excess of $25,000, the County is permitted to waive RFPs for certain services "requiring special or technical skills."
C.
This Legislature also finds that the legislative oversight of consultant
hiring should be strengthened to ensure that consultants are not performing
functions that would be better carried out by County employees. Further,
strong oversight and scrutiny is required to ensure that RFPs are
being utilized in all possible instances and that consultants are
hired strictly on the basis of merit and that favoritism is not influencing
the process.
D.
Therefore, the purpose of this article is to require County department
heads to notify the Legislature when they contract for consulting
services.
As used in this article, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
The expertise, advice, professional services or any other
personal services provided by any individual, corporation, partnership
or other entity to the County of Suffolk, including, but not limited
to, design work, planning work and medical, legal, engineering, computer,
accounting, budgeting, lobbying or educational services.
The commissioner or director of any duly established department,
office or agency of Suffolk County government.
A.
A department head shall notify the Clerk of the Suffolk County Legislature,
in writing, when his or her department, office or agency hires and
contracts for consulting services. Such notification shall be made
whether or not the consulting services contract results from a request
for proposals. Notification shall be made by a department head simultaneously
upon the execution of a contract for consulting services. The Clerk
of the County Legislature shall disseminate the notification to each
member of the County Legislature.
B.
The notification provided by a department head pursuant to Subsection A herein shall include the following information:
(1)
The name and business address of the consultant;
(2)
The term of the agreement;
(3)
The amount of the consulting services agreement;
(4)
Whether the contract for consulting services resulted from a request
for proposals; and
(5)
If no request for proposals was issued, an explanation why a request
for proposals was not issued.
C.
A department head shall provide a copy of a consulting services contract
to any member of the County Legislature who makes a request for said
contract.
The provisions of this article shall not apply to the Suffolk
County District Attorney's Office, the Suffolk County Police Department
and the Suffolk County Sheriff's Office.
This article shall apply to contracts for consulting services
entered into on or after the effective date of this article.
