Councilor Woods looks to add probationary period for noncompliant City vendors

During this week’s Governmental Affairs Committee meeting, Councilor Clinton Woods introduced a resolution that would place vendors on a one-year probationary period, prohibiting them from entering into new contracts with the City during that time.

The contract compliance resolution would only apply to professional service agreements exceeding $100,000. Woods, who chairs the Governmental Affairs Committee, said the goal is to have a more transparent review of contracts, where the Council regularly receives a contract compliance report and organizations that don’t fulfill the terms of their agreements are held accountable.

Woods hopes that the changes will help the Council stay informed about a vendor’s completed work, something he says does not happen regularly.

“I’d like there to be more intentionality around the way the Council is informed about completed contracts…I think we’ve seen some instances where vendors and contractors are brought in for various professional services and they do not fulfill all the terms of the agreement,” Woods said. “I think we need to take a closer look at that moving forward so we can determine the City is getting what it paid for.”

Another goal, Woods continued, is to phase out vendors who do not fulfill the terms of their agreement, an issue he believes negatively impacts the City every year.

According to the resolution, “at the conclusion of any term, if a professional services/non-profit contract initiated by the administration, the law department shall prepare a report to be reviewed by the Government Affairs Committee for recommendation.”

Under the terms of the resolution, any business, person or nonprofit who is conducting a professional service for the city would be subject to review, but not vendors who are providing goods, such as chairs or equipment to the City.

“If we’re funding an organization to provide food to the homeless, we want to make sure that’s what they’re doing in the full amount prescribed by the contract,” Woods said. “This is about starting a system where we can have eyeballs on these things and to be aware of the work being done. The underlying concern is we currently have vendors who are not fulfilling the terms of the contract. We need to monitor that and send a clear message that if you’re contracting with the City of Birmingham, you need to do what you’re being paid to do. Anyone that pays attention to the budget process can see that there is no shortage of needs, but we do have a finite amount of money, so we have to be as efficient as possible”

The resolution was sent to the Office of the City Attorney for further review. The item will come back before the Governmental Affairs Committee upon completion.