The Shasta County Probation Department routinely purchases food and household commodities for the function and operation of the Juvenile Rehabilitation Facility. Commodity availability and pricing is volatile, and prices can often fluctuate based on spot-in-time pricing, transportation costs, and inventory levels of suppliers.
Currently, there are a limited number of vendors with whom the county has a blanket purchase order in place for commodities purchased for the Juvenile Rehabilitation Facility. The volumes of commodities purchased can easily exceed $3,000 which require a County Purchase Order pursuant to Shasta County Administrative Policy 6-101. Those vendors with whom blanket purchase orders are in place are not always able to fulfil commodity orders in a timely manner due to supply chain issues and/or transportation concerns. Occasions may also arise where other vendors are able to offer better pricing, but in all cases, inventories may be limited, or items may sell out quickly at an offered price.
The proposed resolution will provide a mechanism for the Probation Department to respond more quickly to supply chain issues and transportation concerns while leveraging available discounts and/or price variances between vendors to obtain necessary commodities in the most economical manner possible when the cost of a commodities order does not exceed $5,000 and time is of the essence to secure those goods or the offered pricing. Orders in excess of $5,000 would still require a purchase order and staff will utilize the purchase order process for items exceeding the $5,000 threshold.