Thank you.

May I would you like to convene the work session?

Do we need a call for the vote on closing this one?

Oh, yes.

All in favor to adjourn the special meeting?

Hi.

Anyone opposed?

And the special mass transit meeting is adjourned at 9 34 a.m.

Would you like to complete the work session, sir?

Please.

Thank you.

Good morning.

This is a work session of the El Paso City Council for Monday, August 18th, 2025.

Mayor Johnson is present and presiding in council chambers along with representative Acevedo, Representative Madonado Rocha, Representative Oriatrejo, Representative Nino, alternate Mayor Pro Tempiero, Representative Limon, and Representative Canales.

It is 9 35 a.m.

Mayor, we have a quorum.

Okay.

Good morning.

Item number one is presentation and discussion on the overview of the procurement sourcing policy and procurement process.

This is session three, contract administration and vendor outreach.

Good morning.

Good morning, Claudia Garcia with Purchasing and Strategic Sourcing Department.

So I'm sadly gonna inform you that this is our last series of session.

Yes, so um if I take thank you.

So far you have been into prior sessions.

This is our last one.

Uh we have completed purchasing functions, procurement and strategic sourcing policy overview.

We also went over a procurement process overview, and today we're just going over contract administration and vendor uh outreach.

So we're gonna jump uh to contract administration and why this is important.

Uh, because it ensures project success.

Also, it minimizes disputes as uh when proactively done, uh we can communicate with uh suppliers to help prevent misunderstandings if something is not completely clear in the contract, so we can get ahead of that.

It is also uh the intent of contract administration to manage uh risks, improve compliance, and uh facilitate uh communication.

So we are showing you this as a cycle, right?

But I'm gonna be presenting in a more linear way.

Uh but in essence, these are some of the main functions of contract administration.

Record keeping, contract compliance, performance evaluation, conflict resolution through the life of a contract.

And if you have questions, just yeah, I was gonna say council members, if you have questions, just let me know.

We'll we'll let you clause it.

Thank you.

So for the city of El Paso, the user department, it is a contract administrator.

So each department it is going to uh select who's gonna be the best candidate to administer uh a contract.

Some of the key responsibilities for a contract administrator, it is to keep records, also to ensure that a contract is in compliance from both parties, the city and the vendor uh site.

They all they are also in charge of a conflict resolution with uh an exception here.

Uh so in a day-to-day, the contract administrator will be in charge of uh trying to resolve any conflict that can uh come up during the life of the contract.

But if uh if uh an issue persists, now the contract administrator will contact purchasing so we can go ahead and uh start the cure process.

And if uh later in the presentation, I'm gonna be giving you a summary of the cure uh process.

Because tentatively we can potentially terminate uh a contract for default, meaning that the contractor is not performing according to terms of the contract.

Again, some more responsibilities of the contract administrator reviews that everything it is in compliance when it has to be with deliverables.

They have to make sure they are paying uh in time and correctly to the contractor for the services uh that have been rendered.

Documenting and monitoring, and also contract administrator, it is in charge of a close out of each contract that they have in charge.

What items are not delegated to a contract administrator?

And these has to do uh with uh issuing notice to proceed before a contract has been fully executed.

Contract administrator is not delegated to approve any contract modification or change orders.

Uh to request any additional services as part of uh a contract uh and then telling contractor that uh they're gonna be reimbursed by uh those expenses.

An important piece of contract administration, it is vendor performance evaluations.

So the city has a central repository of all these uh evaluations, and we call it a vendor performance tracking system.

Uh in these uh repository, all evaluations conducted through the life of all the contracts that we have are being stored.

It is an electronic system.

Uh generally speaking, we have a scale from zero to ten, and I'm gonna be going uh in detail for this uh scale.

And again, it is just a central repository of all the VPRs or vendor performance reports done by the contract administrator.

So when a contractor is gonna get 10, uh based on the contract, a contractor is gonna obtain a 10 as a score for evaluation when they are significantly exceeding all the terms of the uh the contract.

A nine, it is when a contractor it is exceeding some of the areas of the contract and they are uh that they are benefiting the the city.

Bulk of uh the score should be seven and eight, because that means that the contractor it is meeting the contractual obligations.

In essence, they are not doing more, but they are not doing less, they are just doing whatever they have to be doing under that contract.

And if conflict arrives, uh they are resolving it with the contract administrator on uh uh on a timely manner.

Poor performance.

It is when a contractor is not meeting some of the contractual obligations and they are having some issues resolving the issues that are coming up during the life of the contract, but at the end, majority of those issues are being resolved.

Uh satisfactory, it is from zero to four, and this is when a contractor is not meeting any of the contractual requirements and they're having issues trying to fix the uh non-compliant uh items under the contract.

This is just to give you uh uh screenshot of uh what the forms look like in the system and what uh user departments slash contract administrators are entering when evaluating all these areas under performance.

An important part of uh uh performance evaluation has to do with responsibility check.

Uh based on the eval based on the evaluation of their performance, uh this can be something that purchasing can use when evaluating uh certain bids or proposals to determine if a contractor is not responsible, meaning that we have uh information in our system and it is going to help us determine if we're gonna continue awarding a contract or even extending an existing contract with a vendor that has not performed according to the standards of the contract.

We have a couple questions, representative uh Treho.

Thank you, Mayor.

Claudia, I have a question on the on the rating review.

When you're looking at at the ratings with the different vendors, what what do they typically rate at?

Where do you find the the vendors?

In what area do they typically rate?

It depends on the type of contract that uh the user department it is evaluating.

So uh some uh contracts are easy to evaluate, some others require uh are more complex, and uh, but I I don't have a direct answer to your question.

And then on the when you have the unsatisfactory rating of zero to four, non-compliant.

What is considered non-compliant?

Would it would it be timelines on deadlines and things like that?

It can be uh anything that is important for that specific contract, deliverables, uh timelines, uh certain specific items in the contract.

So the the performance will be based completely in the contract, terms and conditions of the contract.

Does uh change orders fall in that if uh if a vendor is constantly making change orders to the contract?

It is one of the areas to be evaluated as part of performance.

How did how is that evaluated?

So the user department is the one uh evaluating that section.

Uh so let's say if a change order is being complicated or is it so the user department will be uh able to determine how to evaluate that?

I guess because we have a wide range of scope of works for all the contracts, uh maybe a user department can provide some.

Well, we don't have anybody here.

Okay, okay.

Good morning.

Good morning, Anthony DeKazer, uh director of mass transit.

So when you you get the contracts and you're trying to evaluate them, for instance, like if you have a janitorial contract, and you're supposed to have so many um individuals working that contract, and they need to provide so many hours at so many locations, and then at certain point in time during that contract, they drop below those amount of people and they're not providing the right amount of service hours.

And so you'll go back and you'll tell that that contractor that hey you're not doing that, and then when it's time for their evaluations, like they're not gonna get a nine at that point.

They're gonna get maybe a six because they drop below their performance levels and what you are expecting them to do.

So that's just one example if that helps you.

Yes, but my question was on the change orders.

Is that how's how is that evaluated if it's poor performance or unsatisfactory if there's too many change orders?

How is that how does that get evaluated?

Uh you're you're saying change orders into the in the country.

So they they've been awarded a bid, and within that bid they're they're having to keep adding change orders.

Yeah, then increase.

More capital projects, man.

Yeah.

Yes.

Good morning, any better on this.

Um, to answer your question, Representative Dreho, what we look at is um how quickly the change orders were resolved.

We understand that change orders will happen, there are unforeseen conditions.

Um generally the contractors when we do our independent cost estimate and theirs aligned with our same cost estimate, we generally rate them at a seven, eight or above because we understand that's gonna happen.

When there are months delay and you see the the delta, let's say we've identified something at a a cost of two thousand and they're at eight thousand.

There is a huge disconnect there.

We generally understand what material labors and scope of work should cost, and there is a uh usually a back and forth to get to that um agreed upon cost that takes into account.

Okay, all right.

Thank you.

Appreciate it.

Representative Acevedo.

Thank you, Mayor.

I guess more on change orders.

Which I know you're going into the next section on it, and maybe you're gonna answer this, but similar to what Representative Borretrejo is asking.

My thoughts on this is how how can we close the loophole on change orders when it comes to purchasing in any contracts that are awarded?

Is it through the performance review of it or is it something we just can't do?

I guess it will depend.

Uh, because uh later in the presentation, I'm gonna be indicating the three areas where uh a change order or why a change order can happen.

So depending on what that is, and if I can move to that section, maybe with that, then I can advise here.

I'll have more questions on that, but then let me I have questions on the performance report.

So do you provide this performance report to all vendors so they know where they send?

So the contract administrator is the one providing uh the report to all vendors.

Because what I'm hearing is that there's a lot of firms and businesses that have never received a copy.

And they're also kind of wondering where they stand, how often it's updated.

There's there's a lot of things that I've heard that they're not getting this.

So I don't know why.

Yes, and we have heard uh uh uh some similar comments, and that's why we have as one of our initiatives uh with purchasing uh more training on contract administrator for user departments, uh, so we can include all these elements that uh for some reason we're missing, so we can have uh more standardized process, and hence we include it as one of our initiatives for next fiscal year.

I I just I don't know, like just thinking about somebody not getting a performance report seems like so easy.

Like, hey, here's an email, attaches a PDF with your report.

How how are we missing that?

That that doesn't make any sense to me.

Well, I would need to ask uh user department as they are the contract administrators.

Yeah, I mean I that I think that's a really big deal.

How how we're not giving people feedback so that they could improve next cycles, but you bet um representative, I think one of the things that we can do since this has been communicated directly to you, we welcome any and all contractors to work with with the capital improvement department if they're not receiving that feedback.

Um, representative Acevedo, I think one of the things that we can do since this has been communicated directly to you, we welcome any and all contractors to work with with the capital improvement department if they're not receiving that feedback.

And we can sit down just as with I think was the first um training that Glaudia had that we encourage briefings and for the contractors to request those, please send them over to CID and we can sit down with them and go over the VPR.

Well, and and I and I I think that's that's a good step that that's available, but more than anything, it's just a PDF email.

Like I don't I don't know how we're missing that.

That's that's really crucial, you know.

We can it's great if somebody emails back, like I got my VPR here.

I would love to sit down and have the discussion.

I'm glad that that's an option.

But getting that documentary.

Emails really aren't um that reliable given that there are changes within the private industry.

But we'd love to sit down and brief and talk to them and make that time for them.

Okay, so can there be like some sort of database where in case of all this turnover the company, I don't know, let's say CEO has that login and they could go in and see all their VPRs or something just to make sure that they're not losing out on that because somebody left the company and there's so much turnover in the industries.

I think that would be something great that we could look at in this new initiative of the VPRC, yes, sir.

Okay, and then on the VPR, is this the same committee that has three to five members that rates them?

Whether it's gonna be senior project manager, mid-level project manager, it's the same people.

No, sir.

That's done on the criteria of who is selected.

Okay, the project.

The VPR is filled out from the project manager because they are the ones that work with them day to day, so they're evaluating.

Additionally, they work with their division manager, make sure that it's reviewed, that we all agree upon the rating that's given, and it goes through a series of um signatures prior to ending up on uh Miss Cody's desk.

Additionally, we also work um contract compliance is one of the items we look at, and they fill out that respective portion.

So, about how many people end up working on this?

Yeah.

I want to say at least one, two, three, four, four before it gets to Miss Cody.

Okay.

All right, thank you.

Thank you.

Representative Chavez.

Thank you, Mayor.

Hi, Claudia.

Good morning.

I'm happy that it's the third work session for procurement, and thank you so much for all the information.

As I mentioned to you last week, I I do have a few questions for you.

So how long has this VPR process been in place?

I started with the CD uh in 2010 and it was already part of uh our performance evaluation.

Okay.

So 2010, you said?

Yes.

To my knowledge.

Okay.

Um and what if there's a dispute between a contractor and their VPR rating or score?

How what kind of things do we have in place for like a dispute resolution?

So the recommendation it is uh that that starts at the user department and vendor level.

Uh so they are gonna try to to resolve it.

It is best practice.

So the contract administrator and the contractors or vendor, they uh are working out to resolve those issues.

If the issues persist uh to the point where they are gonna be evaluated with uh lower lower scores, then that's when purchasing comes in to review the information that they have, all the uh documentation uh indicating that they are not performing, that they have been trying to resolve the issue, and it has not uh happened at that uh point.

Um because I you know when we were going through the criteria um in terms of the scoring.

I I'm I'm concerned that you know sometimes the criteria for a contractor, you know, it could be in place for something that a contractor has no control over.

So example, uh if the bid is priced too low, you know, um you said they would score 10 if for example they came under budget, but what about if there's certain metrics uh in certain bids where it's impossible for them to meet that?

And so they would never potentially be able to score a 10 because from the onset the bid was scored, you know, was was put out to bid too low.

And so um my concern is they would never reach that that 10 for excellent performance, and then I don't know if going forward the VPR rating is in you know individual or if it keeps rolling over.

Does that make sense?

So does it roll over?

Whatever they're scoring, does it continue to roll over?

So for its and services contract, maybe I can illustrate it like that.

Most of those contracts are multi-year contracts.

Meaning that we're requesting uh user departments to evaluate at least one year at a time.

So contract administrator will be evaluating the performance of that past year.

And then everything uh was okay, but then second year something's happened and they didn't perform as well as a prior year.

So then their uh user department will be completing another VPR for that uh second uh year that that passed.

So does the VPR score get reset then every so often?

Or is there a guideline on that?

For per year, uh we average the VPRs that were conducted for uh multi-year contract.

So at the end the vendor will get an average for that particular contract.

Then if that same vendor has another contract, then the evaluation it is based on that other uh contract, and the system will be able to give us score per contract and also averages on all the contracts a vendor can have with it with the city.

Okay.

I'm just worried a little bit about this because um just as Representative Acevedo was mentioning, if there's a change order or something else that's not under their control, it could affect their VPR score, which could in turn affect the possibility of them being awarded a bid.

Does that make sense?

So some of this criteria seems to me that's out of the the contractor's control, in addition to the fact that some of it to me seems subjective.

And so maybe there's an opportunity here to just review this process and see if there's room for improvement to make sure that we're not scoring someone based on something that they don't have complete control over.

Does that make sense?

Yes, I I I see your point.

And uh currently we're going over that uh process, evaluating uh the things that we can improve and do better, also uh to incorporate some of those uh items that were missing as part of contract administration, like a meeting with the vendor to provide uh the VPR that we have completed for them, uh giving them the information documentation that they need to have in their files.

Okay, and ma'am when we do a change order though, I want to make sure we're clear on we have agreement with that contractor, so you're gonna actually see a revised schedule.

So as we're talking about making those changes and we're talking about changing or expanding the scope of work, we should be evaluating based on the schedule that is the current schedule that's agreed upon, and that we're having a conversation.

So it's not going to be going all the way back to the bid document, whereas we've discovered some field conditions that now require us to change those schedules, and so all of that should be in writing with a number of days that are associated with every task.

So it is very fair about what those expectations were in terms of those contracts.

And we can send you some examples of what that has been.

Does that include cost also if in case you delay the the start of a project?

Okay.

Like if you delay the start of a project for whatever reason, and so then the cost then goes up because of you know sourcing whatever they need to source or whatever other reason, labor, you know, it could be a number of things.

If it increases the cost of the project because of a delay in the start time, um they're never gonna be under budget, and so they would never score at 10.

Does that make sense?

According to this criteria.

Yeah, I I'm unclear about the delay and start time in terms of how it relates to their execution.

Well, sometimes a delay of a start time could could increase the cost of a of a project.

And so here they would only be able to score to 10, not only, but one of the criteria is if they're below budget or completed the contract ahead of schedule.

But if there's a delay in the start time and there's an increase in cost because of that delay, I I I don't I don't know that this wouldn't adversely affect them.

Okay.

I would say if I could sorry.

Oh that's a that's a really great uh question.

One of the things um that we're the purchasing department does really well is in communicating when the projects are going to finish their procurement.

Um they have established how long the bids are good for and they understand the process of opening the bids, having it routed, and when their notice to proceed would begin.

So there have been issues, maybe 2% of our projects that have been um held up.

Some of them um actually is self-imposed by the contractors, no fault to them, but they're working with their bid bond agencies, they're working to per to provide all the documents that are required by purchasing um for the documents, the contracts to be executed.

But one of the things in our local community understanding when they will start the projects, is they understand how to bid those projects and they do build that contingency in.

And if there is an issue, like I said, maybe one or two percent, it's so it's a one-off.

We've had discussions with those contractors.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you, Claudia.

And Event.

Thank you.

Representative Nino.

Thank you, Mayor.

And thank you, Claudia, for this presentation.

One quick question.

At what point is this VPR form done?

Um, I'm looking here at the cycle, and I'm just trying to understand if if there is some sort of issue even with the schedule or not.

I know we have uh project managers.

Are we communicating with them of potentially you know their uh the performance evaluation and all that with any of the contractors?

Can you repeat the question?

At what point does the performance evaluation form take place?

Is it during the actual uh execution of the contract?

Is it after?

Is it once it's still you know the the projects delivered?

I'm just trying to get a clear understanding as to when this is done.

Right.

Um so we we do not complete the VPR until the project is completely finished.

And so there are times where um a schedule has changed and we request from the contractor to give us a revised schedule.

Um that's also when we have justification for change orders.

There's times where there's weather delays, there's times where they've placed orders in for equipment and it has impacted their critical path.

Um so we make sure to work with them and we have an adjusted schedule as those types of milestones come across and those unforeseen instances occur.

We work with them.

Okay.

But we don't wait, we wait until the very end to evaluate everything.

Perfect.

Okay.

I just want to get clear for that.

Whenever there's a contractor say that they have to change the schedule, at what point do they notify you that they have to change the schedule, or how do we know that the change is going to have to change?

Um, is that in communication with the project manager, or how does that take place?

One of the things that we do in order to communicate well with our contractors is at every construction uh weekly meeting, we provide two-week look aheads.

Okay.

So if you see that they've said we're gonna pour concrete in this area and it's stayed on there for the same two weeks and hasn't been accomplished, then we understand that they're missing their targets.

Granted, we do have the entire project already delineated out, the Gantt charts, there are different things that are provided to us.

But the most simple way to look at it is if we're getting a two-week look ahead and you're missing those dates, there's some coordination efforts that are either not happening or you don't have materials on hand or the labor that you need to make those.

So we have those discussions during the weekly meetings.

Okay, perfect.

No further questions.

Thank you.

All right.

Yes, sir.

All right, Claudia, you're back.

I have no idea of a slide drum, but you're back.

Okay.

Just to give you a screenshot of how the central repository looks like and how you can get the numbers based on the VPRs that have been entered by the user department's contract administrators.

And as you could uh hear from a bit and uh myself.

Uh it depends on the contract, how contractors or vendors get evaluated, multi-year contracts, some of them are simple, janitorial services, just a delivery of uh certain goods, construction being uh more complex and the the processes they have in place to continuously evaluate contractors and being the VPR just the final document that is including all those elements through the life of the contract.

Okay, so now I'm gonna move to contract modifications or change orders.

So in contract administration, there are three areas that can impact a contract, and it has to do with contract time, contract amount, or scope of work.

If any of these changes during the life of the contract, then that is a trigger to start a change order process.

Uh maybe they need to, for construction, they need to adjust the completion time because of our unforeseen conditions, because something happened and that they just needed to extend the life of that contract.

Maybe they need to include an additional amount because of that additional scope of work as part of the change order.

So typically these three at any of these three elements will um target a change order if they changes through the life of the contract.

For janitorial services, uh a recent example, it is uh we in the original contract we had five locations.

But uh PD open a new command center.

So we needed to add that uh location to the contract, so that is gonna trigger a change order because we're modifying the scope of work by adding allocation.

We also need to add uh the money to the contract for that location.

So we're changing the scope and the contract amount just by modifying the original scope of work.

These are uh the regulations linked to change orders.

Uh so we're regulated by state on the percentage of a change order that we can uh do for a contract, 25%, and the delegation of authority that has been granted to the purchasing director and city engineer for construction projects.

For construction, um the treasure it is a little bit higher than for goods and services, and it is a hundred thousand dollars.

Claudia, I got I got a quick question on this slide.

So if I'm a vendor or I was just awarded a contract from the city to build a building.

And you spec't a certain door, and I found a door that was equivalent and lower cost.

Is that a negotiation I can get into with the city to save you money?

So I'm gonna yes, according to City Engineer.

So the answer is yes.

So if I find an equivalent product that uh, and I'm gonna pick on Mr.

De Kaiser since he's here.

So if there was a tire, there was a tire for a bus that he spec'd that he needed, and I found one equivalent, had the same many, you know, road miles.

It would, you know, it was a Michelin versus a good year.

I'm just using these as example.

And I was able to have a savings for the Sun Metro department.

That's a negotiation we could go through under the change order process.

Or how does that mechanism happen?

So I think in my particular case, the way the the contracts are written as a little different than what we're describing right now, because my vendor would have the ability to, as long as they're providing the service, they would have the ability to get this tire or that tire as long as they're providing the service under the specs.

So I wouldn't have to go into that.

It's when they didn't provide the service, or if they said the service I'm providing, we have used all the money in that, then I would be concerned about a change order in what we're doing because the capacity of the contract is it has been expended.

Got it.

And yes, uh Eve edited in this for the record.

And yes, first and foremost, we do want to save money on the projects while delivering a quality project.

So as long as long as they meet plans and specs, and also every every uh material has a project submittal that we review, the um engineer on record reviews, and we approve and accept it, they can go ahead and install it.

And if there's a cost savings, we do negotiate and we do provide that cost savings to the city.

Um so you've seen at times there have been deductive change orders that have been brought back to the city.

They have been in terms of negotiating of how we can do the project better while providing a cost savings.

And what's that called a deductive change order?

Deductive change order, yes.

Perfect.

Thank you.

Representative Chavez.

Thank you, Mayor.

Claudia, I I have a general question, and you briefly mentioned it right now on this regulation um page.

There's a difference between construction and professional services, right?

In the and what and maybe you could speak a little bit more about that.

How how are we in in all of this presentation that you're doing today?

How are you differentiating between those two classifications between construction and professional services?

In terms of uh change order?

And evaluation and just you know the the regulations in place, because I I feel like there should be differences uh between them both.

So when um we have a construction projects, um, we are following all the regulations in place when it has to do with change orders.

As you could see in slide 23, we have we have specific regulations of uh who can't uh approve a change order, uh, the amount the threshold.

Anything that is not construction, then we're we follow goods and services.

It can be janitorial services, it can be consulting services, so that's the main differentiation we we have.

Okay, and so you do have things in place in your department to specifically differentiate between the two, or is everyone treated the same?

So the the evaluation it is again the base of an evaluation, it is the contract.

So depending on the scope of work of the contract, it is how it gets evaluated.

The evaluation, it is not addressing specific, oh, this evaluation is for consulting services, but it is just uh overview of the whole performance of of the contract.

If it has to do with uh timelines, how many task orders were issued, did they complete all those task orders in in time?

Depending also the type of contract, user departments may also determine that they're gonna have multiple evaluations through the life of the contract because they're issuing task orders during the life of the contract and they're gonna evaluate each task order in the independently.

Uh we have uh a VPR that is addressing consulting services, especially for uh CAD because of the work that they do.

So we do have uh those also as part of our uh evaluation.

Okay.

Um because on a previous thing where you said that it the qualified bidder with the lowest or best bid price is considered a responsible bidder.

Um can price be used as a selection for professional services?

No.

No, right?

So maybe that one wouldn't apply to professional services, right?

So that one is specifically for a low bit.

For a low bit.

Okay.

All right.

Yeah, just wanted to clarify.

Thank you, Clara.

Okay, another important element of contract administration, it is conflict resolution.

And as we have been uh discussing along this uh presentation, it is very important that this evaluation it is uh uh done through the life of the contract.

Important elements, it is obviously continuous communication with uh the vendor as we have our base to be evaluated, which is the contract terms and conditions of the contract.

If a contract administrator is seeing that some of those terms are not being met, then they have to identify the issue, review, make sure it is part of the contract, address the the issue with the contract or vendor, and considered what is gonna be the solution.

We are encouraging departments to resolve uh issues as they are coming and not waiting until we have a bunch of issues that are part of it, and at the end, we're gonna be documenting excuse me, the resolution that came up depending on the on the conflict that uh came up with uh with the contract.

And again, because it depends on the contract, some issues are way easier to resolve, just uh an example janitorial services.

Hey, you know what, you forgot to clean the restrooms uh this week.

So that one can uh easily be addressed, as uh we have a change order for construction because of an unforeseen condition and uh the considerations are way more complex than uh for a janitorial contract.

So it it all go back to the scope of work of the contract being evaluated.

So there are points where some of the issues under a contract cannot get resolved for many, many reasons.

So if performance has not improved, that's when the contract administrator will contact purchasing so we can help them to formally go through a cure process.

We're gonna be preparing a letter, officially notifying uh the contractor vendor of all the non-compliance items that they have under the contract.

We're gonna be requesting from them a corrective action plan.

Once the corrective action plan has been submitted, it is reviewed by the department.

If adjustments need to be made to the plan, then the implementation of that uh corrective action plan happens.

If after uh this uh execution of this plan, the vendor cannot improve performance, then that's when we're gonna be recommending termination for default.

And if but that is approved by city council, uh then the supplier or vendor will be placed in an eligible sourcing list, meaning that we're not gonna be recommending a word to a contract or vendor that couldn't perform for any of the contracts with the city.

No questions?

No.

Okay.

So now moving uh to our next item in this presentation, it is uh vendor outreach, and for supply pass, I'm gonna have Ms.

Cody.

Good morning.

Good morning, thank you, Claudia.

Nicole Cody, City Manager's office.

So for supply Al Paso, we're really looking at changing the way we've looked at procurement in the past.

So with Supply Al Paso, it was kicked off in January of 2024, and we're really focusing on procurement economy.

So how procurement with the multiple agencies can impact our local economy.

It's market-based, and we were working together with various agencies in order to identify an action plan that's gonna help encourage businesses to do business with the city of El Paso, the County of El Paso, as well as multiple partners.

So this is all based on a procurement playbook that was developed with uh Aspen Institute, Rockefeller Foundation also provided funding, and it was through the Drexel University.

So what they did, as you can see here in the timeline, starting in February of 2023, they began submitting surveys and meeting with multiple stakeholders as well as multiple businesses in the community.

From this, they were able to identify the different the size of the procurement economy within El Paso, as well as the ready-to-scale framework for El Paso and the target areas, the target industries that they saw potential for growth in our community.

Then we launched it in January of 2024.

And here you can see the research team, of course, along with the funder, and then all of the various partners and um current partners that we have as part of Supply El Paso.

So in April of this year, you all joined us for a very important pledge of support with our partners, if you all remember, as part of the uh cooperative expo.

And so it was so critical because it was an opportunity for us all to come together as well as the various agencies and really pledge our support and our commitment to local businesses and to this group that's working together to ensure that we're breaking down those barriers for businesses to be able to do and submit bids with the city of El Paso, of course, as well as our other agencies and networks.

And so we really want to thank you for your commitment for Supply El Paso, and then also for the commitment of all the various agencies that we have that we're working with to ensure we start breaking down those barriers for our local businesses and really encourage them to do business with us.

So thank you.

So we also have other areas where we are trying to increase uh increase our uh vendor outreach, and uh some of them are workshops and our expo.

So we are collaborating with the Hispanic chambers uh to have trainings, uh open sessions for businesses so they can learn how to do business with the city, uh the systems that uh to learn the systems that we use if they have questions.

We're gonna be having our uh one of our bi-monthly meetings in September.

So we want to encourage vendors also to attend these meetings with the Hispanic chambers.

They are open to the public so we can uh continue these uh partnership that we have had with the Hispanic Chambers for several years now.

Another strategic partner for this, it is the Contract Opportunity Center, also where we are uh meeting with uh vendors, businesses uh so they can learn how to do business with uh with the city.

One of our main events uh during the year, it is our annual expo.

So uh so these events it is uh designed to help local businesses to expand their knowledge and also to learn how to obtain cooperative contracts because uh nationwide the use of cooperative contracts have increased for governmental and entities.

So we want those vendors to have that opportunity, not only to get contracts with the city, but also with the cities nationwide.

Uh it is free, and it is a great opportunity for them to network uh either with other uh governmental entities or even within uh our own region uh businesses.

We have valuable resources, we have uh information there on how they can obtain funding, financing, and all the information that they may need to um submit or uh respond to any of the procurements with the city or locally.

So we have a quick question, Claudia, representative Trajo.

Thank you, Mayor.

Claudia, uh the certifications for like women-owned business, minority-owned business, veteran-owned businesses.

Do those are those still do those still apply or how does the the city work with those type of companies?

So during our expo, we also have those uh strategic partners to inform vendors if they're interested in those type of certifications currently for the city of El Paso.

We don't use uh those certifications for procurement purposes.

You haven't ever used them or or is this recent?

No, we have uh not used that.

Why is that not something that's considered when you have uh individuals who have become certified?

It will depend on the funding source and also some other processes that would need to have in place to include those certifications as part of the procurement process as other cities uh do.

What would what would need to take place to consider that in most cities as a policy?

I think some city council um did evaluate that and had some conversation when we were adopt the the local preference, and so I think it's an opportunity if council wants to sort of see what some of that looks like across the state.

We certainly can pull that together.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you.

And Claudia, the uh since this is the 13th annual expo, what's the attendance spin like for the expo?

So for last year, I have the numbers here.

So for 2025, we have over 1700 attending the um the expo.

Uh we had a little bit more in 2024.

We had about 2200 people attending uh expos.

So we want also to expand and make it bigger every year, as we'll being one of our initiatives this year too.

So we're gonna we already start uh planning that uh event for next year, which is going to be April 7 and 8th of 2026.

And we want to invite uh suppliers to attend if they are looking for uh growth opportunities as uh indicated.

We are gonna have uh multiple strategic partners there, uh governmental entities uh that are gonna be helping them to understand how co-ops work, how to get financing, how to get funding, uh, as well as the information being provided by other governmental entities there.

Very good.

Thank you.

Just save the date, and we're gonna be uh starting our advert or marketing campaign for our next year event.

And the last piece of uh my presentation, it is just to present to you our 11th award, Achievement of Excellence in Procurement Award.

So this is the 11th year we get this award uh along with uh Austin and San Antonio as uh one of the three cities largest cities in Texas, and out of the applicants, one of the 87 cities cities that uh received uh this award.

Uh this award it is uh um it takes into account professionalism, innovation, ear procurement procedures, productivity, leadership through procurement.

Clyde, that's incredible.

It is thank you.

So that concludes my presentation today.

As you could see, it was a more general uh presentation than before.

It was more technical back then.

But uh I want to thank you for the opportunity for letting us present some of the uh processes we have in place, the policies, and of course some of the areas of improvement that we're gonna be looking at at currently we're already looking at.

So thank you so much for for your attention and remember I'm here if you have any questions.

We we have some comments or questions, representative Chavez.

Thank you, Mayor, and thank you, Claudia.

Once again, I know you've put a lot of time and effort into this and into other conversations we've had, so I really appreciate it.

And again, this you know just stems from you know the point that we've we've had I've had communication with many people around the city that uh are doing business with the city of El Paso, and and it's the question of is there an opportunity for improvement?

Um not for any other reasons.

So I have one last question because I didn't know exactly when to ask it, so I'll ask it now that it's at the end and this is the last work session.

Do we have any current rules right now in place um at the city that um regarding like the maximum amount of time between a bid opening and a contract awarded where it comes to council?

Do we have any rules right now in place?

So we don't have any rules dictating that because it depends on the type of procurement that we're following.

Some uh just to give you an example of construction, low bids are easier to procure than a design build contract or a CMAR contract.

So depending on the complexity of the project, the only rule that we have to follow in procurement is that we have to be recommending a work for an active bid or proposal.

So uh as long as those the bid or proposal are alive, we can present recommendations.

Sometimes it has to do with negotiations for items uh that are more complex than others, but it is linked to the procurement methodology that we are following.

Okay, and do we have any rules in place that once a contract is awarded for it to start?

Do we have any rules that say you know once a contract is awarded, it must start in this amount of time?

So again, it depends on the scope of work.

Uh just to continue with example of janitorial services.

Uh just to continue with example of janitorial services, we're trying to replace those contracts with a month in advance.

So we're notifying the as soon as it is awarded, we're notifying the contractor vendor, A, this contract will start in three months because that's when the current contract is going to end.

For construction, I know the factors are a little bit more complex depending on what it is.

And um I guess that will also determine when they're gonna be able to start.

Okay.

And that would be something that I would like for us to start to consider.

Um I know that TechStot does have certain rules in place, um, and they're maybe the golden standard, you know.

I know maybe we can't exactly replicate what they're doing, but I think that we should try to find areas where we can mimic a little bit more about what they do.

And the reason why I say that is, you know, when people put in uh a bid for for a contract, you know, many times these bids have bonds that are tied to them.

And so if if they're not awarded a contract or they're they're waiting for something to be decided, then they can't necessarily go out and bid for other contracts because they can't go out and get all these bonds, right?

So it puts, you know, sometimes contractors in in a pickle uh to decide on what to bid or not to bid if they don't have a time a timeline and expectation of of when those bids are going to actually get awarded.

So it's something to consider, something to talk about.

Um, but again, I appreciate the presentation and the very thoughtful discussion on this topic.

I know it's very intricate and difficult, so thank you so much.

I appreciate it.

Representative Assado.

Thank you, Mayor.

So I I guess from what you said on change orders earlier.

I thank you for giving me, well, one, thank you for giving me the the co-ops that we have.

Um I'll I'll continue to review those and probably have some more questions down the line.

But if we could get some information on projects that have been delayed because of change orders, kind of like uh almost like a spreadsheet of because this project had 30 change orders, it got delayed three years or something.

Um I'm trying to also comprehend why projects are taking so long to get completed, right?

I think there's the the fact of procurement taking long to get started on the project, and then things happen during the project, and a lot of times it's change orders and they're staying below the 25% state law that we can't end the contract, or I I just want to understand the delays that change orders cause across the city for the last five years or something like that.

And then um what is happening next since none of your presentations have had any action.

What happens after all these presentations and after all this feedback?

Are you expecting council to put stuff on the agenda to direct the city manager, city attorney to for action, or are you bringing more recommendations that will be action or what happens at this point?

So based on our initiatives, uh as presented in the budget uh meetings with you, we're gonna be bringing up to you some recommendations when it has to do with Harold Paso.

And if uh we have any other areas of of improvement that we would need to present, we will coordinate that to present them to you.

Okay.

And I guess one of the things that I really wanted to get out of these presentations is addressing the length of procurement.

And I still don't have that answer after three presentations.

So I think the the more clear answer that I have is that it just depends on the scope of the work and the type of procurement.

But I I don't think my constituents love that answer.

And and it's it's been a little frustrating whether um, you know, you said something like design build is harder than a low-bit procurement that's easier to do.

Is there an industry standard that says you should have things done within 120 days, 180 days of procurement process that we should be achieving?

Not to my knowledge, uh, and uh that is one of our request your requests uh for the timelines.

That's something we're working on, and I really appreciate your patience because it is taking us some time just to gather the information to be able to give you that data.

Okay.

And and kind of similar to what Representative Travis was kind of saying in terms of rules and that I almost see this as some sort of council action toward building these rules, and I I really want to have something in place so you could say, well, by council policy, we need to finish procurement in six months.

I oh that that's what I'm asking.

And you're violently shaking your head, Ms.

Max.

So can you elaborate?

One, I think that's totally in the lane of operations, and as she talked about during this process, these are very complicated processes.

And if you talk about change orders as being one of the things we want to avoid, the more conversation we can have to make sure that the scope of work is clearly defined before the award is to our benefit.

It means that the contractor is very clear about the expectations.

We understand what the costs associated with it's going to be.

Oftentimes when we see some change orders happening, it's because we've have some field conditions that were not uh known to us as we were starting that process.

So I am happy to make sure that we are being very clear that we're going back to look at our policies to make sure that there's things that we can that can be very transparent.

We've been talking about how we can have the dominoes tracker for you know, lack of another example, you know, doing some of these processes in a very transparent way, and then being able to explain when we have some issues and concerns.

It is helpful for me though, if we can sort of narrow, because I don't think that change orders are an issue for everything.

I think if we're specifically talking about construction, we're specifically talking about vertical, or we're specifically talking about street projects.

If we can narrow, then a team can sort of bring to you some examples of what may have happened, what we're sort of looking at and some of those conditions, because I think that would just help her to be able to sort of be able to bring something so you can have some clarity around some of those pieces.

I don't necessarily see change orders as you know a bad process.

And in the project that I kept thinking about was the main library.

Oh my goodness.

You know, we did not take in consideration any of the mechanical that were deferred maintenance on that building.

We couldn't open it because of the elevators.

We had issues with the HVAC system.

You know, I I would say we were at least a year delayed, but that was not on the contractor.

You know, those were maintenance things that were deferred in that building and needed to be repaired so that we can open it.

And you know, we made the change orders to make sure that we can get those things done because otherwise we would not have gotten the CO to be able to do it.

But you will see those type of projects, particularly on a lot of our vertical, where we had all these deferred maintenance in these buildings, and we start doing this work, and we can't get a CO to get the building open.

So if you can help me on the narrowing of the types of change orders, we can kind of get that sort of firmed up.

But I I want to make sure we're transparent on those processes for the public and also for you, but I would strongly suggest that we not tie the team into something that I don't think is possible or puts us in a situation where rushing and not taking in consideration the things that we should be doing that earlier process.

Well, and and I think the the change orders, I I think what you said makes sense, and it's it's apart from what I'm kind of saying.

I I just think saying, well, we'll see you in nine months, and I don't know what happens in those nine months.

Okay, so and and getting a project awarded in nine months, I just don't see how that length has to be nine months.

I could see something be more acceptable between four and six months, but I'm not getting a clear answer, and that's where my frustration is.

Okay, so when when Claudia finishes with the timelines that she's working on for us to make sure that she's going back to take a look at the average of all the projects that we're doing, looking at where we had um changes or delays that were human error, and so we really can have an average that really is giving us a good number, that becomes our baseline for approval.

I don't have that number yet, and I think it's going to be in the different categories.

We will make sure that we share that with you.

And and that's why I I think that's where I'm like, is this a staffing issue?

Is should we have three more people working on purchasing and putting a bid out and going through that process because then at that point we get to six months or five months?

Like I just think nine months is unacceptable, and I don't know what else to say, and I'm not getting the clearest answer, other than we'll we'll go back and check and I think the timeline is going to help you to understand that it's not just purchasing.

So we're at work we're we're are working with subject matter experts who are in the departments who are required to produce the scope of work.

So it really is about ensuring that the folks who are our subject matter experts in the department are carving out the time to get the work done, that we have things sitting on people's desks for the least amount of time necessary to move it to the next step.

Um, that we are have quality control and checks that are happening in the department before it even gets to purchasing.

So those are the things we're looking at in terms of how we can shave.

The other thing that'll show you also is when we have regulatory requirements in terms of when advertisement has to be done, how many days that that take for us?

You know, how generally how long does it take us to be able to negotiate you know a contract, how long does it take a bidder to go through a process of being um uh bid uh bond for it, but also the number of projects that we have in a queue that are going through all of those things have some impact on our schedule.

So I'm hoping that we will be able to bring that back and show that to you all.

Um I'll make sure that it's a another presentation that we can run.

And can we understand what other cities are doing too and how long it takes them?

Because I I think comparing it to other cities similar in size, it doesn't have to be Austin, doesn't have to be Dallas, but just in general, I I think this is an El Paso problem.

And I can't get a park built in the northeast that is a very simple park, and that procurement was messed up last year, and then we add it another nine months, and maybe at the end of the year, beginning of the year, we're gonna get that park built, and we're gonna start on that.

But that was one of the first things that are approved when I got on council.

I think we approved it February 24, March 24, and then we realized oh, we messed up, there was human error, whatever it was.

Let's add another nine months, and we are still not building that parking.

I've been on council for a year and a half.

Like these are the frustrations that I have, and I think it's amateur hour at the city of El Paso when it comes to this, honestly.

That's all I have to say.

Representative Rocha.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Claudia, and thank you to you and to Miss Cody for meeting with me last week.

It was uh really insightful.

And the only thing that I'd like to add is that you know, um, more than anything, my biggest uh takeaway out of this process is one to make sure that it's ease for for everyone involved, two to create competition among those vendors and suppliers that we have, and three to to really try to create that um higher El Paso first across the board and not just in certain types of contracts.

But the one thing that I that I did not see that we had a conversation about was the industry meetings, and that's something that I'm very interested in being able to get started again.

Um you have my commitment as as I told you last week that I'll be happy to host them.

I'll be happy to partner with whoever it is to create that that space for those vendors and contractors that don't currently bid for any jobs within the city of El Paso to understand why, and maybe there's something that we can improve upon, right?

And it just makes the whole process one more competitive, and that's essentially what we want, I believe, to be able to create that competition within the city versus trying to um create the competition by bringing in uh somebody from out of town.

I'd rather keep those dollars within the city and have them spent here than having to uh to look elsewhere.

So thank you so much for for the presentation today, and I look forward to hearing more about those industry meetings as as we move through the year.

Thank you.

And Claudia, again, yeah, thank you for the presentation.

And I think the the end goal here is we want to get better.

So um and I know at time there's a lot of moving pieces and and things, but ultimately speed to market, you know, looking at some of the benchmarks that Representative Acevedo wants to see across the industry will only help us uh improve.

So again, thank you for the presentation, and we'll see you on the next one.

Yes, thank you, Claudia.

Thank you.

Okay, Miss Bryan.

Council, is there a motion to retire into executive session?

So moved.

There's a motion and a second to retire into executive session.

All in favor?

Anyone opposed?

And the city council of the city of Al Paso, my retirement to executive session pursuing to section 3.5a of the El Paso City Charter and the Texas Government Code Chapter 551, sub chapter D to discuss any of the following.

Executive session item one, claim of of Willie Jenkins claim 786 under 551.071.

Executive session item two, TJW Aviation LLC and Far West Texas and Southern New Mexico Trauma Regional Advisory Council, DBA Border Rack versus City of El Paso Clause Number 2025, DCV 3589, 10551.071.

Executive session item three, application of El Paso Electric Company for approval of an amendment to its generation cost recovery writer to include the Texas Solar One Generation Facility.

PUC number 57974, HQ number utility-65, 10051.071.

Executive session item four, application of El Paso Electric Company to amend its certificate of convenience and necessity.

CCM for a 100 megawatt solar and 100 megawatt battery storage facility, PUC number 57501, HQ number utility-61.

100551.071.

Executive session item five discussion on economic development opportunities in El Paso, Texas.

HQ number three two five-three four-seven one under 551.087.

Executive session item six, discussion on economic development opportunities in Northeast El Paso, Texas.

HQ number 25-5335 under 551.087.

Executive session item seven.

Discussion on economic development opportunities in El Paso, Texas.

HQ number 25 4367 under 551.087.

Executive session item eight, discussion on the purchase exchange lease or value of real property located in northeast El Paso, Texas.

HQ number 24-255 under 551.072.

Executive session item nine, city manager evaluation and legal consultation regarding employment agreement, amendment to the employment agreement, evaluation process and duties of city manager under 551.071 and 551.074.

And executive session item 10.

Legal consultation regarding amendment to the city attorney employment agreement and evaluation form under 551.071, 551.074.

These matters are taken into an executive session under 551.071.

Consultation with attorney.

551.072, deliberation regarding real property, 551.074.

Personnel matters and 551.087.

Deliberation regarding economic development negotiations.

It is 1039 a.m.

All righty.

Okay, Miss Bryan, I believe we're ready.

Is there a motion?

Motion to reconvene.

There's a motion and a second to come out of executive session.

All in favor?

Aye.

Anyone opposed?

And the meeting is back in session at 341 p.m.

We're on EX1.

Mayor Pro Tem.

Thank you, Miss Prime.

Motion made.

Seconded and carried that the city attorney's office in consultation with the city manager be authorized to deny the claim of Willie C.

Jenkins in HQ matter number claim-seven eight six and to take all steps necessary, including the execution of any required documents in order to effectuate this authority.

Yes, the motion was made and read into the record by Mayor Pro Tem Chavez, seconded by Representative Limona, and this is to deny the claim on EX1 on that motion.

Call for the vote again.

That helped me last in the voting session.

And that motion passes unanimously.

Representative Boyer Trejo not present.

EX2.

No action.

Thank you.

EX3.

No action.

Thank you.

EX4.

No action.

Thank you.

EX5.

No action.

Thank you.

EX6.

No action.

Thank you.

EX7.

No action.

Thank you.

EX8.

No action.

Thank you.

EX9.

No action.

Thank you.

EX10.

No action.

Thank you.

That brings us to the end of the agenda.

We have a motion to adjourn.

Is there a second?

There's a motion and a second to adjourn the work session.

All in favor?

Anyone opposed?

And the work session for Monday, August 18th, 2025 is adjourned at 343 p.m.

Thank you, Council.

Thank you, Council.