City Non-Profit Contracting Task Force

City Nonprofit Contracting Task Force
Recommendations of the Master Contracts Committee
9/3/02 draft

Problem -This Committee was created to recommend ways to simplify, streamline and standardize the contracting process for nonprofit human service providers who now experience problems with:

1. A complicated renewal process for ongoing service contracts that must be redone and recertified each year, usually after services have begun, resulting in payment delays and violation of the boilerplate requirement for approval before commencement.

2. Multiple agreements with different departments or divisions that must be processed as separate contracts each year.

The committee took its name from the initial suggested solution of "master contracts". This idea comes from a review of "best practices" in other counties (like Alameda) that establish an open-ended contract without a dollar amount with each nonprofit agency. The annual fiscal encumbrance to "execute" the contract includes a brief scope of work with outcome objectives and a composite budget; multiple agreements are consolidated under this one master contract. By simplifying document submission and approval processes, contracts are routinely certified before the start of the new fiscal year. The Deputy City Attorney working with the Task Force has said that this solution cannot work in San Francisco because our administrative code does not permit open-ended contracts.

Recommendations - To assure the efficient renewal of contracts and timely payment for on-going services, all departments should:

1. Use a central depository of compliance documents for each nonprofit service ontractor, containing updated copies of required paperwork such as nonprofit determination letter, board of directors list, insurance coverage certificates, etc. This central depository should be maintained by the Office of Contract Administration and accessible on-line to program managers in every contracting department, and to contractors for their own information.

2. Increase automation of the contracting process with on-line submission of documents and approvals. (e.g., DCYF system, DPH "contracts on-line" pilot)

3. Simplify and consolidate necessary information about services and finances on standard forms.

4. Develop and use a multi-year contract with contingency funding (that allows year-to-year flexibility in allocations) when the City plans to have an ongoing relationship with a contractor providing consistent services.

5. Start the process of submitting and approving documents early enough to assure timely payment for ongoing services. (6) To more efficiently manage multiple contracts between the City and a non-profit agency that performs similar work for different parts of city government, consolidate contracts from various departments into a primary or lead department to administer the overall contract with a non-profit service provider.