REPORT TO THE CITY COUNCIL
DATE: March 10, 2022
FROM: PACO BALDERRAMA, Chief of Police
Police Department/Office of the Chief
BY: MARK SALAZAR, Deputy Police Chief
Police Department/Investigative Division
SUBJECT
Title
Award a Requirements Contract for Sexual Assault Kit Initiative Grant 2020 “Testing of Partially Tested Kits” in an amount not to exceed $203,700 for three years with no extension options to Bode Cellmark Forensics, Bid File No. 9616.
Body
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends the City Council approve an agreement with Bode Cellmark Forensics in an amount not to exceed $203,700 for three years with no extension options and authorize the Chief of Police, or designee, to execute all contract documents on behalf of the City. This agreement would be to perform DNA analysis of sexual assault kits.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
On September 3, 2021, the City released a Request for Proposals (RFP #9616) requesting proposals for a Requirements Contract for Sexual Assault Kit Initiative Grant 2020 “Testing of Partially Tested Kits”. The RFP received two responses and an evaluation committee comprised of Police Department personnel within the Sex Crimes Unit of the Family Justice Bureau and Grants Management Unit unanimously recommends that Bode Cellmark Forensics be awarded the contract not to exceed $203,700 for a three-year contract period. Funding for this contract is available with grant funding from the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI) 2020 grant and the new contract would begin February 17, 2022.
BACKGROUND
While investigating cold cases from 2016 to 2018 with funding from the 2019 SAKI grant, FPD discovered that there were Sexual Assault Kits (SAKs) in our inventory that the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) would classify as “partially tested.” Of the approximate 2,500 SAKs in our inventory, it is estimated that nearly 50% have suspect DNA profiles while the others do not. Many of the backlog cases have been worked by SAKI detectives and resubmitted to the lab for testing, however, it is believed there are still SAKs that are partially tested, or at a minimum, cases that have additional evidence that can be tested.
A committee consisting of a Police Officer from the Fresno Police Department SAKI Grant unit, the retired Director of the Fresno Department of Justice Regional Laboratory and the Fresno Police Department Grants Management Unit Manager was formed to develop an RFP for the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative Grant 2020, “Testing of Partially Tested Kits”.
On September 3, 2021, the committee released RFP (#9616) for Requirements Contract for Sexual Assault Kit Initiative Grant 2020 “Testing of Partially Tested Kits”. When the RFP closed on September 28, 2021, it received a total of two responses. Respondents were Bode Cellmark Forensics and Utah Cold Case Coalition, Inc. dba Intermountain Forensics.
Upon the committee’s thorough reviews and discussions of the submissions, on October 21, 2021, Bode Cellmark Forensics was unanimously selected as the vendor of choice. The committee believes that Bode Cellmark Forensics has the experience, service and quality past performance to provide the best value to the City. In addition, the other RFP responder, Intermountain Forensics did not provide their audited financial statements as required in the RFP and has been deemed non-responsive.
Although Bode Cellmark Forensics bid was higher than the other RFP responder, Bode’s years of experience, expertise, the staff available to handle large testing projects, their gold standard reputation for products and service, and the ability to meet deadlines and provide the required report within the request time frame, makes Bode the better choice for this critical project.
ENVIRONMENTAL FINDING
This is not a “project” for the purposes of CEQA, pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15378.
LOCAL PREFERENCE
Local preference is not applicable because only one local business submitted a bid and that bid was non-responsive.
FISCAL IMPACT
There will be no net impact to the general fund. The 2020 SAKI grant provides full cost recovery for all positions, operations, training, equipment, testing and supplies for this program during the period of the grant. Expenses will be claimed and reimbursed on a quarterly basis.
ATTACHMENTS
Committee Evaluation Report
RFP #9616 Evaluation Form