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Sheriff's Office recommending the Board:
1) Make findings in accordance with Chapter 3.13, Section 3.13.030(b) County Ordinance, that the work requires specialty skills and qualifications not expressly identified in County classifications, in order to continue contracting out forensic toxicology testing services with National Medical Services, Inc;
2) Make findings in accordance with Procurement Policy C-17 3.4.2. (f), exempting the competitive bidding process, with Purchasing Agent concurrence, because “the procurement is for goods where the continuity of providers will provide efficiency or critical knowledge, and other providers of the goods cannot provide similar efficiencies or critical knowledge”;
3) Approve and authorize the Chair to sign Amendment I to Agreement 6850 with National Medical Services, Inc., for forensic analysis and toxicology services increasing compensation by $150,000, for an amount not to exceed $340,000, with no change to the term; and
4) Authorize the Purchasing Agent to approve amendments and increase the Agreement 6850 on an “as-needed” basis during the Agreement term as long as funding is available within the requesting department’s budget
FUNDING: General Fund.
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DISCUSSION / BACKGROUND
National Medical Services, Inc., provides advanced forensic toxicology, endocrinology and criminalist laboratory services that are paramount to verifying the cause of death in Coroner cases. Currently, El Dorado County does not have the equipment, tools, or qualified staff to provide these services. It is more economical and feasible to continue to contract out these services.
There are currently no plans for the Sheriff’s Office to take on laboratory testing in the near future even with a morgue being house in the Public Safety Facility due to the amount of equipment and training required for laboratory testing.
National Medical Services, Inc. has been providing selected forensic analyses and toxicology services for the El Dorad...
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