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6.1.B. - Page 14 Procurement Cooperation or C -CPC). Unlike the Cities, the County maintains a hybrid centralized/decentralized purchasing system, which includes a dedicated procurement division. Under the County's system, the County of San Mateo's Procurement Division (PD) is generally responsible for purchases of goods that are greater than $5,000, while individual departments retain responsibility for smaller purchases.58 The PD employs a staff of specialized buyers to fulfill its purchasing functions. In FY 2015- 2016, the County spent more than $300 million on goods and services.59 Collaborating with the County's Procurement Department (PD) provides a unique opportunity for C -CPC to maximize cost savings for all parties. As described above, specialized purchasing agents in centralized purchasing departments have the training, experience, and resources to identify superior vendors and negotiate lower prices using their entity's market power. Were the Cities to collaborate with the PD in their purchases of common goods and services, they could increase their purchasing power and thereby facilitate even greater savings than from their own intercity cooperative purchasing agreements. This example demonstrates one way the Cities could collaborate with the PD: • The PD coordinates with City finance officers to identify the common goods and services used by participating entities. • The PD competitively negotiates and awards contracts for those goods and services that allow for the Cities to piggyback on the contract. • During negotiations, PD purchasing agents implement volume -discounting, such that the participation of any of the Cities thereafter unlocks lower prices for all parties. • Once the PD finalizes these contracts, City finance officers disseminate internal lists of preferred vendors under these agreements, in accordance with the Cities' preferred vendor requirements, to their respective departments. • To minimize impact on City employees, and thereby increase transition costs, authorized city employees should be able to buy goods and services in a method similar to their current systems. For instance, buyers would search the County Purchasing System for the desired goods, generate a purchase order through the system, and that pending order would be sent to the appropriate city purchasing authority for review and approval. Upon approval, the County Purchasing System executes the order, sending it to the vendor. The County Purchasing System also tallies the order for discounts, recording and reporting to the City the initial savings from negotiated prices and additional volume discounts. " Interview with County Finance Officials. 59 San Mateo County Civil Grand Jury, "San Mateo County Procurement Division Recommendations Follow -Up" (2017) 2. 2017-2018 San Mateo County Civil Grand Jury 11