Report 2020-301 Recommendation 7 Responses

Report 2020-301: Judicial Branch Procurement: Courts Generally Met Procurement Requirements, but Some Need to Improve Their Payment Practices (Release Date: January 2021)

Recommendation #7 To: Superior Court of California, County of San Bernardino

To comply with the requirements of state law, each court should immediately implement policies and procedures for notifying the State Auditor within 10 business days of entering into all contracts with estimated values over $1 million, except those contracts exempted from the notification requirement in state law.

60-Day Agency Response

The Superior Court of San Bernardino County (Court) submitted required notification for both benefit contracts (for Kaiser and Blue Shield) totaling over $1 million individually on January 14, 2021. Supporting documentation of these email notifications will be provided to [the State Auditor]. The Court already had an existing process and documented procedure in place for notification on all other contracts exceeding $1 million. The two benefit contracts not originally submitted were due to prior direction received from Judicial Council staff.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Fully Implemented

As part of its 60-day response, the court provided documentation that it is now notifying our office of certain types of contracts it previously believed were exempt from the notification requirement in state law.

All Recommendations in 2020-301

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.