Contract Risk Assessment Scorecard

About the Program

Category: County Administration and Management (Best in Category)

Year: 2020

Contract Risk Assessment Scorecard:The San Bernardino County (County) Purchasing Department’s Compliance Unit is responsible for administering approximately 250 countywide contracts. This effort involves desk auditing and site visits to ensure contract compliance. Because the work unit is small and the responsibility significant, prioritization of contracts in an effort to mitigate risk has been a challenge.To eliminate subjectivity in the process, staff developed a quantitative assessment tool to assess the level of risk presented by each contract. Five areas are measured, as follows:(1) Total Dollar Value(2) Level of Interest / Potential for Perception Problems(3) Risk and Visibility(4) Past Contractor Performance with the County(5) Complexity of the Contract or ProjectThe monitoring tool takes these areas into consideration by scoring each based on defined criteria, and it can tailored to individual situations and contractual requirements. Ultimately, it builds contractor risk assessment history, determines the frequency of compliance review, and informs the choice of on-site or desk audit review. In the year since its inception the Compliance Unit has been able to assess and determine which, when, and how many times a year vendors were monitored, giving priority to those contracts that present the greatest risks.