Berks County Connection Podcast
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Berks County Connection Podcast
Purchasing Department
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A look at the County of Berks purchasing procedures with George Rodriguez, Director of Contracts and Procurement, and Berks County Controller Joe Rudderow.
Hi, County Controller Joe Ruttero here again for this episode of County Connections. It's great to be back in front of the viewers again, and I am excited today to uh have my guest uh for this next uh half hour to talk about county government, and that is my guest today is George Rodriguez. He is the director of contracts and procurement for the county of Berks. Hi, George, and welcome. Thank you, Joe. It's great to be here. Yes, good to have you. There's uh there's a lot uh I hope that the viewers will learn today and and the important role that you have in uh at the county and making sure that uh purchasing and those contracts uh are uh properly done to protect the taxpayer. Um so uh George typically, and I know um I kind of uh uh like to get a little bit of history of of the office, and and I know that prior to this um we chatted a little bit and and uh it it wasn't quite as easy to figure out what the history, but I think it's safe to assume uh that um it probably existed from the very beginning of the county uh when you have purchasing involved, and and I think it's probably grown to uh what it is today, maybe more defined in the last hundred years, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, definitely. I mean, back when the county first started in the 1700s, they had to buy something, so I'm sure they had somebody that took care of that for them.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I would think, and it might very well have been um uh just a few people, right? Um but the uh importance of of uh the purchasing department, if you will, or procurement in the county is really vital to uh protecting the taxpayer, uh ensuring county government can be as efficient as it possibly can. Oh, definitely. Uh and you know, and it's and and it probably sounds a lot easier than it really is, because I know that uh depending on what you're working on in in your department, uh it it can be very involved. So I'm looking forward to getting into a little bit of that as we get a little further along. Um but in the interim, for the viewers' sake, why don't we um you know how long have you been the director?
SPEAKER_00I'm fairly new to the director role. I just became the director back in June of 2025. Okay. So uh and and how long have you been in in the purchasing or the procurement office? I've been with the uh county procurement office since December of 2017, so a little over eight years now. Okay, great, great.
SPEAKER_01And um the who who did you proceed in terms of the directorship?
SPEAKER_00Uh prior to me, the director uh was Kelly Lawbuck. Uh Kelly left uh last summer to take another position at another county.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Um so you've got uh years of experience in the office, you're now um in charge of the office. Yes. Um and how big, why don't we share with the viewers, how big is is your office?
SPEAKER_00We are not we're probably one of the smaller uh county departments. I like to say that we are small, but we're mighty. Uh so uh right now we have a staff of seven, uh fully staffed. Uh hopefully we will be soon this year. Uh we'll be a group of ten. Okay.
SPEAKER_01That is that is pretty small, right? Yeah. But uh big impact though, right? On on uh on the budget, I'm sure, right?
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah, definitely. Uh we we touch every county department. Uh we are a support role for the county, so we try to help out as much as we can and make sure that everyone is able to have the uh goods and services they need to perform their functions.
SPEAKER_01So you have 10 team members, and how does that break down in your department? Do you have a uh deputy? Uh do you have why don't you walk through the positions you have and and and feel free to mention those who are in those positions if you wish?
SPEAKER_00Sure. Uh my right now I'm the director. Uh the hope is that we will have a deputy director uh sometime before the end of this year. Um in addition, we have a procurement manager. Uh his name is Man Zorzaki. Uh he has some previous federal uh purchasing experience overseas. Um we have a contract manager, Stephanie Kofki, who's been in the role for about a year now, has been doing a great job. Uh we have uh a senior buyer, Jennifer Rhodes, who's been with the county. She's our longest tenured employee in our department. She's uh gonna be 14 years this Sunday. So we're happy about that. Uh another buyer we have is Amber Axon Good, who came to us uh a little over a year ago as well. Uh we have a senior contract coordinator, Devin Glover, uh, who has some previous uh state experience with the state uh Veterans Affairs Office. Uh and we have a new senior contract coordinator starting uh later this month, early February, Melanie Olson, uh, who will be specializing on contracts for our Children and Youth Services Agency.
SPEAKER_01Okay, and then uh is there anyone else in your department? Do you have um counsel in there as well?
SPEAKER_00Or we have we work closely with the solicitor's office. There is a solicitor, uh Derek Smith, uh, who is right next door to my office, so it's always great to have uh a lawyer that can give you free legal advice next door to you. Uh so it's but it is great to have that.
SPEAKER_01That's uh that's good. Um I thought so, you know, that because it's not just uh I guess there's a lot more and you can uh explain shortly on what goes into that process, and and I guess some of it might be real simple and others a little bit more complex depending on what what the county is purchasing. Right. Exactly. Um so uh tell us um uh kind of what is what is the mission? Do you have a mission statement for the purchasing department?
SPEAKER_00We uh we do to summarize it, it's really to make sure that uh we are procuring uh goods and services uh for all county departments at the uh fairest and best price. Um we uh like I mentioned earlier, we do touch every department, so we need to ensure that we are following it depending on the complexity of the purchase. We want we have code requirements that we need to follow, and we need to make sure that we are uh following all code and making sure that we are getting the best price because it all comes down to taxpayer dollars.
SPEAKER_01So there there is some the the state defines certain aspects, correct, and certain limits, right? Yeah. So um maybe share with the viewers so um uh uh somebody needs to make a smaller purchase. What at what point do they need to have a more formal interaction with your department? Where what are some of those dollar thresholds?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so uh any any purchase that is made has to come through us. We are the central uh procurement agency for the county. Anything that would be in excess of $13,200 would have to uh get multiple quotes. Okay. Uh and then the next threshold will be $24,500. Anything in excess of that would require public bidding. Okay. That is, unless it is exempt from um those uh procurements, which is mandated through the state's county procurement code.
SPEAKER_01Yes, so townships ha have a similar, I'm not sure it's the exact same, maybe it is the exact same, but I remember that there were limits as well where you could get three, you know, telephone quotes maybe if it was under some dollar amount and then over it it needed to be uh put out for public bid.
SPEAKER_00And those thresholds are are set by the uh Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, and they are uh increased each year depending on CPI. It's capped at 3 percent. Okay.
SPEAKER_01So it will adjust as each year. It'll it'll adjust. Um and um uh uh uh with those thresholds um uh uh you said there's some exemptions. So any exemptions that you can um that come to mind in terms of where you wouldn't need to uh get something, if you will?
SPEAKER_00Uh so professional services, um so uh architectural uh services, engineering services, uh those services are exempt, software is exempt, um uh maintenance, just general maintenance and repairs, those are exempt. Those are probably the bigger uh exemptions that we face on a regular basis. So would they be handled through a um uh an RFP type procedure? They could. We do have some RFPs that uh for professional services, uh and we do that uh really just to make sure that we are getting the the best uh partner to work with the county to provide those services for us.
SPEAKER_01So it's your it's so it's the county's way of interviewing um folks to provide a service to the county. Yes. Um and and I know that there's a couple uh you know um acronyms, so request for professional services, right? Is that the RPF?
SPEAKER_00Is that the technical uh RFP is RP? RFP. Yep, request for proposals. Okay. So we're we're asking them for proposals. The two main ones are RFPs uh and ITBs, which are invitations to bid. Um invitations to bid is where uh we basically, for the most part, that you think of like a construction project. If we're working on a bridge, uh we're replacing the superstructure on a bridge. We have an engineer that already provided us technical specifications of exactly what needs to be done. Okay. So we are asking for contractors to give us the price for exactly that work. Uh so they base their their bid on that, and then we take the lowest responsive, responsible bid.
SPEAKER_01So let's let's bite into that a little bit. Um and so uh as you started to identify you you have a project, you had an engineer that has given you the specs of what needs to be done. Walk the viewer through like the next step. I know you just gave a quick how it goes, but explain what what actually is the next step. Like um uh is it published in a in uh on the website? Is it published in the newspaper? Yeah and and walk us through that.
SPEAKER_00Once once we have uh once we have the engineers for for this example, we have the engineer specifications, we will work with our internal stakeholders to make sure that we have a document that everyone is happy with. Uh then we will publish that on our county website. We also have to advertise it in the local publication, which is the Running Eagle. Uh we have to do two separate publications, a minimum of three days apart. So we will do those. Uh we will also schedule what we call a pre-bid meeting. Uh so for this example, we will have a meeting at the actual bridge site. We'll we'll schedule a date and time where contractors can come, meet with us, ask questions, look at look at the site, uh, take pictures, anything that will help them in determining getting the fairest bid that they can provide. Um we'll also it they're not limited to questions during that meeting. They are free to ask questions up to uh whatever deadline is set for that particular ITB. Uh and then they have to submit their bids. Uh right now we have the have they are provided uh they are providing sealed bids that are actually delivered to the county controller's office. Uh you are the the repository for the county bids. Uh and then uh we do a public bid opening. We do that over Microsoft Teams. Uh someone from the county controller's office does attend those bid openings uh to be present. And uh then we do the tabulations for the bid. Uh we do some checks and all the documentation to ensure that all the required documentation was provided. Um And who who sets the requirements, right?
SPEAKER_01So I'm sure there's uh uh in some cases a person might need to hold a bond, uh performance bond. Uh is that would that be one of them?
SPEAKER_00Or so if it's anything that is, if it's a construction project, uh uh each bidder will have to provide a bid bond uh that is 10 that in the amount of 10 percent of their bid price. Um there's some other documentation they need to provide, a non-collusion affidavit uh just to ensure just for them to basically testify that they have not colluded with anyone on this bid. Uh there's some other documentation uh uh that that are state mandated, uh a worker protection and investment firm, just uh form just to make sure that, just for them to state that they are following all proper employee uh insurance and benefit requirements that the state mandates.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so that's to protect the county as and and I guess I guess really to protect the county to make sure that the the outfit that that um that well I guess in the sense of multiple bidders, they're they're all they're they all have to meet the same requirements. Yes. So there's your there's your fairness, right? Uh and of course it's a sealed bid, so um, you know, uh the the typical is it the lowest responsible bidder, or is it is there anything that when you get to the bid opening, because everyone has been given the same opportunity to bid on the project, having all the same opportunities to go out to the site, visit with the site, ask questions, um provide uh whatever those um insurances and um financial uh bonds that are needed to ensure that they can in fact complete the work.
SPEAKER_00Um and and so um what so finish me on the So uh so I always like to say it's not just the low bid, it's the lowest responsive, responsible bid. So responsive basically states that they met all the requirements, all the bid requirements. Responsible means they can actually do the work. Uh so if we're repl doing replacing the superstructure on a bridge, we can't just have anyone submit a bid. It needs to be someone qualified to do the work. Uh a lot of times we will work with the subject matter expert on that project, if it's an engineer or an architect, and have them do an analysis as well. Um very few and far between have we ever had to say that someone is not responsible, but we do want to ensure that we go through that process just to make sure we're not bringing someone on to work on a county project that it could end up being a major problem or a safety hazard if it's gonna be a bridge. Right.
SPEAKER_01Okay, good. Um and and that process uh has been very effective over the years. Um obviously some of it is dictated by law, but others is probably some uh things that your your office has added in for those extra protections, correct?
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah. We want to make sure that we have the right partner for the county. Again, we're stewards of taxpayer funds, so we want to make sure we're spending that money wisely. Perfect.
SPEAKER_01Um and um so that's on the uh invitation to bid, and and that does that tend to be the majority of what you guys work on uh are the invitations to bid versus the next question will be the RFPs that we get into that?
SPEAKER_00Uh we we do more invitations to bid than bids than RFPs. Um depending on the year and the number of projects that are going on. It generally does seem to be maybe like three-quarters of what will we do will probably be invitations to bid, and the other quarter will be RFPs.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Um and on the RFPs, similar process, but walk us through that um and uh so the viewer has the opportunity to understand the difference between the two. Um and that's and I'll let you explain.
SPEAKER_00Sure. Sure. So an RFP, so in the ITB, we had a set tech set of specifications that we wanted them to bid on. The RFP, we're kind of giving them a basic guideline. Here's what we want to accomplish. So you give us a proposal to let us know how you're gonna get to that point. We give them a lot of uh structure in that. We don't just basically give them a sentence and say, here, figure it out. But uh we we basically lay it out for them this is what we want you to do. It's not necessarily everyone is coming back and pitching the same exact service. There's there's gonna be some nuances based on what they're doing. And this is all gonna be based on professional services. Um and with that process, uh it it is similar. Instead of doing a pre-bid meeting, we have a pre-proposal conference, allow them, we'll usually do that over Microsoft Teams, allow them to ask questions, go through the whole uh the whole RFP document. Uh and and once it comes in, here is where we're not subject to accepting the lowest price uh because what we're looking for is the best value for the county. So there will be a formal evaluation. We'll we'll get members to serve on an evaluation committee and they will review um the proposals that are submitted. The first round of of the evaluation that they go through when reviewing those proposals, they're not even looking at the price. They're just looking at the statements, the proposals that the firms are giving us on what they're going to do. Uh they score that uh price unknown. The second round is when we share the pricing information with them. Then they look at that and they base the value of what what the uh the proposer provided in their technical proposal. Now, what's the value based on the what they want to charge us for that? Um and we go through that process, the evaluation, we look at the scores, we aggregate that, and then we determine who was going to be the best fit for the county.
SPEAKER_01And then generally, um in in some cases I know because we recently did this on the retirement board for actuarial services. So uh once the once the evaluations were done, the interviews were done, um everything that needed to be confirmed was confirmed, and we had finalists, uh then that was um presented to the retirement board. Uh and then uh wash the information uh how you got to the finalist was shared and and questions uh well actually in that case the the two finalists had an opportunity to present in front of the retirement board, and which uh then uh after they did that, then the retirement board was in a position to take action. Um is that how it's generally, or in some cases it's not necessarily going before a particular board like the retirement board or the board of commissioners, um that you don't have to present, or we don't get to that point where there's a presentation and a board's deciding.
SPEAKER_00Yes. Uh most of the time, so so that one was really more of the anomaly uh because that that RFP was being done for the retirement board. So the retirement board, the it was really on the retirement board to make that final determination on who they wanted to select.
SPEAKER_01You did all the legwork, all the investigation, got all the answers, presented it, the finalists got the opportunity to present, um, and then that board made the decision. So in that case, the process you were more of a rec recommending, I guess, almost, right? You got it down to the finalist, uh, and then the board could take action. So in the case where it's not doing that, how how is that final decision determined and who determines that?
SPEAKER_00So uh depending on the RFP, we we form an evaluation committee. Uh so uh we we like to make sure that we have someone from the uh end user department, county department that's going to be using those services. Uh for example, we're doing we have one out right now for uh congregate meals for our uh area of agency. Um I'm sorry, the area aging. The area agency on aging. I was gonna give that one. Triple A. Uh just call them aging. But uh so we have that, and there are gonna be some members from our aging department. Our aging department has an advisory board. Uh there will be some members from that advisory board that will serve on there as well. They will review that, and once they come up with their final scores after they review the proposals and the pricing, then we will go with that final score. The highest scoring firm is who we will go with. Okay.
SPEAKER_01So in that case, um you're you're scoring it and and then they'll go with Okay, perfect. Um and it really sounds like there's a lot of thought, there's a lot of effort. So it's not it's not uh a decision's not made quickly on any of these. This is a process, and a process probably designed to go a little bit slower just to make sure that all the I's are dotted and T's are? Yep, definitely. Yeah, good. Um in any other type of, you know, we've we've talked about the general purchasing that uh, you know, obviously that folks can do in the county. We've talked about uh bigger projects, invitations to bid, we've talked about um the professional services aspect. Anything else um that you want to mention in terms of uh different type of of requirement or purchasing, or does that pretty much cover it?
SPEAKER_00Uh that pretty much covers for the for the larger items, then we we do have the everyday items, you know, people need office supplies, uh, you know, any any kind of maintenance services that our facilities department needs, repairs. Um, you know, unfortunately we have buildings that sometimes, you know, uh the sprinkler system will malfunction and we have to get that repaired. So just various things like that. So it runs the gamut. We touch every a every department uh uh agency, uh whether it's the jail, the nursing home, uh facilities, aging, human resources. Versus controller's office, everyone uh eventually comes through us.
SPEAKER_01Good to know. Um so your the your website uh if if people want to find out more about the the contracts and procurement, um it's www.berkspa.gov, and then um under services you would find uh contracts and procurement. Um now is that is that a place to um if the let me ask you this do you have any openings in in their purchasing right now? Uh yes, currently we do have an open buyer position. Okay, and is that something that is uh that position is that still available on the county website? Yes. So there's where anyone interested in uh joining uh George's team uh and want wants to be considered for that, you would go to uh burkspa.gov and then career opportunities. Uh in there will be all open job opportunities in the county, but you could select um the job that George just mentioned. Um your website did have some good information on it. I did peek at it. Anything there specific that you'd like to point out to the viewer?
SPEAKER_00Uh so one thing we have uh we have uh um it's called iSupplier. Uh so we utilize uh Oracle for our um ERP system, which is enterprise resource planning, if I'm correct. I'm not an IS person, but I believe that's what it is. Uh we just call it our ERP system. Uh so iSupplier allows uh vendors to uh it's it's an interface with that system. So if we do put an RFQ, a request for quotes on our system, and if you're signed up through iSupplier, you're eligible to submit a quote. If that's something that your company will be able to provide goods or services for.
SPEAKER_01And that's open to anyone, anyone that wants to go on the website and sign up for iSupplier has the ability to do business with the county of Burks. Yep. And and anything else in that that regard um that you want to mention? We're we're we are starting to run out of time. So sure. Um anything specific uh around iSupplier or anything else that you'd like to share with the viewers?
SPEAKER_00In addition to iSupplier, just more so in general, not necessarily uh related to iSupplier, but uh I just anyone watching, if you are a local company in in in Berks and if you want to do business with the county, we highly encourage you uh to uh reach out. Sometimes it may be daunting to bid on a county project. You may think there's a lot of red tape, and honestly there is some red tape, but it may not be as bad as you think it is. Um but we want to encourage you to always, you know, try to work with the county, submit uh bids for county projects if it's something that is uh that your company can can handle, uh, can do for us. Uh we are I'm in some I'm in communications with the uh Greater Reading Chamber Alliance to try to put the word out there a little more. Uh we're looking at possibly doing some workshops this year, uh get local companies in. Um it would be great. There it's disappointing sometimes when we do a bid, we get one bid in and it's from a company outside of the county or outside of the state when we know that there are companies within Burks that can do that for us. Uh so that's why I just encourage you if you are a Burks, uh if you own a company here in Burks, reach out to the purchasing department, talk to us. Uh we want to encourage you to submit bids and uh be a vendor for the county.
SPEAKER_01Wow, that's great, George, and and I think that's welcomed very much so, and I'm sure the business community will will also um hopefully respond well to that because uh I know that you've put a lot of hard work and time into it, and I know that uh um you know the county government and Burks is here to to help the residents of the county in every way it can, and and getting local businesses uh uh being able to bid and and hopefully win those bids, right? Um would be good because it's really helping to keep the money in the community. And I think that's yeah, that's great. It's Burks taxpayer money for the most part, so if it can stay in Burks, that'll be great. Yeah, that's awesome. Um and uh any other uh in our and kind of um anything else you'd like to share with the viewers at this time? Um we're down to the last few minutes here. Sure. And uh just if if not, then I want to thank you for joining me today. And I'm gonna uh just shift the gears right now and I want to talk to uh our viewers and just remind them that um please visit the controller's website um and see if you have any money that the county might have that's yours uh that we'd like to get back to you. So it's uh under the um controller's office website. You would go to uh unclaimed checks. Uh we have three years listed there. You can click on that, look for your name. Uh if you happen to find your name or you you see someone else's name that you know, make them aware of it, and our procedure on how to uh reclaim that money is on your screen. And uh as always, we we're trying to reunite you with uh money that the county might have that's yours. So uh and I greatly appreciate uh your time and attention today to our uh County Connections show, and I want to thank you and County Controller Joe Rutterer until the next time.