Santa Clara’s Measure C asks voters to approve a single change to the city charter: raising the dollar threshold that requires City Council approval and formal competitive bidding on public works contracts, from $1,000 to $250,000. It also allows “competitive ‘best value’” contracting methods, principally design-build. There’s no change to the requirement that contracts go to the lowest responsive bidder. The $1,000 limit has been on the books since 1952, when voters approved the original charter.
Measure C is the remaining product of a comprehensive charter overhaul that a review committee spent almost a year drafting. After council members couldn’t agree on several of its provisions, the council directed the city attorney to draft the procurement provision as a standalone ballot measure. The change is important as the city moves forward with infrastructure projects funded by 2024’s $400 million infrastructure bond, Measure I.
The change would allow the city to use alternative construction methods, chiefly design-build, instead of relying only on the conventional design-bid-build process. Design-build — “master-builder” — was the model for construction projects from antiquity until the Industrial Revolution.
Design-build is a project delivery method for construction where a single entity holds the contract for both design and construction, rather than hiring an architect and a contractor separately under two contracts. With a single point of responsibility, design-build reduces the potential for conflict and finger-pointing and opens opportunities for faster completion.
Levi’s Stadium was built with a design-build contract. This required a special state law (carried by state senator Elaine Alquist) and a new city ordinance (Chapter 17.30).
Measure C supporters, which include Council Members Suds Jain and Karen Hardy, say that raising the threshold would allow design-build on larger projects, potentially speeding up construction and reducing bid inflation.
Opponents haven’t filed a formal argument against the measure, but critics include Mayor Lisa Gillmor and Council Member Kelly Cox, who have said that the measure doesn’t define what counts as a “major” project. As the proposed charter change doesn’t use those words, presumably they were referring to “best value contracting.”
This isn’t the first time Santa Clara voters have been asked to raise this threshold. In 1994, Measure L proposed letting the city award public works contracts up to $50,000 without published bid notices, with annual increases tied to inflation. Voters rejected it.
For more information, the city clerk’s office has posted Measure C’s impartial analysis and the argument in favor. The measure needs a simple majority to pass.