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The San Bernardino City Council abruptly cancelled a $410,000 public relations contract with Orange County based Westbound Communications at its January 16 meeting nine months into their fifteen month contract. The contract had been approved by the previous city council in April, 2018.
The hiring of Westbound Communications continued a pattern by Inland Empire cities and local agencies of hiring expensive firms from outside of the region, while ignoring local firms who could provide the same professional services while keeping tax dollars in the region.
The City of San Bernardino issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) in early 2018 for communication services. Eleven qualified agencies replied to the RFP and a committee made up exclusively of the City Manager and City Staff recommended Westbound Communications, which was not the lowest qualified bidder.
Elected officials including the Mayor and Councilmembers were excluded from the selection process and none of the competing proposals were made available to the elected representatives for comparison or review.
Councilmember Jim Mulvihill stated during the hearing that constituents in his ward “hadn’t heard from Westbound Communications.” Councilmember Theodore Sanchez commented that the program “was not adequate” before making the motion to terminate Westbound Communications multiyear, million dollar contract.
Newly elected Mayor John Valdivia noted that councilmembers had not been included in the communications process except for a single focus group.
The initial contract was for $10,000 a month, with an additional $91,000 branding project which had not been included in the original RFP. In August, the contract was augmented with an additional $169,000 for other public information services after the city released its Public Information Officer, which again was not separately put out for bids. Extensions for an additional two years were available under the contract for $335,000 each with the approval of the City Manager.
Westbound Communications maintains conflicting contracts with the San Bernardino County Transportation Authority for services related to Toll Lanes on the Interstate 10 Freeway and the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians adjacent to the city.
Councilmember Sanchez’s motion was seconded by Councilmember Sandra Ibarra, another newly elected member of the city council. The council tied on a three to three vote, but the termination was approved with Mayor Valdivia breaking the tie under the new city charter rules.
