[Adopted 8-17-2010 by L.L. No. 49-2010 (Ch. 143, Art. IX, of the 1985 Code)]
A. 
This Legislature hereby finds and determines that New York General Municipal Law requires that when goods and services are not procured by competitive bidding, they must be procured in a manner so as to ensure the prudent use of public money, the acquisition of goods and services of maximum quality at the lowest cost possible, and to guard against favoritism, extravagance, fraud and corruption.
B. 
This Legislature also finds that Chapter 1065, Purchasing, Article II, of the Suffolk County Code governs procurement of consulting services by the County of Suffolk. While this article of the Suffolk County Code generally requires advertised requests for proposals (RFPs) for consultant contracts in excess of $25,000, the County is permitted to waive RFPs for certain services "requiring special or technical skills."
C. 
This Legislature also finds that the legislative oversight of consultant hiring should be strengthened to ensure that consultants are not performing functions that would be better carried out by County employees. Further, strong oversight and scrutiny is required to ensure that RFPs are being utilized in all possible instances and that consultants are hired strictly on the basis of merit and that favoritism is not influencing the process.
D. 
Therefore, the purpose of this article is to require County department heads to notify the Legislature when they contract for consulting services.
As used in this article, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
CONSULTING SERVICES
The expertise, advice, professional services or any other personal services provided by any individual, corporation, partnership or other entity to the County of Suffolk, including, but not limited to, design work, planning work and medical, legal, engineering, computer, accounting, budgeting, lobbying or educational services.
DEPARTMENT HEAD
The commissioner or director of any duly established department, office or agency of Suffolk County government.
A. 
A department head shall notify the Clerk of the Suffolk County Legislature, in writing, when his or her department, office or agency hires and contracts for consulting services. Such notification shall be made whether or not the consulting services contract results from a request for proposals. Notification shall be made by a department head simultaneously upon the execution of a contract for consulting services. The Clerk of the County Legislature shall disseminate the notification to each member of the County Legislature.
B. 
The notification provided by a department head pursuant to Subsection A herein shall include the following information:
(1) 
The name and business address of the consultant;
(2) 
The term of the agreement;
(3) 
The amount of the consulting services agreement;
(4) 
Whether the contract for consulting services resulted from a request for proposals; and
(5) 
If no request for proposals was issued, an explanation why a request for proposals was not issued.
C. 
A department head shall provide a copy of a consulting services contract to any member of the County Legislature who makes a request for said contract.
The provisions of this article shall not apply to the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office, the Suffolk County Police Department and the Suffolk County Sheriff's Office.
This article shall apply to contracts for consulting services entered into on or after the effective date of this article.