By Jorge Casuso
January 21, 2022 -- The City Council is poised to approve a $1 million contract to regularly test over the next five months the approximately 220 City employees who are not vaccinated.
The contract with the Los Angeles COVID Testing Corporation also would allow the City to offer other employees free tests during a COVID outbreak, according to City staff's report to the Council.
If approved, the item on Tuesday's consent calendar authorizes the City Manager to negotiate and execute the proposed contract, which would run through June, without competitive bidding.
"Due to the expedited timeline and health and safety concerns, staff was unable to follow the traditional competitive solicitation process," according to the report.
"However, staff did conduct an informal cost assessment with five qualified vendors within the region and were able to negotiate pricing with the selected vendor."
If approved, the City would seek reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) for "all qualifying costs associated with this service," staff wrote.
Under a vaccine mandate the Council approved last August,
employees can seek an exemption "for legitimate medical or religion reasons."
So far, approximately 220 of the City's 1,900 employees have been granted exemptions that require them to undergo weekly testing.
Vaccinated employees are not required to be regularly tested, although the Omicron variant his highly infectious among both the unvaccinated and vaccinated.
"We are testing vaccinated and unvaccinated staff who have a close contact either at work or at home and in instances of an outbreak in an effort to keep our public and staff healthy," Farrell said.
The testing helps "to quickly prevent and manage potential City staff outbreaks," said City spokesperson Constance Farrell.
The proposed contract comes as the price of testing has risen since the City's mandate went into effect on October 29, City officials said.
While COVID testing has taken place throughout the pandemic, costs "greatly increased" in November 2021 "due to full implementation of the City Vaccine Policy and significant rise in cases due to the Omicron variant," Farrell said.
In addition to the PCR testing, the City has purchased antigen tests similar the free testing kits being distributed by the Federal Government, she said.
Last week, the Biden administration announced it would procure 500 million additional at-home rapid COVID-19 tests, doubling the number the U.S. plans to distribute free of charge,
Under the proposed contract, LA COVID Testing Corp. would provide on-site testing by registered nurses "at several times and at different City locations each week," then process and report the results, City officials said.
The cost for these services from November 1, 2021 to date is approximately $130,000, and it is anticipated the $1 million contract will provide testing services through June 30, according to staff..
The City anticipates the testing will be reimbursed by FEMA through its Public Assistance program available to local governments, Farrell said.
"FEMA has shared that they will fund testing to detect COVID-19 infections needed to safely open and operate public facilities," she said.
"The City has already pursued and been successful in obtaining FEMA reimbursement for various COVID-19 projects."
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