OFFICE OF THE CITY AUDITOR
Roland E. Smith, CPA
City Auditor

July 8, 2003

TO: President De La Fuente and Members of the City Council

SUBJECT: A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE AGENCY ADMINI-STRATOR TO NEGOTIATE AND EXECUTE A PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AGREEMENT FOR FY 2003-05 IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $485,000 WITH THE OAKLAND COMMERCE CORPORATION FOR ONGOING BUSINESS RETENTION AND EXPANSION SERVICES TO BUSINESSES IN OAKLAND, DEVELOPMENT OF A TARGETED RETAIL RETENTION PROGRAM, AND OPERATION AND MANAGEMENT OF THE BUSINESS ALERT CRIME PREVENTION PROGRAM IN THE COLISEUM AREA, AND AUTHORIZING AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $15,000 FOR CONTRACT COMPLIANCE MONITORING COSTS

PURPOSE AND SCOPE

In accordance with the Measure H Charter Amendment, which was passed by the voters at the General election of November 5, 1996, we have made an impartial financial analysis of the accompanying Council Agenda Report and Proposed Resolution. The purpose of our analysis was to evaluate the reasonableness of the proposed professional services agreement. In making our analysis we reviewed the Agenda Report and Proposed Resolution, as well as the attached Oakland Commerce Corporation budget and 2002 Annual Business Survey commissioned by the Corporation. We also discussed various matters with Agency staff.

Since our impartial financial analysis was not an audit, we did not apply Government Auditing Standards as issued by the Comptroller General of the United States.

SUMMARY

The Oakland Commerce Corporation is a non-profit corporation that has contracted with the City of Oakland since 1989 to conduct outreach to Oakland businesses and provide technical assistance to those businesses, including help in accessing appropriate services from the Community and Economic Development Agency and other City agencies.

FISCAL IMPACT

The contract will not exceed $485,000 over the Fiscal Years 2003-2005, and will not exceed $242,500 for each year. This is a yearly increase of $25,645 over the previous two-year contract period, and will be used primarily to fund the new Coliseum Retail Business Retention Program.

In addition to the contract costs, $7,500 per year will be used for Contract Compliance Monitoring, bringing the total project costs to $500,000 for the two-year period.

Funding will come from the Fiscal Year 2003-05 budget of the Oakland Redevelopment Agency, and will be used as summarized below:

CONCLUSION

The proposed resolution appears to be reasonable.

Prepared by:

Jack McGinity, CPA

Issued by:

Roland E. Smith, CPA
City Auditor

Report completion date:
June 24, 2003