DATE: November 17, 2026
TO: Board of Supervisors
SUBMITTED BY: Douglas T. Sloan, County Counsel
SUBJECT: Agreement with Service Provider Thomson Reuters
RECOMMENDED ACTION(S):
TITLE
Under Administrative policy No. 34 for competitive bids or requests for proposals (AP 34) determine that an exception to the competitive bidding requirement under AP 34 is satisfied and a Sole Source-Suspension of Competition is warranted, and that the best interests of the County would be served by entering into an Agreement with West Publishing Corporation Thomson Reuters (Thomson Reuters) as the only vendor suited, equipped and authorized to provide proprietary legal research subscription services; and
Approve and authorize the Chairman to execute a sole source Agreement with Thomson Reuters for the West Proflex legal research subscription, effective December 1, 2026 not to exceed five consecutive years, which includes a five-year base contract, total not to exceed $265,372.
REPORT
There is no additional Net County Cost associated with the recommended actions, which will allow Thomson Reuters to provide County Counsel with West Proflex legal research subscription. The item is countywide.
ALTERNATIVE ACTION(S):
Your Board could not approve the Sole Source-Suspension of Competition and direct County Counsel to work with the General Services Department to do a competitive bid process for these services, however this would create a detrimental gap in the ability of County Counsel to do important and critical research required to support their clients.
SUSPENSION OF COMPETITION/SOLE SOURCE CONTRACT:
It is requested that the County find under AP 34 that an exception to the competitive bidding requirement is satisfied and a suspension of competition is warranted due to unusual and extraordinary circumstances, as Thomson Reuters is the only vendor that provides subscription services with proprietary access to publications that cannot be delivered by any other legal research ven...
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