Supes Challenge Health Department's No-Bid, Anti-Union Contract

From his first days as a San Francisco Supervisor, Gavin Newsom preached the gospel of competitive bidding and avoiding sole-source contracts. Newsom promoted this agenda upon becoming mayor in 2004, and soon even contracts long held by groups were put up for bid.

But the San Francisco DPH appears to care little about the Mayor's policies regarding bidding and contracting out city services to non-union contractors. DPH has violated both the Mayor's policy and the city's master contract with SEIU by entering into a backroom $5.2 million deal with an unincorporated association known as DISH, that it created to manage its supportive housing. DPH's action has aroused opposition on the Board of Supervisors, and President Aaron Peskin is urging his colleagues to pass a resolution requiring that the DISH deal go out for competitive bidding.