2022-07-12: Contracting Out for Covered Services (AFSCME Article 5, Regents Policy 5402, and SB 820) (On Behalf of Chuck Haines, Associate Chancellor, Finance and Resource Management)

Created by Marc Miller
Jul 13, 2022
3 min read

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July 12, 2022

To:     Campus Community

Fr:      Chuck Haines, Associate Chancellor, Finance and Resource Management

Re:     Contracting Out for Covered Services (AFSCME Article 5, Regents Policy

           5402, and SB 820)

Article 5 and Regents Policy 5402

 

As many of you are aware, as of January 2020, Regents Policy 5402 and Article 5 of the UC and AFSCME Service Unit (SX) and Patient Care Technical (EX) Unit contracts imposed new restrictions on the UC’s ability to contract out for “Covered Services.” Covered Services are services that have been traditionally performed by AFSCME-represented employees on our campus and include, without limitation, the following:

 

·        cleaning, custodial, janitorial or housekeeping services

·        food services (including catering)

·        laundry services

·        groundskeeping

·        building maintenance

·        transportation and parking services

·        security (guard) services

·        billing and coding services

·        sterile processing

·        hospital or nursing assistant services

·        medical imaging or other medical technician services 

This is not an exhaustive list

 

We are now required, to the maximum extent possible, to use only UC employees to perform Covered Services. Contracting out for these services is now only permissible under extremely limited circumstances, and must qualify for one of the limited exceptions set forth in Article 5. Please note that these new requirements apply to all types of contracts for Covered Services, regardless of the source of funds or the method of contracting (Gateway, Flexcard, reimbursement for personal credit card expenditures, etc.).

 

To ensure UCSB’s compliance with these requirements, departments that wish to contract out for Covered Services (work that may have been traditionally performed by AFSCME employees) must first explore whether UC employees can be used to perform all or any portion of the Covered Services. If not, the department must submit a Covered Service Exception Request to Employee & Labor Relations and obtain prior written approval before contracting for those services. 

 

Exception requests should be submitted via the Contracting Out ServiceNow portal: https://ucsb.service-now.com/contractingout. Please be advised that Exception Requests may take 4-6 weeks to approve.

 

If an exception is granted, a contract must be written and signed by Procurement in Gateway. Retroactive reimbursement requests will not be approved.

 

SB 820

 

In addition, in September 2021, the Governor signed into law SB 820, which legally prohibits the UC from using contracted labor for services traditionally performed by Service Unit employees in buildings that have received certain types of funding from the State of California. Thus, this legislation acts as a ban on using contracted employees for Service Unit work inside any “SB 820 Building”. A current list of SB 820-covered buildings is below. The list will be updated periodically to reflect buildings that may receive state funding in the future, and while we will send out updates as we receive them, please submit a Contracting Out ServiceNow ticket (link above) prior to contracting out to ensure your building hasn’t been added to the list. 

IMPORTANT: There are no exceptions to SB 820. 

 

Employee & Labor Relations, Procurement, and Talent Acquisition will be hosting a monthly “Contracting Out Office Hours” meeting to answer questions about contracting out for Covered Services. The first meeting has been scheduled for Wednesday, July 27, 2022 at 10:00 a.m. Link to meeting: https://ucsb.zoom.us/j/84472142658  (passcode 940560)

 

SB 820 Buildings

  1. Arts and University Art Museum

  1. Biological Science II

  1. Broida Hall

  1. Chemistry

  1. Davidson Library

  1. Humanities and Social Science Building

  1. Kerr Hall

  1. Life Science

  1. Marine Biotechnology Lab

10.  Marine Science

11.  Materials Research Lab

12.  Music

13.  Phelps Hall 

14.  Physical Sciences Building North

15.  Physical Sciences Building South

16.  Psychology

17.  Robertson Gym

18.  Sewer Lift Station (aka Main Sewer Pump)

19.  South Hall

20.  Student Affairs and Administrative Services Building

21.  Theater and Dance East

22.  University Center

23.  Woodhouse