How Does a Project Get Approved Through the Board Letter Process?

The process summarized below is for customer funded projects managed by PPM. A typical Board Letter will go through various levels of reviews before submittal to the Board of Supervisors for approval. The steps are described below.

  1. ISD writes the first draft of the Board Letter based on the scope of work, and any legal requirements based on the project. For example, the project may trigger a CEQA review or Civic Arts requirements.
  2. ISD provides the draft to the customer department for review and edits. The customer department provides the rationale, funding information and the benefits of the project.
  3. ISD shares the Board Letter draft with the CEO Finance Office related to the customer department funding for verification of fund availability and scope review.
  4. ISD shares the draft with County Counsel to review legal requirements pertaining to the work.
  5. ISD then conducts an internal readiness review through the ISD Director’s Office to ensure the Board Letter is ready for Board Office reviews.
  6. ISD files the Board Letter through the CEO’s Office to be placed on the appropriate BOS Cluster Agenda. ISD and a representative from the customer department attend the Cluster meeting to present and/or answer any questions about the Board Letter.
  7. ISD then files the Board Letter to go to the Board Agenda. If there were questions or actions in the Cluster Meeting, ISD works with the customer department first to resolve those issues, then moves it to the BOS agenda.