Board approves $2 million bridge contract with Robert Half for temporary staffing

The Board of Estimates on May 21 approved a bridge, select-source agreement with Robert Half International Inc. to provide temporary staffing to Baltimore City agencies from June 1 through Sept. 1 while a new contract under the HGAC cooperative is finalized.

Procurement Director Adam Manney told the board the existing contract—piggybacking a Houston-Galveston Area Council (HGAC) agreement—terminates May 31 and the HGAC solicitation process will not conclude in time to avoid a service gap. He asked the board for a bridge contract and additional spend authority of $2 million.

Manney said the contract is citywide in scope: “Almost all agencies will use it at 1 point in time,” and cited examples including the Bureau of Procurement, Department of Finance, Health and the Comptroller’s office. He said the contract allows for “temp to hire” arrangements and that at least one current full-time staffer began as a Robert Half temp.

Comptroller Bill Henry pressed procurement on whether the city tracks reasons agencies use the contract—temporary coverage for leaves versus filling long-standing vacancies—and whether agencies log those reasons when creating purchase orders. Director Manney said the requisition includes information about the needed skill set and named person but that procurement does not routinely push back on agency decisions and that a manual review of thousands of purchase orders would be a heavy lift.

City Administrator Faith Lead said requisitions do outline the need and that procurement and agencies could add questions to better document whether a request fills a vacancy or is temporary capacity. The mayor and other board members urged continued emphasis on hiring full-time staff when appropriate.

The board voted to approve the bridge contract and the requested spend authority. Manney said the previous five-year contract had total spend near $8 million and about $1.6 million of approved spend remained at the time of the presentation; the requested $2 million is to ensure continuity through September.