Council reviews new master purchase order for police uniforms; staff says new vendor offers greater durability
January 20, 2026 | Denver (Consolidated County and City), Colorado
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Council members discussed Resolution 25-21-30, a proposed master purchase order with a selected vendor to provide citywide police class A and class B uniforms.
Emily Lack, Department of Safety legislation and policy, told council the last competitive solicitation for police uniforms was run in 2020 and that the city ran a new solicitation in 2025. "Essentially this is a master purchase order for certain types of police uniforms, specifically the class A and class B uniforms," she said, describing the procurement as driven by forecasted needs for incoming recruits and replacement cycles governed by collective bargaining.
Elizabeth Hughes, senior procurement analyst in General Services, said three vendors responded to the most recent solicitation and that there are about five to six firms in the Denver area that could supply uniforms, though not all could meet the specific requirements. "When I did the solicitation, I had three responding vendors," Hughes said.
Michelle, introduced as a former commander over uniform and supply operations support and EDI, summarized operational reasons the city selected the new uniform components: better durability, improved fluid wicking and other features the department considers safety or risk-management improvements. "The main difference is it's better durability ... it provides more flexibility, more safety, certainly when we're thinking about risk management items such as fluid wicking," she said.
Councilmember Paradis thanked staff for prior exchanges and said she had follow-up questions about historical clothing line-item spending that staff would provide after the meeting. The transcript discussion did not specify a total contract value or the precise allocation by fiscal year.
Next steps: the item was placed on the agenda for consideration; council did not postpone the item during this exchange and no final vote on the purchase order amount was recorded in the discussed segments.
Emily Lack, Department of Safety legislation and policy, told council the last competitive solicitation for police uniforms was run in 2020 and that the city ran a new solicitation in 2025. "Essentially this is a master purchase order for certain types of police uniforms, specifically the class A and class B uniforms," she said, describing the procurement as driven by forecasted needs for incoming recruits and replacement cycles governed by collective bargaining.
Elizabeth Hughes, senior procurement analyst in General Services, said three vendors responded to the most recent solicitation and that there are about five to six firms in the Denver area that could supply uniforms, though not all could meet the specific requirements. "When I did the solicitation, I had three responding vendors," Hughes said.
Michelle, introduced as a former commander over uniform and supply operations support and EDI, summarized operational reasons the city selected the new uniform components: better durability, improved fluid wicking and other features the department considers safety or risk-management improvements. "The main difference is it's better durability ... it provides more flexibility, more safety, certainly when we're thinking about risk management items such as fluid wicking," she said.
Councilmember Paradis thanked staff for prior exchanges and said she had follow-up questions about historical clothing line-item spending that staff would provide after the meeting. The transcript discussion did not specify a total contract value or the precise allocation by fiscal year.
Next steps: the item was placed on the agenda for consideration; council did not postpone the item during this exchange and no final vote on the purchase order amount was recorded in the discussed segments.
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