Pittsburgh City Council
The $6.5 million ShotSpotter contract sparks a fix for a purchasing loophole.
Written by Amy Whipple
A bill before council would close a gap in the city’s contract procurement system that was revealed by a surprise five-year $6.5 million contract with ShotSpotter.
In November 2025, the administration used a cooperative agreement, which allows the city to piggyback on contracts held by other government bodies. This avoids the process in which there is a request for proposals. Contracts awarded through cooperative agreements also do not require council’s approval.
In the case of ShotSpotter, the government agency is in Minnesota.
Council Member Barb Warwick of Greenfield introduced legislation, as part of a larger set of bills, that was aimed at closing that loophole.
Warwick’s bill would require that any multi-year contracts estimated to be more than $30,000 within cooperative agreements to be approved by council. During the Oct. 21 committee meeting, it failed as introduced but received a positive recommendation after Council Member Bobby Wilson of Spring Hill amended the threshold to $1 million.
Council members who were opposed to the $30,000 mark said that would make time-sensitive needs, such as emergency roof repair, unnecessarily cumbersome.
“There’s got to be a certain amount of trust in our department heads and in the people who make these decisions,” said Council Member Anthony Coghill of Beechview. Earlier this year, Coghill was quoted in an affidavit as saying that the prior administration took advantage of a different contract loophole.
After the vote, Warwick said, “We have completely given away the job that the people elected us to do, which is to oversee the finances of this city.”
Connections to this story
- Elected officials:
- Anthony CoghillBobby Wilson
- Governments:
- Pittsburgh City Council
- Public meetings:
- City Council · October 20, 2026
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