Goods and services that are not required by law to be procured
pursuant to competitive bidding must be procured in a manner as to
assure the prudent and economical use of public moneys in the best
interest of the taxpayers; to facilitate the acquisition of goods
and services of maximum quality at the lowest possible cost under
the circumstances; and to guard against favoritism, improvidence,
extravagance, fraud and corruption. To further these objectives, the
governing board is adopting an internal policy and procedures governing
all procurements of goods and services which are not required to be
made pursuant to the competitive bidding requirements of General Municipal
Law, § 103 or of any other general, special, or local law.
The procedures for determining whether a procurement of goods
or services is subject to competitive bidding and documenting the
basis for any determination that competitive bidding is not required
by law is as follows:
A. Procedure.
(1) Every purchase to be made must be initially reviewed to determine
whether it is a purchase contract or a public works contract. Once
that determination is made, a good faith effort will be made to determine
whether it is known or can reasonably be expected that the aggregate
amount to be spent on the item of supply or service is not subject
to competitive bidding, taking into account past purchases and to
aggregate amount to be spent in a year. The following items are not
subject to competitive bidding pursuant to § 103 of the
General Municipal Law: purchase contracts under $20,000 and public
works contracts under $35,000; emergency purchases; certain municipal
hospital purchases; goods purchased from agencies for the blind or
severely handicapped; goods purchased from correctional institutions;
purchases under state and county contracts; and surplus and secondhand
purchases from another governmental entity.
(2) The decision that a purchase is not subject to competitive bidding
will be documented, in writing, by the individual making the purchase.
This documentation may include written or verbal quotes from vendors,
a memo from the purchaser indicating how the decision was arrived
at, a copy of the contract indicating the source which makes the item
or service exempt, a memo from the purchaser detailing the circumstances
which led to an emergency purchase or any other written documentation
that is appropriate.
B. Documentation.
(1) Documentation is required of each action taken in connection with
each procurement.
(2) Documentation and an explanation is required whenever a contract
is awarded to other than the lowest responsible offeror. This documentation
will include an explanation of how the award will achieve savings
or how the offeror is not responsible shall be made by the purchaser
and may be challenged under any circumstances.
Except for procurements made pursuant to General Municipal Law
§ 103, Subdivision 3 (through certain county contracts),
§ 104 (through certain state and federal contracts), State
Finance Law § 162, Correction Law §§ 184
and 186 (from "preferred sources," including articles manufactured
in correctional institutions), or the items excepted herein (see below),
alternative proposals or quotations for goods and services shall be
secured by use of either written requests for proposals, written quotations,
verbal quotations or any other method of procurement that furthers
the purposes of the General Municipal Law § 104-b.
The following method of purchase will be used when required
by this chapter in order to achieve the highest savings:
Estimated Amount of Purchase Contract
|
Method
|
---|
$0 to $999
|
No quotations
|
$1,000 to $4,999
|
2 verbal quotations
|
$5,000 to $19,999
|
2 written/fax quotations or written request for proposals
|
Estimated Amount of Public Works Contract
|
Method
|
---|
$0 to $999
|
No quotations
|
$1,000 to $4,999
|
2 verbal quotations
|
$5,000 to $9,999
|
2 written/fax quotations
|
$10,000 to $34,999
|
3 written/fax quotations or written request for proposals
|
A good faith effort shall be made to obtain the required number
of proposals or quotations. If the purchaser is unable to obtain the
required number of proposals or quotations, the purchaser will document
the attempt made at obtaining the proposals. In no event shall the
failure to obtain the proposals be a bar to the procurement.
The Board sets forth the following circumstances when, or types
of procurements for which, in the sole discretion of the governing
body, the solicitation of alternative proposals or quotations will
not be in the best interest of the Town of East Bloomfield.
A. Professional services or services requiring special or technical
skill, training or expertise.
(1) The individual or company must be chosen based on accountability,
reliability, responsibility, skill, education and training, judgment,
integrity and moral worth. These qualifications are not necessarily
found in the individual or company that offers the lowest price, and
the nature of these services are such that they do not readily lend
themselves to competitive procurement policies.
(2) In determining whether a service fits into this category, the Town
Board shall take into consideration the following guidelines:
(a)
Whether the services are subject to state licensing or testing
requirements;
(b)
Whether substantial formal education or training is a necessary
prerequisite to the performance of the services; and
(c)
Whether the services require a personal relationship between
the individual and municipal officials.
(3) Professional or technical services shall include but not be limited
to the following: services of an attorney; services of a physician;
technical services of an engineer engaged to prepare plans, maps or
estimates; securing insurance coverage and/or services of an insurance
broker; services of a verified public accountant; investment management
services; printing services involving extensive writing, editing or
art work; management of municipally owned property; and computer software
or programming services for customized programs, or services involved
in substantial modification and customizing of prepackaged software.
B. Emergency purchases pursuant to § 103, Subdivision 4, of
the General Municipal Law. Due to the nature of this exception, these
goods or services must be purchased immediately, and a delay in order
to seek alternate proposals may threaten the life, health, safety
or welfare of the residents. This section does not preclude alternate
proposals if time permits.
C. Purchases of surplus and secondhand goods from any source. If alternate
proposals are required, the Town of East Bloomfield is precluded from
purchasing surplus and secondhand goods at auctions or through specific
advertised sources where the best prices are usually obtained. It
is also difficult to try to compare prices of used goods, and a lower
price may indicate an older product.
D. Goods or services under $1,000. The time and documentation required
to purchase through this chapter may be more costly than the item
itself and would therefore not be in the best interests of the taxpayer.
In addition, it is not likely that such de minimis contracts would
be awarded based on favoritism.
The unintentional failure to comply fully with the provisions
of General Municipal Law § 104-b shall not be grounds to
void action taken or give rise to a cause of action against the Town
of East Bloomfield or any officer or employee thereof.
This chapter shall go into effect on June 12, 2017; such chapter
shall be reviewed annually, and, when needed, updates shall be made
to such chapter.