Town of Sand Lake, NY Procurement Policy

In accordance with § 104-b of the General Municipal Law (GML), the Town of Sand Lake hereby adopts the following procurement policy which is intended to apply to all goods and services which are not required by law to be publicly bid pursuant to GML § 103. The goal of this policy is to assure the prudent and economical use of public moneys in the best interests of the taxpayers of the Town, 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.

§ 38-2 Review of purchases; documentation of purchases not subject to competitive bidding.

Every purchase to be made must be initially reviewed to determine whether it is a purchase contract or a public works contract and the probable cost of such purchase. A good-faith effort will be made to determine whether the reasonably expected aggregate of all purchases of the same commodities, services or technology to be made in the 12 months following an initial purchase will exceed the monetary thresholds for such contracts. The following items are not subject to competitive bidding pursuant to GML § 103:

(1)

Purchase of goods and services which do not exceed $20,000;

(2)

Public works contracts which do not exceed $35,000;

(3)

Emergency purchases;

(4)

Purchases under New York State contracts;

(5)

Purchases under contracts from other political subdivisions within the United States if such contracts were let in a matter that constituted public bidding and are expressly made available for use by other governmental entities; and

(6)

Surplus and secondhand purchases from another governmental entity.

(7)

Certain products containing recycled material in accordance with GML § 104-a.

(8)

Commodities from preferred sources as permitted or required by § 162 of the State Finance Law, including goods and services purchased from agencies for the blind or severely handicapped and goods purchased from correctional institutions;

(9)

Sole source. When there is only one source for the required good, service, or construction.

(10)

Professional services.

(11)

Insurance.

(12)

Leases, not including lease-purchase agreements that are actually purchases.

A decision that a purchase is not subject to competitive bidding must be documented in writing by the individual making the purchase. This documentation may include written quotes from vendors, a memo from the purchaser explaining the decision, 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 appropriate written documentation.

§ 38-3 Purchase methods.

The following method of purchase will be used when required by this policy in order to assure the prudent and economical use of public monies in the best interests of the taxpayer and to facilitate the acquisition of goods and services of maximum quality at the lowest price:

(1)

Purchase of Goods and Services:

	Estimated Amount of Contract	Method of Purchase
	Up to $500	When practicable, purchasers shall attempt to obtain two to three comparison prices or purchase through state or county contracts to realize the best price.
	Above $500 to $3,000	At least two to three verbal or written quotes; written or memo price quotes must be submitted to the Purchasing office as documentation. Purchase orders, if required, must be signed by the Director of Purchasing.
	Above $3,000 to $20,000	At least three written/faxed/e-mailed or otherwise documented quotes are required and must be submitted to the Purchasing office. Purchase orders, if required, must be signed by the Director of Purchasing prior to the order being made.
	Above $20,000	Subject to publicly advertised competitive bid. Must be circulated to at least three companies. Contracts must be approved by the Town Board. All contracts must be signed by the Supervisor after Board approval is granted, prior to order being made. Purchase orders must be signed by the Director of Purchasing.

(2)

Public Works Contracts:

	Estimated Amount of Public Works Contract	Method
	Up to $1,000	Whenever practicable, purchasers shall attempt to obtain two to three comparison prices or purchase through state or county contracts to realize the best price.
	Above $1,000 to $5,000	At least two to three verbal or written quotes; written or memo price quotes must be submitted to the Purchasing office as documentation. Purchase orders, if required, must be signed by the Director of Purchasing.
	Above $5,000 to $35,000	At least three written/faxed/e-mailed or otherwise documented quotes are required and must be submitted to the Purchasing office. Purchase orders, if required, must be signed by the Director of Purchasing prior to the order being made.
	Above $35,000	Subject to publicly advertised competitive bid. Must be circulated to at least three companies. Contracts must be approved by the Town Board. An award letter must be issued and a contract must be signed by the Supervisor after Board approval is granted.

Prior to any purchase of goods or services, the purchaser shall review the current budget line for each item to determine adequate fund availability. Purchases cannot exceed amount budgeted without prior Town Board budgetary action.

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 quotes, the purchaser will document such attempts. In such event, failure to obtain the proposals shall not be a bar to the procurement.

The lowest responsible proposal or quote shall be awarded the purchase or public works contract, unless a written justification providing reasons why it is in the best interest of the Town and its taxpayers to make the award to other than the lowest bidder.

§ 38-4 Documentation required.

Documentation is required of each action taken in connection with each procurement. Proper documentation should be submitted to the Purchasing office to be preserved and filed with the documentation supporting the subsequent purchase or public works contract.

When a contract subject to competitive bidding is awarded to other than the lowest responsible bidder, documentation is required setting forth the reasons such award furthers the purposes of this policy.

§ 38-5 Exemptions to requirement of competitive bid.

When competitive bidding is not required pursuant to General Municipal Law § 104-b, and § 38-3 of this policy does not specify a procedure, alternative proposals or quotations for goods and services shall generally be secured by use of written requests for proposals, written quotations, verbal quotations or any other method of procurement which fosters competition and is designed to safeguard the interests of the taxpayer. However, the Town Board has determined that the solicitation of alternative proposals or quotations may not be in the best interest of the municipality in the following circumstances, as and to the extent set forth below:

Professional services or services requiring special or technical skill, training or expertise. The individual or company must be chosen based on qualifications showing 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 procedures.

(1)

In determining whether a service fits into this category, the 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.

(2)

Professional or technical services shall include but shall not be limited to the following: services of an attorney; services of a physician; technical services of an engineer engaged to prepare plans, maps and estimates; securing insurance coverage and/or services of an insurance broker; services of a certified 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.

(3)

The Town Board may determine in its sole discretion when a request for proposal (RFP) will be conducive to obtaining the best professional services at the lowest cost.

Emergency purchases pursuant to GML § 103, Subdivision 4. In the event of an emergency, goods or services must sometimes be purchased immediately and a delay in order to seek alternate proposals may threaten the life, health, safety or welfare of the residents and/or public property. An attempt to obtain alternate proposals, quotes or price comparisons should be made if time and circumstances permit. Documentation of the emergency situation and any price comparisons must be submitted to the Purchasing office.

Purchases of surplus and secondhand goods from the federal government, the State of New York or any other political subdivision, district or public benefit corporation. If alternate proposals were required, the Town would be 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. Accordingly, surplus and secondhand goods may be purchased without use of the foregoing procedures.

Individual goods or services under $500 or public works contracts under $1,000. The time and documentation required to purchase through this policy 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 minimus contracts would be awarded based on favoritism. Whenever possible, however, purchasers shall attempt to obtain two to three comparison prices or purchase through state or county contracts to realize the best price.

Leases. Leases are not purchases, and, therefore, a true lease is not subject to General Municipal Law § 103. However, the substance of the agreement will prevail over its form. A transaction cast in terms of a "lease," when the substance of the contract is really a purchase, is a purchase. Lease-purchase arrangements as authorized by General Municipal Law § 109-b must be competitively bid. An RFP, a comparison of quotes or advertised lease prices or competitive negotiation should be used for true leases when more than one supplier or vendor offers the product to be leased and the Town Board determines that a better price, quality or terms may be obtained through competition.

Sole source. When there is only one source for the required good, service or construction, the accepted price and terms and conditions shall be achieved through negotiation between the Town and the vendor. Documentation justifying the sole source must be submitted and approved by the Purchasing Director.

Insurance. An RFP should be used whenever the Town Board determines that the solicitation of proposals will provide the best service to the Town.

§ 38-6 Unintentional failure to comply.

The unintentional failure to comply fully with the provisions of General Municipal Law, § 104-b, and this policy shall not be grounds to void action taken or give rise to a cause of action against the Town of Sand Lake or any officer or employee thereof.

§ 38-7 When effective; annual review.

This policy shall go into effect immediately upon adoption by the Town Board and will be reviewed annually.