[HISTORY: Adopted by the Mayor and Council of the City of College Park 5-27-1969 by Ord. No. 69-O-6. Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Administrative organization — See Ch. 4.
Finance — See Ch. 42.
Industrial revenue bonds — See Ch. 49.
Local Government Insurance Trust — See Ch. 54.
A. 
It is the purpose of this chapter to provide uniform procedures for the purchase and acquisition of materials, supplies, equipment and services, etc., on the most equitable and beneficial basis to the City, while at the same time ensuring, to the greatest degree possible, fairness to those supplying the materials, supplies, services, etc.
B. 
It is the intent to provide for all purchases and contracts which may be necessary to the operation of the City in this chapter.
[Amended 9-12-1973 by Ord. No. 73-O-5; 6-10-1980 by Ord. No. 80-O-9; 9-10-1991 by Ord. No. 91-O-22; 12-10-1991 by Ord. No. 91-O-24; 10-26-1999 by Ord. No. 99-O-11; 3-9-2004 by Ord. No. 04-O-1]
A. 
Items, services or materials of not more than $30,000 in value and authorized in the Appropriation Ordinance for the current year may be purchased on negotiation at the direction of the City Manager in a manner approved by him/her. Items, materials or services obtained from utility companies having exclusive franchises in the area or from Prince George's County are excluded from the provisions of this chapter. Items, materials or services supplied to the City by a contractor or developer as part of a permit-approved improvement are not subject to the provisions of this chapter.
[Amended 11-10-2015 by Ord. No. 15-O-06]
B. 
Whenever a federal, state, county or local government, or any agency or unit thereof, whose purchasing policies are comparable to those of the City of College Park, has conducted a bid and awarded a contract, the City Manager may purchase the bid item at the bid price from the successful bidder, subject, where required, to the approval of the Mayor and Council. Whenever the City Manager elects to purchase an item, service or material from a successful bidder of another jurisdiction as provided for in this section, the City Manager shall obtain a copy of the jurisdiction's purchasing policies.
C. 
Nothing in this section shall be deemed to require the City Manager to use another jurisdiction's bid process when purchasing items, services and materials. The City Manager retains the right to issue a request for proposals for all items, services and materials purchased by the City. Upon deciding to award a contract where the approval of the Mayor and Council is not required, the City Manager shall immediately notify the Mayor and Council of the purchase if requested to do so by the Mayor and Council. The notification shall contain:
[Amended 11-10-2015 by Ord. No. 15-O-06]
(1) 
A description of the item, service or material purchased;
(2) 
The cost of the item, service or material;
(3) 
Who is providing the item, service or material;
(4) 
A description of the bid process used; and
(5) 
A statement as to whether the successful bidder was the lowest most responsive and responsible bidder, and if not, why not.
[Amended 9-12-1973 by Ord. No. 73-O-5; 6-10-1980 by Ord. No. 80-O-9; 9-10-1991 by Ord. No. 91-O-22; 12-10-1991 by Ord. No. 91-O-24]
It shall be the responsibility of the Finance Director to provide for the direction of the purchasing function, as specified in the Administrative Ordinance.[1] In that connection and under the general supervision of the City Manager, he/she shall:
A. 
Provide for the bidding of all materials, supplies, services, equipment, etc., of over $30,000 in value and not excluded in § 69-2 of this chapter.
[Amended 10-26-1999 by Ord. No. 99-O-11]
B. 
Provide notice in eMaryland Marketplace a minimum of one week prior to the date set for the opening of bids. Said notice shall include a brief description of the item or items to be bid, the time and location where specifications may be obtained for the item or items to be bid, the time and date on which sealed bids are to be received, the location to which bids are to be returned and any special conditions to which the item or items may be subject. The notice shall contain the time, date and location of the bid opening, and all such openings are to be public. The notice shall also contain the name of the authorizing officer.
[Amended 10-26-1999 by Ord. No. 99-O-11; 11-10-2015 by Ord. No. 15-O-06]
C. 
Provide written specifications to all parties responding to the notice of bid, and said specifications shall contain sufficient information to reasonably proscribe the item or items, services, materials, equipment, etc., being sought for purchase. The use of exclusive specifications to the prohibition of equal items, etc., is prohibited. The specifications shall also contain any bond and/or other special conditions attached or made a part of the bid requirements. Bid forms may be provided. The City reserves the right to reject any and all bids.
D. 
Provide for the tabulation of all bids and make a report to the City Manager and Mayor and Council of the results of all bids.
E. 
Examine the qualifications of all bidders, and in the event that he/she shall determine that a bidder is not qualified by prior example, insufficient experience, insufficient financial capability or for any other reason, he/she shall so report to the City Manager, who may declare the bid void.
[1]
Editor's Note: See Ch. 4, Administrative Organization, § 4-4D.
[Amended 1-11-1977 by Ord. No. 76-O-9]
A. 
Formal procedure.
(1) 
Contracts for professional services shall require publication of notice, in a newspaper of general circulation in the county, of the intent of the City to secure professional services and specifying the type of services sought and, where known, the anticipated time of engaging the service(s) and the expected duration of the contract. Notice may also be given to any professional associations in the area but is not required.
(2) 
In awarding a contract for professional services among other factors to be considered, in addition to price or cost, are past experience and qualifications, capacity to perform in a timely manner, reputation and the principals or agents of the professional services contractor who actually would be performing the services. Awards shall be made by a majority vote of the Council present and voting.
B. 
Informal procedure. Under special circumstances (for example, where following the formal procedure of Subsection A does not result in the selection of a contractor or for follow-up on work or extensions of existing contracts or for services unique in nature to a limited number of persons or firms), upon the recommendations of the City Manager, who shall furnish advance justification for such action to the Council, the Council may decide by an extra-majority vote (defined as one more than a majority of those present and voting) to authorize the City Manager to enter into negotiated procurement for professional services rather than advertise. In such cases where this informal procedure is followed, approval of the contract negotiated by the City Manager may not be made by the Council any sooner than the next regularly schedule Council meeting. If the Council finds that an emergency exists, this latter requirement may be set aside by an extra-majority vote.
[Amended 12-10-1991 by Ord. No. 91-O-24]
C. 
The Mayor and Council may, by an extra-majority vote (defined as one more than a majority of those present and voting), direct the City Manager to solicit bids from a limited number of contractors.
[Amended 12-10-1991 by Ord. No. 91-O-24]
D. 
Nothing in this section shall be construed as limiting the power of the City Manager to negotiate for and purchase professional or other services of not more than $30,000 in value.
[Amended 9-10-1991 by Ord. No. 91-O-22; 12-10-1991 by Ord. No. 91-O-24; 11-10-2015 by Ord. No. 15-O-06]
[Amended 1-11-1977 by Ord. No. 76-O-9; 9-10-1991 by Ord. No. 91-O-22; 12-10-1991 by Ord. No. 91-O-24; 10-26-1999 by Ord. No. 99-O-11; 3-9-2004 by Ord. No. 04-O-1]
The Mayor and Council shall approve all purchases in excess of $30,000 by formal motion requiring a simple majority for approval. Such actions shall be taken at a regular meeting or at a duly called special meeting for that purpose. Except as provided in this chapter, the Mayor and Council may, by an extra-majority vote, authorize the bypassing of any or all bid procedure steps in cases which, in the Council's judgment, warrant such action. By the same extra-majority vote, it may allow the City Manager to directly negotiate with any supplier if it is in the City's best interest to do so. Nothing herein shall be construed as limiting the City Manager to purchase by negotiation items, services or materials of not more than $30,000 in value.
[Added 7-15-2014 by Ord. No. 14-O-05]
A. 
Definitions. For purposes of this section only, the following definitions shall apply:
BENEFITS
All forms of insurance provided by the contractor to the spouses of the contractor's employees and/or dependents of employee's spouse, as well as employee's sick leave, bereavement leave, and family medical leave which may be used to care for his/her domestic partner, except to the extent preempted by federal or state law.
BID
A competitive vendor selection procedure established by the City through the issuance of an invitation to bid, request for proposals, request for qualifications, or request for letters of interest.
CONTRACT
All types of binding agreements between the City of College Park and a contractor for goods and services.
CONTRACTOR
Any person or persons, sole proprietorship, partnership, joint venture, corporation, or other form of doing business, that is awarded a bid and enters into a covered contract with the City, and which maintains 25 or more full-time employees on the payroll during the term of any contract with the City.
COVERED CONTRACT
A contract between the City and a contractor awarded for bids which are advertised/issued after the date when this section becomes effective valued at over $30,000.
DOMESTIC PARTNER
Any two adults of the same or different sex, who have registered as domestic partners pursuant to state or local law authorizing such registration, or with an internal registry maintained by the employer of at least one of the domestic partners, or who are:
(1) 
In a relationship of mutual support, caring and commitment and intend to remain in such a relationship for the immediate future;
(2) 
Not married to, or legally separated from, someone else;
(3) 
Not able to marry in the state of their residence;
(4) 
Not currently registered in a domestic partnership with a different domestic partner;
(5) 
Eighteen years of age or older and competent to contract; and
(6) 
Occupying the same dwelling unit as a single, nonprofit housekeeping unit whose relationship is of a permanent and distinct domestic character.
EQUAL BENEFITS
The equality of benefits between employees with spouses and/or dependents of spouses and employees with domestic partners and/or dependents of domestic partners, and/or between spouses of employees and/or dependents of spouses and domestic partners of employees and/or dependents of domestic partners.
B. 
Equal benefits requirements.
(1) 
All bids for covered contracts which are advertised/issued on or after the effective date of this section shall include the requirement to provide equal benefits in the procurement specifications for such bids.
(2) 
As part of the bid response, the contractor shall certify that the contractor:
(a) 
Currently complies with the conditions of this section; or
(b) 
Will comply with the conditions of this section at time of contract award; or
(c) 
Is not required to comply with the conditions of this section because of allowable exemption.
The certification shall be in writing and signed by an authorized officer of the contractor. Failure to provide such certification shall result in the contractor being deemed nonresponsive.
(3) 
The contractor may not set up or use its contracting entity for the purpose of evading the requirements imposed by this section.
(4) 
If after making a reasonable effort to provide an equal benefit for a domestic partner of an employee the contractor is unable to provide the benefit, the contractor shall provide the employee with the cash equivalent of the benefit.
C. 
Mandatory contract provisions pertaining to equal benefits. Unless otherwise exempt, every covered contract shall contain language that states:
(1) 
Contractor must comply with the applicable provisions of this section. The contractor shall provide the City and/or the City Manager, or his/her designee, access to its records for the purpose of audits and/or investigations to ascertain compliance with the provisions of this section.
(2) 
Upon request, the contractor shall provide evidence that the contractor is in compliance with the provisions of this section upon each new bid, contract renewal, or when the City Manager has received a complaint or has reason to believe the contractor may not be in compliance with the provisions of this section, and
(3) 
The failure of the contractor to comply with this section will be deemed to be a material breach of the covered contract.
D. 
Exceptions and waivers. The provisions of this section shall not apply where:
(1) 
The contractor provides benefits neither to employees' spouses nor spouse's dependents.
(2) 
The contractor is a religious organization, association, society or any nonprofit charitable or educational institution or organization operated, supervised or controlled by or in conjunction with a religious organization, association or society.
(3) 
The contractor is a governmental entity.
(4) 
The contract is for the sale or lease of property.
(5) 
The covered contract is necessary to respond to an emergency.
(6) 
The provision of this section would violate grant or other requirements, the laws, rules or regulations of federal or state law.
(7) 
The contractor is a sole source or none of the bidders can comply with the requirements of this section.
(8) 
The City is purchasing under the provisions of § 69-2B of this chapter.
(9) 
The contract is for the purchase of goods or supplies only.
(10) 
Agreements with bond underwriters and agreements with financial institutions where the agreement relates to the City's borrowing.
E. 
Enforcement. If the contractor fails to comply with the provisions of this section:
(1) 
The failure to comply may be deemed to be a material breach of the covered contract; and
(2) 
The City may terminate the covered contract or monies due or to become due under the covered contract may be retained by the City until compliance is achieved; and
(3) 
The City may also pursue any and all other remedies at law or in equity for any breach.
[Added 7-15-2014 by Ord. No. 14-O-05]
A. 
Discrimination in employment by a City contractor based on age, race, color, creed, pregnancy, religion, national origin, ancestry, disability, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, physical characteristic or any other unlawful basis for discrimination is prohibited.
B. 
All City contracts shall include a certification by contractors that they do not discriminate on the basis of age, race, color, creed, pregnancy, religion, national origin, ancestry, disability, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, physical characteristic or other unlawful basis of discrimination.
C. 
Discriminatory acts by a contractor in employment shall constitute a material breach of a City contract.