All contracts of the City involving sums in excess of nineteen thousand one hundred dollars ($19,100.00), subject to adjustment under § 10.6 herein, shall be publicly bid and shall be in writing and shall be executed on behalf of the City by the Mayor or, in the Mayor's absence, the City Manager. The Mayor shall also execute all contracts, regardless of amount, for the purchase, sale, leasing, or use of real estate. Unless otherwise provided by ordinance, the Manager shall execute contracts on behalf of the City involving sums of less than the then current amount required to be publicly bid made pursuant to budget or other prior authorization. Authorization of contracts for the construction of public capital improvements shall be given by ordinance. Any officer required to execute a written contract may request the City Solicitor to approve the same as to form.
Except as otherwise provided in this Charter, no contract for supplies, material, labor franchise, or other valuable consideration, to be furnished to or by the City, shall be authorized on behalf of the City, except with the lowest responsible bidder after competitive bidding.
The City Council shall, by ordinance, establish a system of competitive bidding, including such definitions, publication requirements, deposit and bond requirements, conditions, terms, rules, regulations, waiver and exceptions as it shall from time to time deem advisable.
Competitive bidding shall not be required under this Charter for:
(1) 
Labor or services rendered by any City officer or employee.
(2) 
Labor, material, supplies, or services furnished by any City department to another City department.
(3) 
Contracts for labor, material, supplies, or services available from only one vendor.
(4) 
Contracts for labor, material, supplies, or services aggregating less than the requirement herein for requirement of competitive bids as such number is updated pursuant to § 10.6 herein.
(5) 
Contracts relating to the acquisition or use of real property.
(6) 
Contracts for professional or unique services.
(7) 
Contracts for insurance and surety company bonds and contracts made for public utility service under tariffs on file with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission.
(8) 
Contracts for emergency repair of property of the City and/or during a state of emergency declared by the Mayor.
(9) 
Contracts with other governmental entities, council of governments, public utilities, authorities, agencies or political subdivisions, including the sale, leasing or loan of any supplies or materials by the Commonwealth or the federal government, or their agencies, but the price thereof shall not be in excess of that fixed by the Commonwealth, the federal government, or their agencies. This exception shall include purchasing such supplies or materials from contracts bid by the Commonwealth, the federal government and their agencies.
(10) 
Contracts where particular types, models or pieces of equipment, articles apparatus, appliances, vehicles or parts thereof which are patented and manufactured products.
The term of contracts for the purchase of supplies shall not exceed two (2) years.
Adjustments to the base bid amounts specified under §§ 10.1 and 10.4 of this Article X shall be made as follows:
(1) 
The Department of Labor and Industry (Department) or its successor Department at the time of the adoption of this Charter is required to determine, and publish the same annually in the Pennsylvania Bulletin, the percentage change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: All Items (CPI-U) for the United States City Average as published by the United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, for the twelve-month period ending September 30, 2014, and for each successive twelve-month period thereafter.
(2) 
If the Department determines that there is no positive percentage change, then no adjustment to the base bid amounts shall occur for the relevant time period provided for in this Article X.
(3) 
(i) If the Department determines that there is a positive percentage change in the first year that the determination is made under paragraph (1), the positive percentage change shall be multiplied by each base amount, and the products shall be added to the base amounts, respectively, and the sums shall be preliminary adjusted amounts. (ii) The preliminary adjusted amounts shall be rounded to the nearest one hundred dollars ($100) to determine the final adjusted base amounts for purposes of this Article X.
(4) 
In each successive year in which there is a positive percentage change in the CPI-U for the United States City Average, the positive percentage change shall be multiplied by the most recent preliminary adjusted amounts, and the products shall be added to the preliminary adjusted amount of the prior year to calculate the preliminary adjusted amounts for the current year. The sums thereof shall be rounded to the nearest one hundred dollars ($100) to determine the new final adjusted base amounts for purposes of this Article X.
(5) 
In the event the Department is no longer required to make such annual determinations in the percentage change for any reason, the City Manager shall make such determination as set forth above and adjust the base bid amount accordingly.
The City may purchase or make contracts under 73 P.S. § 1641 et seq. as amended, authorizing political subdivisions, municipality authorities and transportation authorities to enter into contracts for the purchase of goods where no bids are received, if no bids are received on an item after proper notices.