[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Board of the Town of Manlius as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where applicable.]
[Adopted 11-5-2014 by L.L. No. 4-2014]
A. 
The State Legislature and Governor amended General Municipal Law § 103 on January 27, 2012 to provide local governments greater flexibility in awarding contracts by authorizing the award of purchase contracts, including contracts for service work, on the basis of best value. The state legislation requires political subdivisions with a population of less than 1,000,000 to pass a local law authorizing the use of the best-value award process. Enactment of this legislation provides additional procurement options to localities in ways that may expedite the procurement process and result in cost savings. The "best value" standard for selecting goods and services vendors, including janitorial and security contracts, is critical to efforts to use strategic sourcing principles to modernize the supply chain and ensure that taxpayers obtain the highest quality goods and services at the lowest potential cost, while also ensuring fairness to all competitors.
B. 
The federal government, approximately half the states and many localities have added best-value selection processes to their procurement options, in recognition of these advantages. With the increased complexity of the goods and services that municipalities must obtain in order to serve taxpayers, it is critical to consider selection and evaluation criteria that measure factors other than cost in the strictest sense.
C. 
Taxpayers are not well served when a public procurement results in low unit costs at the outset, but ultimately engenders cost escalations due to factors such as inferior quality, poor reliability and difficulty of maintenance. Best-value procurement links the procurement process directly to the municipality's performance requirements, incorporating selection factors such as useful lifespan, quality and options and incentives for more timely performance and/or additional services.
D. 
Even if the initial expenditure is higher, considering the total value over the life of the procurement may result in a better value and long-term investment of public funds. Best-value procurement also encourages competition and, in turn, often results in better pricing, quality and customer service. Fostering healthy competition ensures that bidders will continue to strive for excellence in identifying and meeting municipalities' needs, including such important goals as the participation of small, minority and women-owned businesses, and the development of environmentally preferable goods and service delivery methods. Best-value procurement will provide much-needed flexibility in obtaining important goods and services at favorable prices, and will reduce the time to procure such goods and services.
"Best value" shall mean the basis for awarding contracts for services to the offerer which optimizes quality, cost and efficiency, among responsive and responsible offerers. Such basis shall reflect, wherever possible, objective and quantifiable analysis. Such basis may also identify a quantitative factor for offerers that are small businesses or certified minority- or women-owned business enterprises as defined in (New York State) Executive Law § 310(1), (7), (15) and (20), to be used in evaluation of offers for awarding of contracts for services.
A. 
Where the basis for award is the best-value offer, the Town Board shall document, in the procurement record and in advance of the initial receipt of offers, the determination of the evaluation criteria, which, whenever possible, shall be quantifiable, and the process to be used in the determination of best value and the manner in which the evaluation process and selection shall be conducted.
B. 
The Town Board shall select a formal sealed competitive bidding procurement process in accordance with General Municipal Law § 103 and the Town's procurement policy and document its determination in the procurement record. The process shall include, but is not limited to, a clear statement of need; a description of the required specifications governing performance and related factors; a reasonable process for ensuring a competitive field; a fair and equal opportunity for offerers to submit responsive offers; and a balanced and fair method of award. Where the basis for the award is best value, documentation in the procurement record shall, where practicable, include a quantification of the application of the criteria to the rating of proposals and the evaluation results, or, where not practicable, such other justification which demonstrates that best value will be achieved.
C. 
The solicitation shall prescribe the minimum specifications or requirements that must be met in order to be considered responsive and shall describe and disclose the general manner in which the evaluation and selection shall be conducted. Where appropriate, the solicitation shall identify the relative importance and/or weight of cost and the overall technical criterion to be considered by the Town Board in its determination of best value.
D. 
The Town Board shall develop procedures that will govern the award of contracts on the basis of best value. These procedures shall be included in the Town's procurement policy and reviewed annually by the Town Board in conjunction with its annual review and approval of the Town's procurement policy.