This chapter shall be known and may be referred to as the purchasing ordinance of the city.
(Ord. 452 § 1, 1991)
For the purposes of this chapter, the following definitions will hold:
"Internal purchasing mechanisms"
means those accounts, procedures, or items of documentation governing or accounting for city purchases. Such mechanisms include, but are not limited to: purchase requisitions, purchase orders, imprest funds, requests for warrant, petty cash reimbursements, and the demands register.
"Lowest responsible bidder"
means the vendor which best addresses the desired qualifications in terms of price and quality. In addition to cost, such factors as past performance records; maintenance, delivery and service terms; product quality and durability; and recommendations should be taken into consideration. Status as a responsible bidder shall also be contingent upon designation as such by the purchasing agent.
"Public projects"
means any public projects, as defined by Division 2, Part 3, Article 4 of the California Public Contract Code.
"Services"
means any activities or tasks, the performance of which the city typically procures from a third party.
"Supplies and equipment"
means any raw materials, inventory, fixed assets, machinery, vehicles, or other items consistent with a reasonable definition of supplies or equipment.
"Technical contract services"
means those services, as defined in subsection D, which are regulated according to the provisions of Title 1, Division 5, Chapter 10 of the California Government Code.
(Ord. 452 § 2, 1991)
In the area of purchasing, the responsibilities of the city council shall be as follows:
A. 
Enact all ordinances and resolutions relating to purchasing;
B. 
Approve all solicitations of formal bids;
C. 
Award final contracts for purchases requiring formal bids;
D. 
Grant final authorization for all disbursements through approval of the demands register.
(Ord. 452 § 3, 1991)
There is created the position of purchasing agent. The purchasing agent shall have the following authority:
A. 
Authorize, oversee, and/or carry out the purchase of supplies, equipment, and public projects requested by any department in accordance with: the purchasing procedures prescribed by this chapter, such administrative regulations and guidelines as may be adopted by the purchasing agent for the management and operation of the purchasing function, and such other rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the city council;
B. 
Maintain overall control of the system for assigning and delegating purchasing authority to specific positions;
C. 
Discourage uniform bidding and endeavor to obtain as full and open competition as possible on all purchases;
D. 
Establish procedures governing internal purchasing mechanisms and the purchase of items other than supplies, equipment, technical contract services, or public projects;
E. 
Ensure adherence to all purchasing policies and procedures through oversight and, when appropriate, disciplinary action.
(Ord. 452 § 4, 1991)
All administrative regulations and guidelines for the purchasing system adopted by the purchasing agent shall be collected and published in the form of a purchasing policy to be made available to each department head and officer of the city.
(Ord. 452 § 5, 1991)
The purchase of supplies, equipment, or public projects shall be made only by means of purchase orders, signed by the purchasing agent or a duly authorized designee. This requirement shall not be construed to nullify, alter, or preclude any other requirements as may be contained in this chapter or be established by the purchasing agent.
(Ord. 452 § 7, 1991)
Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, all purchases involving expenditures of one thousand dollars or less shall be purchased on the open market subject to administrative regulations and guidelines adopted by the purchasing agent.
(Ord. 452 § 8, 1991)
As an aid in selecting the most appropriate vendor to provide supplies, equipment, or services to the city, specifications shall be established for the purchase requested. The degree of detail for each set of specifications shall be subject to the discretion of the purchasing agent. Standard specifications may be approved by the purchasing agent for commonly purchased goods.
A. 
When informal bid procedures are called for, the specifications may take the form of a product description accompanying the purchase request.
B. 
When formal bid procedures are called for, the purchasing agent should work closely with the city manager, finance director, consulting professionals, and potential vendors, in establishing precise, written specifications for the purchase. All such specifications shall be subject to the approval of the purchasing agent.
(Ord. 452 § 9, 1991)
The purchasing agent may also solicit bids from responsible vendors whose names appear on an approved vendors list, who have dealt responsibly with the city in the past twelve months, or who have made a written request to be so considered. Approved vendors lists shall be updated by the purchasing agent on an annual basis.
(Ord. 452 § 10, 1991)
For large expenditures and/or technically complicated purchases, a pre-bid conference open to all interested vendors shall be held at the discretion of the purchasing agent in order to discuss and clarify purchase specifications.
(Ord. 452 § 11, 1991)
Multiple purchases of supplies or equipment within a rolling twelve month period are not to be allocated to different accounts or separated into smaller orders for the purpose of circumventing competitive bidding procedures, administrative regulations or guidelines regarding purchasing, or expenditure thresholds relating to supplies and equipment.
(Ord. 452 § 13, 1991)
Implicit in the purchasing process shall be the prohibition of practices which might result in unlawful activity including, but not limited to, rebates, kickbacks, or other unlawful consideration, and the practice of any city employees of participating in the vendor selection process when said employees have a financial or familial relationship with any person or firm under consideration in such a process. Procedures to report possible conflicts of interest and to provide for disciplinary action when necessary shall be adopted by the purchasing agent.
(Ord. 452 § 14, 1991)
A. 
Except as otherwise provided, purchases of supplies, and equipment of an estimated value in excess of twentyfive thousand dollars shall be subject to formal bid procedures as provided in this chapter.
B. 
All formal bids must be in sealed envelopes identified as bids on the envelopes, and submitted to the city clerk at the time and place specified in the notification.
(Ord. 452 § 16, 1991; Ord. 460 § 1, 1991)
The purchasing agent shall advertise the acceptance of formal, sealed bids by posting notices in the three public places designated for such purpose by the city council at least ten days before the date set for opening bids. A public notice soliciting formal bids shall also be published in appropriate trade journals and/or a newspaper of general circulation in the city when so required by state law. These notices shall provide the following:
A. 
Deadline, including date, hour and location for submission of sealed bids;
B. 
A general description of goods desired;
C. 
Information regarding availability of written specifications;
D. 
Qualifications for acceptable bidders;
E. 
Information regarding any bidder's security or bond requirements;
F. 
Date, time and location of the bid opening;
G. 
Evaluation factors;
H. 
Date and time of bid award.
(Ord. 452 § 17, 1991)
The city clerk shall safeguard all bids until the date and time scheduled for their opening. Bid opening shall occur in public at the place and time established by notification. The city clerk shall read aloud and record the names and total prices of each bidder. A tabulation of all bids received shall be available for public inspection in the city clerk's office during regular business hours for a period of not less than thirty calendar days after the bid opening.
(Ord. 452 § 18, 1991)
In its discretion, the city council may reject any and all bids, may waive any informalities or irregularities in the bids, and may call for readvertising for bids pursuant to the procedure prescribed in this chapter. Following a rejection of all bids, the city council has the option of abandoning the purchase or, given a finding by the city council that the project may be performed at lower cost by in-house staff or through open market purchases, completing the purchase by such methods through passage of a resolution by four-fifths vote. When all bids exceed the authorized budgeted amount or when less than three bids are received, the purchasing agent may authorize rejection of all bids and authorize rebidding based upon the original specifications or as they may be modified by the purchasing agent.
(Ord. 452 § 19, 1991)
Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, formal bid contracts shall be awarded by the city council to the lowest responsible bidder. Determination of the lowest responsible bidder shall be made by the city council upon consideration of all relevant information including the recommendations of the purchasing agent.
(Ord. 452 § 20, 1991)
If two or more bids are received which would qualify as lowest responsible bids, and if the public interest would be served by proceeding with a bid award, the city council may in its discretion, and upon consideration of all relevant information including the recommendations of the purchasing agent responsible bid of its choice or accept the lowest bid made by and after negotiation with the tie bidders at the time of the bid opening or award of contract. Preference may, at this point, be given to local vendors on the basis of tax revenue returned to the city.
(Ord. 452 § 21, 1991)
When no formal bids or no responsive bids are received, the purchasing agent shall be authorized to negotiate for written proposals, and his or her recommendation shall be presented to the city council. Subsequent award, if any, shall be made in accordance with applicable provisions prescribed in this chapter.
(Ord. 452 § 22, 1991)
All informal bids shall be solicited by the purchasing agent by written or verbal requests to prospective vendors. The notice shall inform the vendors of the specifications and bidding procedures relevant to the purchase.
(Ord. 452 § 24, 1991)
Procedures and requirements for formal and informal competitive bidding may be dispensed with in any of the following circumstances:
A. 
The commodity can be obtained from only one vendor or source;
B. 
The situation is categorized as an emergency by the purchasing agent:
1. 
A recognized public disaster,
2. 
A breakdown in machinery or an essential city function which requires the immediate procurement of supplies, equipment, or services in order to protect the health, welfare, safety and/or convenience of the general public;
C. 
Supplies, equipment, or services are to be acquired through an agreement entered into with another governmental entity;
D. 
The commodity in question is a professional consulting service or a service on retainer.
The purchasing agent shall be empowered to find and determine that substantial evidence exists to support such exemptions from the competitive bid procedures. Notwithstanding any such waiver of the competitive bidding requirements, such purchases shall still be subject to purchase order requirements and administrative regulation by the purchasing agent.
(Ord. 452 § 26, 1991)
Contracts for technical contract services, as defined in Section 3.32.020, shall be awarded on the basis of demonstrated competence and professional qualifications relevant to the task in question. The three mechanisms by which the city shall govern the awarding of such contracts are as follows: annual lists of qualified firms, requests for qualifications, and requests for proposals. These mechanisms shall operate as described in this chapter.
(Ord. 452 § 27, 1991)
The purchasing agent shall maintain lists of firms qualified to perform work in those areas in which the city normally solicits technical contract services. The city shall annually publish a notice inviting technical contract services firms to submit their qualifications and inviting those already on the lists to update their stated qualifications. These notices may be published in a major newspaper of general local circulation, technical publications, or newsletters of appropriate professional societies.
(Ord. 452 § 28, 1991)
When the need for technical contract services arises which, by the determination of the purchasing agent, would not be sufficiently served by an annual list of consultants, requests for qualifications (RFQ) shall be sent to three or more firms. The RFQ should provide a general description of the project and request the consultant to submit qualifying information as specified at the time of the request.
(Ord. 452 § 29, 1991)
A. 
A selection committee assembled by the purchasing agent should review both the annual list of firms and the consultant's responses to the RFQ (the Statement of Qualification or SOQ) and establish a short list of at least three of the most qualified consultants for further evaluation.
B. 
If the purchasing agent has determined that a request for qualifications is not necessary, the short list shall be selected from among those firms on the annual lists of firms.
(Ord. 452 § 30, 1991)
In those instances when more detailed proposals are warranted, a request for proposal (RFP) shall be sent to the short-listed firms prior to the start of negotiations. The RFP should solicit specific information on the consultant's proposed team including subcontractors, understanding of the project, approach, scope of work, and other relevant data, but should not request fee information.
(Ord. 452 § 31, 1991)
Following the deadline set for receipt of qualifications and/or proposals, the selection committee shall evaluate the qualifications and/or proposals and conduct discussions with those firms on the short list regarding anticipated concepts and the relative utility of alternative methods of approach for furnishing the required services and then shall select therefrom, in order of preference, based upon criteria established and published by the selection committee, no less than three of the firms deemed to be the most highly qualified to provide the services required. From this ranked listing, the selection committee shall negotiate a contract with the best qualified firm at a compensation which the city determines to be fair and reasonable. If agreement on terms cannot be reached with the first choice firm, negotiation shall be terminated and negotiations will then proceed with the next firm on the list, and so on to the remaining firms on the list if necessary.
(Ord. 452 § 32, 1991)