This chapter is adopted pursuant to Public Contract Code Section 22030 et seq., and constitutes an "informal bidding ordinance" as described in Public Contract Code Section 22034. The purpose of this chapter is to establish an informal bidding procedure applicable to certain contracts for public projects as a result of the city electing, by resolution, to become subject to the Uniform Public Construction Cost Accounting Act ("UPCCAA") and the uniform construction cost accounting procedures promulgated by the State Controller and developed by the California Uniform Construction Cost Accounting Commission.
(Ord. 1090-13 § 2)
For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms are defined as set forth in this section:
"Facility"
means any plant, building, structure, ground facility, real property, streets and highways or other public works improvement.
"Maintenance work"
includes all of the following:
1. 
Routine, recurring, and usual work for the preservation or protection of publicly owned or publicly operated facility for its intended purpose.
2. 
Minor repainting.
3. 
Resurfacing of streets and highways at less than one inch.
4. 
Landscape maintenance, including moving, watering, trimming, pruning, planting, replacement of plats, and servicing of irrigation and sprinkler systems.
5. 
Work performed to keep, operate, and maintain publicly owned water, power, or waste disposal systems.
"Public project"
shall have the definition set forth in Public Contract Code Section 22002, which means any of the following and does not include "maintenance work":
1. 
Construction, reconstruction, erection, alteration, renovation, improvement, demolition, and repair work involving any publicly owned, leased, or operated facility.
2. 
Painting or repainting of any publicly owned, leased, or operated facility.
(Ord. 1090-13 § 2)
A. 
Public projects of sixty thousand dollars or less, pursuant to Public Contract Code Section 22032(a), may be performed by city employees by force account or negotiated contract. Public projects less than fifty thousand dollars may be contracted by the city manager. Public projects which will cost fifty thousand dollars or more will require city council approval. All contracts awarded pursuant to this chapter are subject to approval by the city attorney.
B. 
Public projects of two hundred thousand dollars or less, pursuant to Public Contract Code Section 22032(b), may be let to contract by informal bidding procedures in accordance with Public Contract Code Section 22030 et seq. and as set forth in Sections 3.09.040 through 3.09.080.
C. 
Public projects of more than two hundred thousand dollars shall be let to contract by formal bidding procedure.
(Ord. 1090-13 § 2; Ord. 1150-18 § 1)
The city council has delegated to the city manager or city engineer the authority to prepare and adopt plans, specifications and working details necessary for projects subject to the informal bidding requirements pursuant to Section 3.09.030(B).
(Ord. 1090-13 § 2)
A. 
The city manager or city engineer shall develop and maintain a list of qualified contractors eligible to submit bids on informal contracts awarded by the city, in accordance with Public Contract Code Section 22034(a) and any criteria promulgated from time to time by the California Uniform Construction Cost Accounting Commission. In developing the list, they shall obtain from the Contractor's State License Board, and from construction trade associations in the county, names and addresses of qualified contractors located in the county and shall comply with other requirements of the Department of Industrial Relations. The list shall be organized with the license classifications of the Contractor's State License Board.
B. 
The city manager or city engineer shall publish annually, in all those construction trade journals identified by the Contractor's State License Board in accordance with Public Contract Code Section 22036, notice that the city has elected to become subject to the uniform public construction cost accounting procedures, that it maintains a list of contractors qualified to submit bids on informal contracts, and of the city office to contact for all information necessary for a qualified contractor to be included on the list.
C. 
Any licensed California contractor upon request may be added to the list at any time.
D. 
The city engineer shall develop and provide to contractors applying for inclusion on the list a simplified form requesting the applicant's name, address and California contractor's license number and classification.
(Ord. 1090-13 § 2)
A. 
Notice Inviting Informal Bids. When a public project contract is to be let according to the procedures in Section 3.09.030(B), a notice inviting informal bids shall be prepared, which notice shall describe the project in general terms, how to obtain more detailed information about the project, and shall state the time and place for the submission of bids. The city engineer shall mail notices inviting informal bids to all contractors on the list of qualified contractors, for the category of work to be bid and all construction trade journals specified in Public Contract Code Section 22036, not fewer than ten calendar days before bids are due unless the product or service is proprietary, meaning that the product or service can only be obtained from a certain contractor or contractors.
If there is no list of qualified contractors maintained by the city for the particular category of work to be performed, the notice inviting bids shall be sent to the construction trade journals specified by the California Uniform Construction Cost Accounting Commission.
B. 
Bid Security. When deemed necessary by the city engineer and in all contracts for more than ten thousand dollars, bidder's security will be required and identified in the notices inviting informal bids. Bidders shall be entitled to return of bid security, provided that a successful bidder shall forfeit his or her bid security upon refusal or failure to execute the contract within ten days after the notice of award of contract has been mailed, unless the city is responsible for the delay. The city engineer may, on refusal or failure of the successful bidder to execute the contract, award the bid to the next lowest responsible bidder. If the city engineer awards the contract to the next lowest bidder, the amount of the lowest bidder's security shall be applied by the city to the difference between the low bid and the second lowest bid, and the surplus, if any, shall be returned to the initial lowest bidder.
C. 
Performance and Payment Bonds. The city engineer shall require bonds, before entering into a contract, in such amount as required to comply with state law and as reasonably necessary to protect the best interests of the city. When bonds are required the form and amount of the bonds shall be described in the notice inviting informal bids.
(Ord. 1090-13 § 2)
At the time provided in the notice inviting informal bids, the city clerk shall open all bids timely received and the city council shall award contracts above ten thousand dollars to the lowest responsible bidder. If two or more bids are the same and lowest, the city council may choose either bid.
If all bids received are in excess of the threshold set forth in Section 3.09.030(B), the city council, by four-fifths vote, may adopt a resolution awarding the contract to the lowest responsible bidder if the amount of the contract does not exceed the amount set forth in Section 3.09.030(B) plus seventeen thousand five hundred dollars and the city council determines that the city's cost estimate for the project was reasonable.
If no bids are received, the city engineer may solicit informal bids again, or have the work performed by city employees by force account, as determined to be in the best interests of the city.
In its discretion, the city council may reject any bids presented, if the city council, prior to rejecting all bids and declaring that the project can be more economically performed by city employees, gives written notice to the apparent low bidder. The notice shall inform the bidder of the city's intention to reject the bid and shall be mailed at least two business days prior to the hearing at which the city council intends to reject the bid. If all bids are rejected, after reevaluating its cost estimates of the project, the city council has the option of either:
A. 
Abandoning the project or re-advertising for bids in the manner described in this chapter; or
B. 
Adopting a resolution by a four-fifths vote declaring that the project can be performed more economically by city employees and moving forward with the project by force account. Any such project will be subject to an accounting procedures review by the California Uniform Construction Cost Accounting Commission upon request by an interested party.
(Ord. 1090-13 § 2)
The provisions of this chapter shall in no way restrict the right of the city to perform all necessary repair or replacement work in the cases of emergency as authorized by and in accordance with the procedures set forth in Public Contract Code Sections 22035 and 22050.
(Ord. 1090-13 § 2)