The following terms shall have the following meanings when used in this division:
"Bid"means an offer, in writing, to furnish goods or services in conformity with the specifications, delivery terms and conditions or other requirements included in the invitation for bids or an offer to purchase property pursuant to Chapter
7.08, Article 6.
means a method of procurement in which a good, service or construction item is defined in a list of specifications; the specifications are included in an invitation for bids; the bids are received by a specified time in sealed envelopes; and an award is made to the responsive and responsible bidder providing the lowest bid.
"Competitive sealed proposal"means a method of procurement in which a good, service or construction item is defined in a list of specifications; the specifications are included in a request for proposals; proposals are received by a specified time in sealed envelopes; and an award is made to the proposer most closely meeting specifications as determined by an evaluation that uses a set of evaluation criteria. Cost is one criterion, among others, all of which may be assigned specific weights.
"Contract"means all types of City agreements, including purchase orders, regardless of what they may be called, for the procurement or disposal of goods, services or construction.
"Contractor"means any person or business having a contract with the City.
"Department head"means one of the following: the City Clerk, the Chief of Police, the Director of Public Works, the Library Director, the Director of Recreation, the Director of Housing and Community Development or such other employees as the City Manager may designate from time to time.
"Emergency"means any condition or unforeseen curtailment, diminution or termination of an essential service which poses an immediate danger or threat to the public health, safety or welfare.
"Environmentally preferable products"means products that have a lesser or reduced adverse effect on human health and the environment when compared with competing products that serve the same purpose. This comparison may consider raw materials acquisition, production, manufacturing, packaging, distribution, reuse, operation, maintenance, or disposal of the product.
"Formal contract"means a written contract for procurements exceeding $30,000.00 in value that must be signed by the City Manager.
"Goods"means supplies, materials, equipment and all tangible property, except real property.
"Indefinite quantities contract"means a contract whereby the City agrees to purchase and the contractor agrees to provide the goods or construction of a designated type or unit which the City may require, without specifying in the contract the exact quantity.
"Invitation for bids"means all documents, whether attached or incorporated by reference, utilized for soliciting bids.
"Life cycle costs"means specific and quantifiable costs associated with an item over its useful life, including costs of disposal, in addition to the purchase price.
"Local business"is an independently owned and operated individual, business, or organization located within 150 miles of the City that provides locally supplied products and goods.
"Locally supplied"means products and goods made or supplied, or services provided, from an independently owned and operated individual, business, or organization located within 150 miles of the City.
"Minority/woman-owned business enterprise" or "M/WBE"is a business that has received this designation by another local government, the State of Maryland, or the United States of America. Typically, an M/WBE is a business that is at least 51% owned and controlled by one or more socially and economically disadvantaged individuals. An individual is presumed to be socially and economically disadvantaged if that individual belongs to one of the following groups: African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Pacific Americans, Subcontinent Asian Americans, Native Americans, and women. Persons who own and control their business, but are not members of one of the above groups, also may meet the M/WBE definition if they establish their social and economic disadvantage. Individuals with disabilities may also meet the M/WBE definition.
"Percentage price preference"means the percentage by which a bid from a responsible bidder or price available from a vendor whose product contains recycled materials (or a greater use of recycled material) may exceed the lowest responsive bid submitted by a responsible bidder whose product does not contain recycled material (or a lesser use of recycled material).
"Post-consumer waste"means an item that has served its intended use, such as old newspapers or magazines, and has been separated and diverted from the waste stream for the purposes of collection and recycling. It does not include waste generated during production of an end product, such as printer's waste.
"Price preference"means a percentage of increase in price that the City may pay to obtain a designated recycled or environmentally preferable product or service.
"Procurement"means buying, purchasing, renting, leasing or otherwise acquiring any goods, services or construction. It also includes all functions that pertain to the obtaining of any good, service or construction, including description of requirements, selection and solicitation of sources, preparation and award of a contract and all phases of contract administration.
"Professional services"means personal services of members of a licensed or otherwise recognized profession, including but not limited to accountants, architects, attorneys, auditors, engineers, medical practitioners, surveyors, information technology support providers, and the like.
"Proposal"means an offer to supply goods or perform services or to purchase goods to be disposed of in response to a request for proposals by the City where competitive sealed proposals or negotiations will be used rather than the competitive sealed bid process.
"Recycled material"means material recovered from or otherwise diverted from the waste stream, including recycled paper. It includes post-consumer waste but does not include those materials and by-products generated from and commonly reused during production of an end product.
"Recycled paper"means paper or a paper product that contains recycled materials with a total gross content of post-consumer waste of at least 80%, or if such a paper product is unavailable or otherwise impracticable to procure that the paper or paper product has been de-inked or contains a level of post-consumer waste that exceeds the then-current minimum content standards of the United States Environmental Protection Agency for paper and paper products containing recovered materials (
40 C.F.R. Chapter 250), or if a paper or paper product meeting the requirements set out herein is unavailable or otherwise impracticable to procure, that the paper or paper product conforms to the then-current minimum content standards adopted by the United States Environmental Protection Agency for paper and paper products containing recovered materials (
40 C.F.R. Chapter 250).
means all documents, whether attached or incorporated by reference, used for soliciting proposals.
"Responsible bidder or offeror"means a person or entity who has the capability in all respects to perform fully the contract requirements and the experience, integrity, reliability, capacity, facilities, equipment and credit which will assure good faith performance. Any person who is in default on the payment of taxes, licenses or other moneys due the City shall not be deemed "responsible."
"Responsive bidder"means a person or entity who has submitted a bid which conforms in all material aspects to the invitation for bids.
"Rider contract"means an agreement procuring goods or services in which a vendor provides the same goods or services to the City at the same price and under the same material terms and conditions of the underlying contract, excluding quantities, between the vendor or contractor and another governmental entity, and may include contracts awarded through City participation in programs established by cooperative purchasing organizations or purchasing associations.
"Software contract"means a contract entered into for the provision of data, programs, and/or operating systems used to operate computers and execute specific tasks.
"Specifications"means any description of the design or functional characteristics or of the nature of a good, service or construction item. It may include a description of any requirement for inspecting, testing or preparing a good, service or construction item.
(Ord. 2014-41 § 2 (part), 2014/Ord. 2021-36, 2021/Ord. 2024-18, 2024/prior code § 9A-4)