[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Council of
the Town of Wethersfield as Secs. 1-6-1 through 1-6-7 of the Code
of 1972. Amendments noted where applicable.]
The provisions of Charter Sections 712, 713,
714 and 715 shall control the purchasing procedure of the Town. The
procedures and personnel involved in the purchasing process shall
be subject to the supervision of and within the jurisdiction of the
Manager.
The inclusion of any item or project within
the approved budget shall be deemed to be authorization for the Purchasing
Agent to advertise for bids or negotiate for the acquisition of supplies,
materials, equipment, goods, services, commodities or for the construction
of streets, sewers, buildings and other public works.
It shall not be necessary to call for sealed
bids for the following supplies, materials, equipment, goods, services,
commodities or construction:
As used in this chapter, the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated:
In Charter Section 713, shall be interpreted to mean an item
or items that can be exactly described in its essential form or performance
by the same specification and that the Purchasing Agent should have
known from the approved budget would be acquired within the same fiscal
year. A class of items used for the same function shall not be considered
to be the "same commodity."
In Charter Section 713, shall be interpreted to mean the
effort involved in performing a class of work which is often performed
by one contractor alone. Such effort may be involved in a specific
project or on a miscellaneous basis in any construction season. If
the same contractor performs more than one class of work on a specific
project, then all the work he performs on the project shall be considered
a "unit."
Changes in the proposed scope of the bid may
be made after opening bids, provided that the basic bid is still in
its essential form and provided further that all bidders have the
same opportunity to submit new prices, in writing, at the same time,
for the changes being considered.
Should a contractor who is operating under a
contract awarded by Council fail to perform an essential act at the
time needed, the Purchasing Agent may immediately turn to other bidders
in the order of their bids to find a substitute. The Manager shall
report this action to the Council at their next meeting.
Wherever it would appear to be to the advantage
of the Town, in the judgment of the Purchasing Agent, the Town may
use bids called for by another governmental agency in exactly the
same way as bids called for by the Town, provided that the processing
of the bids has met the requirements of Charter Section 713 or 715.
[Added 1-17-1995]
The term "Town-based business" shall mean a
business with a principal business located within the Town of Wethersfield.
A business shall not be considered to be a Town-based business, unless
evidence to establish that said business has a bona fide principal
place of business in Wethersfield is submitted with each bid submitted
by said business. Such evidence may include evidence of ownership
of or a long-term lease of the real estate from which the principal
place of business is operated or payment of property taxes on the
personal property of the business to be used in performance of the
bid.
[Added 1-17-1995]
On any item or project advertised for bid pursuant to § 27-2 the lowest responsible bidder shall be determined in the following order:
A.
Provided that such Town-based resident bidder shall have met all other requirements set forth in §§ 27-8 through 27-11, any Town-based resident bidder which has submitted a bid not more than 10% higher than the lowest most responsible bid may be awarded the bid provided such Town-based bidder agrees to accept the award of the bid at the amount of the lowest most responsible bid.
B.
If more than one Town-based resident bidder has submitted
a bid not more than 10% higher than the lowest responsible bid, the
lowest responsible bidder shall be that one of the Town-based resident
bidders which had submitted the lowest bid.
[Added 1-17-1995]
Any local vendor meeting the requirements of
a Town-based resident bidder, as defined above, responding to the
solicitation shall be required to submit a signed Local Bidder Affidavit
Form with the bid submittal. Failure to submit an affidavit form approved
by the Town of Wethersfield may, at the option of the Town, result
in disqualification as a local vendor and ineligibility for contract
award.
