The purchasing agent shall be responsible for establishing a
centralized purchasing system to incorporate requisitions and purchase
orders for all purchases made on behalf of the Town, except as hereinafter
provided. In establishing specifications for purchases, the purchasing
agent shall solicit and consider the requirements of the user department
as articulated by the applicable department director. The purchasing
agent may promulgate rules, consistent with this chapter, to further
its objectives. The purchasing agent shall also consult with the Town
Manager and Director of Finance, as necessary, in developing proposed
specifications for more complex or expensive purchases. The Town Manager
is authorized to resolve any interdepartmental conflict involving
the relative importance of quality requirements and estimated price
in developing the specifications.
A. Scheduled
buying. The purchasing agent shall schedule buying for items which
are used on a reoccurring volume basis. Each Town department shall
submit department supply and material requests, together with anticipated
annual usage to the purchasing agent for the creation of proper and
necessary buying schedules. The purchasing agent shall consolidate
multiple department requests for common-use items into one large purchase,
to reduce unit prices, when practical.
B. Cooperative
purchasing. Whenever feasible, the purchasing agent shall consider
arrangements for purchases in conjunction with other units of government.
This will generate larger volume, which may create more attractive
unit prices by creating a larger volume purchase.
C. School
Department purchases. The purchasing agent shall implement the provisions
of § C-5.18(a) of the Town Charter, which provides that
all supplies, materials and equipment required by the School Department,
excluding instructional materials, such as textbooks, workbooks, and
curriculum materials, shall be purchased under the supervision of
the purchasing agent.
D. Projects. All purchases of equipment, real property, or for construction which are included in a project as defined by §
C-4.16 of the Town Charter shall be supervised by a building committee appointed by the Town Council.
E. Exemptions.
Certain items of expense may be processed for payment without submitting
a requisition for a purchase order. Expenses of this nature are usually
reoccurring obligations of the Town, such as utility services, provided
there is a specified billing period, to include electricity, gas,
water and sewer, telephone, and the following:
(1) Postage, freight, maintenance/service contracts.
(2) Pension contributions and payments, FICA contributions.
(5) Authorized employee benefit payments.
(6) Petty cash reimbursements.
(7) Authorized payroll deductions.
(8) Appropriations to agencies authorized at the Financial Town Meeting.
F. Local
purchasing. In purchasing materials, goods and services, preference
will be given to Smithfield vendors, where price and quality are judged
to be equal by the purchasing agent or Town Council, as applicable.
G. Contracts.
All contracts required to memorialize the purchase of goods or services
shall be in a form approved by the Town Solicitor.
The following procedures are prescribed to initiate requests
for materials, supplies, equipment or services (including professional
services) for the Town:
A. In
general. A requisition memo is used as the initial step in the purchasing
procedure. This memo is designed to advise the purchasing agent of
the need for these items. The requisition memo shall be submitted
to allow sufficient time for review and solicitation of bids by the
purchasing agent. The rate of consumption of items requisitioned shall
be carefully considered in arriving at the quantity requested. Requisitions
for the same material or service shall not be artificially divided
so as to circumvent this chapter.
B. Preparation.
(1) Requisition forms are available from the purchasing agent, Finance
Department, or may be photocopied. On the requisition form are spaces
for the following: a requisition number (use optional); vendor's
name, address and vendor number; the department originating the requisition;
whether the purchase order will confirm a verbal order already placed
with the vendor; the purchase order number (if known at the time the
requisition is prepared); the vendor's product number and description
(insert catalog page number, if applicable); the selling unit (ton,
gallon, etc.); the quantity, unit price and extended price; the full
account number; shipping and handling charges (most deliveries should
be f.o.b. Smithfield and incur no shipping charges); the person submitting
the requisition (department director or a duly authorized representative);
the date the requisition is prepared and the approval signature by
the purchasing agent. Unless otherwise specified, the delivery of
the material will be scheduled directly to the department ordering
the material.
(2) The description of the item(s) shall be sufficiently complete to
enable the purchasing agent to proceed with the purchase or to order
from an existing price agreement contract without requesting supplementary
information. Common use items should be described by their popular
names, supplemented by number, size, style or other identifying data.
Departments must exercise care to avoid using a "closed" description
or specification which describes the product of one manufacturer exclusively
and prevents the obtaining of competitive bids. A requisition may
specify a model number and brand name "or equal thereto" to denote
a minimum standard of quality.
C. Routing.
Upon completion of the form, the preparing department will send the
requisition to the purchasing agent who will verify the availability
of funds for the purchase, sign it, if approved, and prepare a purchase
order or return it to the originating department for a purchase order.
The purchasing agent may waive requests for requisitions to expedite
purchases. Requisitions disapproved by the Finance Director will be
returned to the department concerned, along with an explanation for
the disapproval. The purchasing agent will solicit sealed bids when
required, once requisition approval is secured under all applicable
provisions of this chapter.
The following sets forth the policies and procedures for processing
purchase orders:
A. General.
The purchase order is the vendor's authorization to provide the
equipment, materials, supplies or services specified. If there is
no other contract between the parties, the purchase order constitutes
the contract between the Town and the vendor. The purchase order,
prior to expending funds, is initiated by the requisition's originating
department and is next forwarded to the purchasing agent for review
of available funding, approval and signature. The Town Manager next
receives the purchase order for approval and signature. After being
signed by all the proper officials, distribution of the purchase order
will be as follows:
(1) The original copy (white) is mailed to the vendor by the requisitioning
department.
(2) The second copy (yellow) is retained by the requisitioning department
for filing along with the department copy of the requisition memo.
(3) The third copy (pink) is the receiving report which is sent to the
requisitioning department to be used upon receipt of the material/services
to substantiate payment.
B. Change
orders. The change order is used to change, correct or cancel any
purchase order. Change orders will be prepared by the purchasing agent
whenever a change to the original purchase order makes it necessary.
Change orders will not be used to purchase items which were not contemplated
in the original invitation to bid. A purchaser order form is utilized
as a change order. The statement "Change Order to Purchase Order No."
is entered on the purchase order, along with reference to the original
purchase order number. The processing and distribution of the change
order is the same as that of the purchase order.
Requisitions and purchase orders are not required when the purchase
will not exceed $5,000 or a lower amount set by the Town Manager.
For all purchases, a payment voucher will be used to indicate receipt
of the material/service and permit the invoice to be processed for
payment. The payment voucher will be approved for payment by the department
director, Finance Director and Town Manager. Where time is of the
essence involving unscheduled repairs to vehicles and equipment, a
payment voucher may be used in lieu of the requisition/purchase order
system.