[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Board of the Town of Hamburg as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where applicable.]
[1]
Editor's Note: Former Chapter 48, Personnel Regulations, adopted 8-9-1967, was repealed 5-12-2003. Current personnel rules and regulations are covered in employee contracts.
[Adopted 6-24-2019 by L.L. No. 5-2019]
The title of this article is the "Town of Hamburg Best Value Competitive Bidding Law."
A. 
General Municipal Law § 103 requires competitive bidding for purchase contracts and public works contracts and has historically required that such bids be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder whose bid meets the requirements of the specifications for the project.
B. 
Amendment of statute.
(1) 
General Municipal Law § 103 was amended (A08692/S6117) on January 27, 2012, to provide local governments greater flexibility in awarding contracts by authorizing the award of purchase contracts, including contracts for service work, on the basis of best value, as defined in § 163 of the State Finance Law, to a responsive and responsible bidder or offeror. In order to award contracts on the basis of best value, the state legislation requires a municipality to enact a local law authorizing the use of the best value approach.
(2) 
(From Assembly Bill Memo A08692): Enactment of this legislation provides additional procurement options to localities in ways that may expedite the procurement process and result in cost savings. The "best value" standard for selecting goods and services vendors, including janitorial and security contracts, is critical to efforts to use strategic sourcing principles to modernize the supply chain and ensure that taxpayers obtain the highest quality goods and services at the lowest potential cost, while also ensuring fairness to all competitors.
C. 
The federal government, approximately half the states and many localities have added best value selection processes to their procurement options in recognition of these advantages. With the increased complexity of the goods and services that municipalities must obtain in order to serve taxpayers, it is critical to consider selection and evaluation criteria that measure factors other than cost in the strictest sense.
D. 
Taxpayers are not well served when a public procurement results in low unit costs at the outset, but ultimately engenders cost escalations due to factors such as inferior quality, poor reliability and difficulty of maintenance. Best value procurement links the procurement process directly to the municipality's performance requirements, incorporating selection factors such as useful lifespan, quality, and options and incentives for more timely performance and/or additional services.
E. 
Even if the initial expenditure is higher, considering the total value over the life of the procurement may result in a better value and long-term investment of public funds. Best value procurement also encourages competition and, in turn, often results in better pricing, quality and customer service. Fostering healthy competition ensures that bidders will continue to strive for excellence in identifying and meeting municipalities' needs, including such important goals as the participation of small, minority and women-owned businesses, and the development of environmentally preferable goods and service delivery methods. Best value procurement will provide much needed flexibility in obtaining important goods and services at favorable prices.
F. 
The Hamburg Town Board hereby determines that it is in the best interest of the Town of Hamburg and its residents for the Hamburg Town Board to have the authority to award purchase contracts on the basis of best value.
As used in this article, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
BEST VALUE
The basis for awarding purchase contracts, including contracts for service work, to the offerer which optimizes quality, cost and efficiency, among responsive and responsible offerers and may consider non-price factors in the determination. Such basis shall reflect, wherever possible, objective and quantifiable analysis. Such basis may also identify a quantitative factor for offerers that are small businesses or certified minority- or women-owned business enterprises as defined in Subdivisions 1, 7, 15 and 20 of § 310 of the Executive Law to be used in evaluation of offers for awarding of contracts for services.
Goods and services procured and awarded on the basis of best value are those that the Town Board determines will be of the highest quality while being the most cost efficient. The determination of quality and cost efficiency shall be based on objectively quantified and clearly described and documented criteria, which may include, but shall not be limited to, any or all of the following: cost of maintenance; proximity to the end user if distance or response time is a significant term; durability; availability of replacement parts or maintenance contractors; product lifespan; product performance criteria; quality of craftsmanship; reliability of a product; efficiency of operation; ability to meet needs regarding timelines of performance; and experience of a provider with similar contracts.
A. 
On and after the effective date hereof, the Town of Hamburg may award purchase contracts, including contracts for service work, but excluding any purchase contracts necessary for the completion of a public works contract pursuant to Article 8 of Labor Law, on the basis of best value, as defined in § 163 of the State Finance Law, to a responsive and responsible bidder or offeror.
B. 
The election to award any such contract on the basis of best value shall be made by the Town Board which authorizes the solicitation of bids therefor.
C. 
In the event that no such election is made, purchase contracts will continue to be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder furnishing the required security.
A. 
The Town Department from which the bid originates shall select a formal sealed competitive bidding procurement process in accordance with General Municipal Law and the Town of Hamburg Procurement Policy and document its determination in the procurement record. The process shall include, but is not limited to, a clear statement of need; a description of the required specifications governing performance and related factors; a reasonable process for ensuring a competitive field; a fair and equal opportunity for bidders to submit responsive offers; and a balanced and fair method of award. Where the basis for the award is best value, documentation in the procurement record shall, where practicable, include a quantification of the application of the criteria to the rating of proposals and the evaluation results, or, where not practicable, such other justification which demonstrates that best value will be achieved. Should the Town award a best value contract based on criteria that was not objective and quantifiable, some form of justification should be provided.
B. 
Where the basis for award is the best value offer, the Director of Finance shall document, in the procurement record and in advance of the initial receipt of offers, the determination of the evaluation criteria, which whenever possible, shall be quantifiable, and the process to be used in the determination of best value and the manner in which the evaluation process and selection shall be conducted.
C. 
The solicitation shall prescribe the minimum specifications or requirements that must be met in order to be considered responsive and shall describe and disclose the general manner in which the evaluation and selection shall be conducted. Where appropriate, the solicitation shall identify the relative importance and/or weight of cost and the overall technical criterion to be considered by the Town of Hamburg in its determination of best value.
D. 
The Director of Finance shall develop procedures that will govern the award of contracts on the basis of best value. These procedures shall be included in the Town of Hamburg Procurement Policy and reviewed annually by the Hamburg Town Board in conjunction with its annual review and approval of the Town of Hamburg Procurement Policy.
Any inconsistent provision of the Town's procurement policy, as adopted prior to the effective date of this article by resolution of the Town Board, or as amended thereafter, shall be deemed superseded by the provisions of this article.
If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section or part of this article or the application thereof to any person, individual, corporation, firm, partnership, entity or circumstance shall be adjudged by any court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid or unconstitutional, such order or judgment shall not affect, impair, effect or invalidate the remainder thereof, but shall be confined in its operation to the clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section or part of this article or in its application to the person, individual, corporation, firm, partnership, entity or circumstance directly involved in the controversy in which such order or judgment shall be rendered.