Village of Norwood, NY Procurement Policy

Goods and services which are not required by law to be procured pursuant to competitive bidding must be procured in a manner so as to assure the prudent and economical use of public moneys, in the best interests of the taxpayers, to facilitate the acquisition of goods and services of maximum quality at the lowest possible cost under the circumstances and to guard against favoritism, improvidence, extravagance, fraud and corruption. To further these objectives, the governing board is adopting internal policies and procedures governing all procurements of goods and services which are not required to be made pursuant to the competitive bidding requirements of General Municipal Law § 103 or of any other general, special or local law.

§ 40-2 Procedure for determination of competitive bidding; documentation.

The procedure for determining whether a procurement of goods and services is subject to competitive bidding and documenting the basis for any determination that competitive bidding is not required by law is as follows:

Procedure.

(1)

The Mayor shall make the initial determination of whether or not a proposed procurement of materials, supplies, equipment and services shall be subject to the requirements of competitive bidding under the General Municipal Law of the State of New York. (Similar procurements to be made in a fiscal year will be grouped together for purposes of determining whether a particular item must be bid.)

(2)

The Mayor shall determine whether the proposed procurement is a purchase contract or a contract for public work, whether the amount is above the applicable threshold and which type of procurement it is.

(3)

For the purpose of this policy and procedure guideline, a purchase contract shall include acquisition of commodities, materials, supplies or equipment, and contracts for public works shall include services, labor or construction.

(4)

The Mayor shall bring each procurement and his initial decision to the Village Board at a regular meeting for its approval and the appropriate resolution for each procurement.

Documentation. The Mayor or his designee shall maintain a logbook for procurements below the bidding amounts, including all written evidence of quotes and recording of all verbal quotes.

Except for procurements made pursuant to General Municipal Law § 103, Subdivision 3 (through county contracts), or § 104 (through state contract), State Finance Law § 175-b[1] (from agencies for the blind or severely handicapped), Correction Law § 186 (articles manufactured in correctional institutions) or the items excepted herein (see below), alternative proposals or quotations for goods and services shall be secured by use of written requests for proposals, written quotations, verbal quotations or any other method of procurement which furthers the purposes of General Municipal Law § 104-b.

[1]

Editor's Note: Former § 175-b of the State Finance Law was repealed by L. 1995, c. 83, § 33, effective 4-1-1995.

§ 40-3 Methods of competition to be used for nonbid procurements.

The methods of procurement to be used are as follows:

Type of Procurement		Verbal Quotes			Written Quotes		RFP	Other
		0	2	More Than 2	2	3
Purchase contracts below $10,000
	Under $100	X
	$100 to $500	X
	$500 to $1,000		X
	$1,000 to $5,000		X
	$5,000 to $9,999				X
Contracts for public work below $20,000
	Under $1,000	X
	$1,000 to $5,000		X
	$5,000 to $10,000				X
	$10,000 to $19,999					X
Emergencies								X
Insurance					X
Professional services							X
True leases (other than school districts)								X
Secondhand equipment from other governments								X
Sole source (for example, patented or monopoly item)								X

§ 40-4 Documentation of procurement methods.

Documentation of actions taken in connection with each such method of procurement is required as follows:

Verbal quotations: a telephone log or other record will be maintained; at a minimum including the date, item or service desired, the price quoted, the name of the vendor and the name of the vendor's representative.

Written quotations: vendors shall provide the date, a description of the item or the details of the service to be provided, the price quoted and the name of the contract.

Request for proposals: request for proposals for professional services from architects, engineers, accountants, lawyers, underwriters and other professionals shall include the date, a description of the service to be provided and the price.

§ 40-5 Awards to other than lowest responsible bidder.

Whenever any contract is awarded to other than the lowest responsible dollar offerer, the reasons that such an award furthers the purpose of General Municipal Law § 104-b as set forth hereinabove shall be documented as follows:

The Mayor or his designee shall document in the logbook the justification and reason why the purchase was from other than the lowest responsible vendor or contractor submitting a quotation or proposal and shall also include documentation of the reason why the purchase is in the best interests of the governmental unit and otherwise furthers the purpose of § 104-b of the General Municipal Law.

§ 40-6 Exceptions.

The Board sets forth the following circumstances when or types of procurements for which, in the sole discretion of the governing body, the solicitation of alternative proposals or quotations will not be in the best interest of the Village of Norwood: emergencies where time is a crucial factor; true leases; secondhand equipment from other governments; procurements from a sole source; procurement of professional services; procurements under $2,000; and contracts for public work under $7,000.

Emergencies. Emergencies must meet the three basic statutory criteria:

(1)

The situation arises out of an accident or unforeseen occurrence or condition.

(2)

Public buildings, public property or the life, health, safety or property of the political subdivision's residents are affected.

(3)

The situation requires immediate action which cannot await competitive bidding.

True leases. Even though true leases are not subject to competitive bidding under General Municipal Law § 103, the Village Board will consider the cost-benefit analysis of leasing versus purchasing the item in question.

Secondhand equipment from other governmental units. Prior to procuring equipment from other governmental units, a municipality shall document a market price comparison of the item to be purchased with the purchase of similar goods from a private source.

Sole source. The municipality shall document the unique benefits of an item to be purchased from a sole source and that no other item provides substantially equivalent benefits as that to be procured from the sole source and that, considering the benefits received, the cost of the item is reasonable compared to conventional procurement policies and procedures. The municipality shall, in addition, document as a matter of fact that there is no possibility of competition for the procurement of the goods.

§ 40-7 Input from officers.

Comments concerning the policies and procedures shall be solicited from officers of the political subdivision or district therein involved in the procurement process prior to the enactment of the policies and procedures and will be solicited from time to time thereafter.

§ 40-8 Annual review.

The governing board shall annually review these policies and procedures. The Mayor shall be responsible for conducting the annual review of the procurement policy and for an evaluation of the internal control structure established to ensure compliance with the procurement policy.

§ 40-9 Unintentional failure to comply.

The unintentional failure to fully comply with the provisions of General Municipal Law § 104-b shall not be grounds to void action taken or give rise to a cause of action against the Village of Norwood or any officer or employee thereof.