Arcata Municipal Code Art. 3 Bidding for Public Projects

(a) Purposes. Pursuant to Resolution No. 012-09 (eff. 8/2/2001), the City Council duly elected to become subject to uniform construction cost accounting procedures as set forth in the California Public Contract Code, Section 22000 et seq., the Uniform Public Construction Cost Accounting Act. By making such election, the City may follow an informal bid process to award contracts for public projects, as defined in the Uniform Public Construction Cost Accounting Act, for contracts up to the monetary limits as set forth in the Uniform Public Construction Cost Accounting Act. The purpose of this Section is to implement the authorized informal bidding protocol.

(b) Qualified Contractors.

(1) List of Contractors. The Purchasing Agent shall maintain a list of qualified contractors, identified according to categories of work. Minimum criteria for development and maintenance of the contractor’s list shall be determined in accordance with criteria established by the California Uniform Construction Cost Accounting Commission.

(2) Notice. All contractors on the list for the category of work being bid and construction trade journals as specified for Humboldt County by the California Uniform Cost Accounting Commission shall be mailed a notice inviting informal bids unless the product or service is proprietary.

(3) Time for Notice. All mailing of notices inviting informal bids to contractors and construction trade journals shall be completed not less than ten (10) calendar days before bids are due.

(4) Description of Notice. The notice inviting informal bids shall describe the project in general terms, how to obtain more detailed information about the project, and state the time and place for the submission of bids.

(5) Award of Contract. The City Council hereby delegates the authority to award informal contracts to the Purchasing Agent for public project contracts in the amount of seventy-five thousand dollars ($75,000) or less. Informal contracts for public project contracts in an amount greater than seventy-five thousand dollars ($75,000) shall be awarded by the City Council. (Ord. 1327, eff. 12/07/2001; Ord. 1553, eff. 1/14/2022; Ord. 1576, eff. 3/7/2025)

The City shall perform, bid, or award contracts for public projects in a manner consistent with Public Contract Code Section 22032 of the California Uniform Public Construction Cost Accounting Act (CUPCCAA), including monetary limits for formal, informal, and exempted bid processes. CUPCCAA monetary limits in place as of the effective date of the ordinance codified in this Chapter are set out below. These monetary limits are subject to periodic adjustment by State legislative amendment to Public Contract Code Section 22032, and the intent of this Section is to allow the City’s process for performing, bidding or awarding public projects to follow the CUPCCAA monetary limits as amended from time to time. The Purchasing Agent shall maintain current records of the CUPCCAA monetary limits.

(a) Public projects of seventy-five thousand dollars ($75,000) or less may be performed by the employees of a public agency by force account, by negotiated contract, or by purchase order, and may be awarded by the Purchasing Agent.

(b) Public projects of two hundred twenty thousand dollars ($220,000) or less may be let to contract by informal procedures as set forth in Article 3 of the CUPCCAA and shall be awarded by the City Council.

(c) Public projects of more than two hundred twenty thousand dollars ($220,000) shall, except as otherwise provided in Article 3 of the CUPCCAA, be let to contract by formal bidding procedure, and shall be awarded by the City Council. (Ord. 1553, eff. 1/14/2022; Ord. 1576, eff. 3/7/2025)

The City Manager, City Engineer, or their designees are authorized to approve plans or designs for public projects for purposes of design immunity pursuant to Government Code Section 830.6. Nothing in this section is intended to, nor will it, preclude the City Council from separately or additionally approving plans or designs for purposes of design immunity pursuant to Government Code Section 830.6. (Ord. 1587, eff. 8/14/2026)

TITLE II—ADMINISTRATION