La Mirada Municipal Code Ch. 3.14 Purchasing

In order to establish efficient procedures for the purchase of supplies, services and equipment to secure for the city supplies, services and equipment at the lowest possible cost commensurate with quality needed, to exercise positive financial control over purchases, to clearly define authority for the purchasing function to assure the quality of purchases, a purchasing system is adopted.

(Ord. 407 § 2 (part), 1987).

There is created the position of purchasing officer. The purchasing officer shall be the city manager, or his or her designated representative. The duties of purchasing officer may be combined with those of any other office or position.

(Ord. 407 § 2 (part), 1987).

Those monetary limits which define the appropriate purchasing procedures as set forth in this chapter shall be established by resolution of the city council.

(Ord. 407 § 2 (part), 1987).

The purchasing officer may authorize any city department to purchase or contract for specified supplies, services and equipment independently of the purchasing officer, provided that such purchases or contracts shall be made in conformity with the procedures established by this chapter. Such authorization by the purchasing officer may be either in writing or verbally, except that any authorization in excess of the informal purchase limits shall be in writing.

(Ord. 407 § 2 (part), 1987).

Employees utilizing supplies and/or equipment shall submit requests for supplies and equipment to the purchasing officer by standard requisition forms. Upon the express written authorization of the purchasing officer, designated city departments may dispense with the submission of requisition forms for purchases within the open market procedure limits.

(Ord. 407 § 2 (part), 1987).

With regard to public works purchases, if there is a great public calamity, such as an extraordinary fire, flood, storm, epidemic or other disaster, or if it is necessary to do emergency work to prepare for national or local defense, the city council may pass a resolution by a four-fifths vote of its members declaring that the public interest and necessity demand the immediate expenditure of public money to safeguard life, health, or property. Upon adoption of the resolution, it may expend any sum required in the emergency without complying with the provision of this chapter as they apply to such public works purchases.

(Ord. 407 § 2 (part), 1987).

Purchases of supplies, services, equipment and the sale of personal property shall be by bid procedures pursuant to Sections 3.14.080, 3.14.090 and 3.14.140. Bidding shall be dispensed with only when no public work of total value in excess of the public works bidding limit is involved and one of the following conditions pertains:

(1) The amount involved is within open market purchasing policy limits;

(2) The purchasing officer determines that the commodity can be obtained from only one vendor;

(3) There is a breakdown in essential machinery or, in an essential service, or when unforeseen circumstances arise including delays by contractors, delays in transportation, and unanticipated volume of work which requires the immediate attention of a professional or immediate service/repair in order to protect the public health, safety or welfare; or

(4) An essential operation affecting the preservation of life or property, public health, safety or welfare would be greatly hampered if the prescribed procedure would cause an undue delay in the procurement of the needed services or materials.

(Ord. 407 § 2 (part), 1987).

Purchases of supplies, services and equipment of a value within the informal purchasing limits may be made by the purchasing officer or designated city department pursuant to Section 3.14.040, by observing the following procedures:

(1) Minimum Number of Bids. Purchases shall, wherever possible, be based on at least three bids, and shall be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder.

(2) Inviting Informal Bids. The purchasing officer may solicit bids by written requests to prospective vendors, by telephone or by public notice posted on a public bulletin board in the La Mirada City Hall or by any other means deemed effective.

(3) Written Informal Bids. Sealed written informal bids shall be submitted to the purchasing officer.

(Ord. 407 § 2 (part), 1987).

Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, purchases and contracts for supplies and equipment of estimated value within the formal purchasing limits shall be by written contract with the lowest responsible bidder pursuant to the procedure prescribed herein.

(1) Notice Inviting Bids. Notices inviting bids shall include a general description of the articles to be purchased, shall state where bid blanks and specifications may be secured, and the time and place for opening bids. Notice inviting bids shall be published at least ten days before the date of opening of the bids. Notice shall be published at least once in a trade paper, magazine or a newspaper of general circulation.

(2) Bidder's Security. When deemed necessary by the purchasing officer, bidder's security may be prescribed in the public notices inviting bids. Bidders shall be entitled to return of bid security; except that a successful bidder shall forfeit his bid security upon refusal or failure to execute the contract within ten days after the notice of award of contract has been mailed, unless the city is responsible for the delay. The city council may, on refusal or failure of the successful bidder to execute the contract, award it to the next lowest responsible bidder.

(3) Bid Opening Procedure. Sealed bids shall be submitted to the purchasing officer and shall be identified as bids on the envelope. Bids shall be opened in public at the time and place stated in the public notices. A tabulation of all bids received shall be open for public inspection during regular business hours for a period of not less than thirty calendar days after the bid opening.

(4) Rejection of Bids. In its discretion, the city council may reject any and all bids presented and readvertise for bids.

(5) Award of Contracts. Contracts shall be awarded by the city council to the lowest responsible bidder, except as otherwise provided herein.

(6) Tie Bids. If two or more bids received are for the same total amount or unit price, quality and service being equal, and if the public interest will not permit the delay of readvertising for bids, the city council may accept the one it chooses or accept the lowest bid made by negotiation with the tie bidders at the time of the bid opening.

(7) Performance Bonds. The city council or purchasing officer shall have the authority to require a performance bond before entering a contract in such amount as it finds reasonably necessary to protect the best interests of the city. If the city council or purchasing officer requires a performance bond, the form and amount of the bond shall be described in the notice inviting bids.

(Ord. 407 § 2 (part), 1987).

A. Notwith-standing any other provision of this chapter, contracts for public projects, as defined herein, shall be awarded in accordance with the Uniform Public Construction Cost Accounting Act, Public Contract Code § 22000 et seq., and in compliance with the provisions of this Section 3.14.100 .

B. Definitions. Unless otherwise provided by law, the following terms shall have those definitions as are set forth next to each:

1. “Facility” means any plant, building, structure, ground facility, utility system (subject to the limitation found in subsection B.2.c., below, real property, streets and highways, or other public work improvement.

2. “Public project” means any of the following:

a. Construction, reconstruction, erection, alteration, renovation, improvement, demolition and repair work involving any publicly owned, leased or operated facility;

b. Painting or repainting of any publicly owned, leased or operated facility;

c. In the case of a publicly owned utility system, 'public project' includes only the construction, erection, improvement or repair of dams, reservoirs, power plants and electrical transmission lines of two hundred and thirty thousand volts and higher.

3. “Public project” does not include maintenance work. For purposes of this section, “maintenance work” includes all of the following:

a. Routine, recurring and usual work for the preservation or protection of any publicly owned or publicly operated facility for its intended purposes;

b. Minor repainting;

c. Resurfacing of streets and highways at less than one inch;

d. Landscape maintenance, including mowing, watering, trimming, pruning, planting, replacement of plants and servicing of irrigation and sprinkler systems;

e. Work performed to keep, operate and maintain publicly owned water, power or waste disposal systems, including, but not limited to, dams, reservoirs, power plants and electrical transmission lines of two hundred and thirty thousand volts and higher.

C. Classification of projects.

1. The Director of Public Works shall review all City public projects with respect to the monetary limits imposed by Public Contract Code § 22032, or any successor provision thereto, and shall designate such projects as follows:

a. Projects that may be performed with the City's own forces by force account, by negotiated contract, or by purchase order.

b. Projects of one hundred thousand dollars or less may be let to contract by informal bidding procedures.

c. Projects that may be let by contract after formal bidding, and the Director shall accomplish such identified projects by formal bidding.

2. Projects shall not be split to avoid any of the bidding requirements contained in Public Contract Code § 22000, et seq.

D. Informal bidding procedures.

1. Development, maintenance and use of list of qualified contractors.

a. The Director of Public Works shall develop a list of qualified contractors eligible to bid on projects awarded by informal bidding, in accordance with the provisions of Public Contract Code § 22034(a).

b. The list shall be organized in accordance with the license classifications of the Contractor's State License Board.

c. Any licensed California contractor may request to be added to the list of qualified contractors at any time by filing a completed application with the Director of Public Works on a form provided by the Director. The contractor will be added to the list if the contractor meets all criteria established by the California Uniform Construction Cost Accounting Commission ("Commission").

2. Plans, specifications and working details. The Director of Public Works shall prepare and approve plans, specifications and working details for all contracts awarded by informal bidding to enable a qualified contractor to perform the work required for each contract awarded by informal bidding.

3. Identifying and inviting bids.

a. The Director of Public Works shall mail notice inviting informal bids to all contractors on the list of qualified contractors for the category of work being bid, and/or to all construction trade journals as specified by the Commission pursuant to Public Contract Code § 22036.

b. The Director of Public Works shall complete the mailing of notices inviting informal bids, as required by this subsection, not less than ten calendar days before bids are due.

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

4. Opening of informal bids and award of contract.

a. At the time provided in the notice inviting informal bids, the City Clerk shall open all bids timely received. If a contract is awarded, it shall be awarded by the City Manager to the lowest responsible and responsive bidder. If two or more responsive bids are the same and lowest, the City Manager may award the contract by drawing lots. If no bids are received, the project may be performed by City forces, negotiated contract, or by any other means provided by law, as the City Manager determines to be in the best interest of the City.

b. If all competent bids received are in excess of one hundred thousand dollars, the City Council may, by adoption of a resolution by a four-fifths vote, award the contract, at one hundred and ten thousand dollars or less, to the lowest responsible bidder, if it determines that the City's cost estimate was reasonable.

E. Formal bidding procedures.

1. Contracts for public projects determined by the Director of Public Works to require formal bidding pursuant to the provisions of Public Contract Code § 22032 and subsection C.1 above, shall be formally bid and awarded or rejected, in accordance with the provisions of Public Contract Code §§ 22037 and 22038.

2. The Public Works Director shall approve plans, specifications and designs for all formally bid public projects.

3. If a contract is awarded, it shall be awarded by the City Council to the lowest responsible and responsive bidder. If two or more bids are the same and the lowest, the City Council may accept either bid. If no bids are received, the project may be performed by City forces, negotiated contract, or by any other means provided by law, as the City Council determines to be in the best interests of the City.

(Ord. 692 § 1, 2017; Ord. 407 § 2 (part), 1987).

Purchases of supplies and equipment, in excess of the open market purchase policy limits, shall be made only by purchase order or another form of formal contract.

(Ord. 407 § 2 (part), 1987).

Except in the case of emergency, the purchasing officer shall not issue any purchase order for supplies or equipment unless there exists an unencumbered appropriation in the fund account against which the purchase is to be charged.

(Ord. 407 § 2 (part), 1987).

The contracting of services from other governmental agencies and for professional services shall be exempt from the provisions of Sections 3.14.080 and 3.14.090. For purposes of this chapter, "professional services" means the services of attorneys, physicians, architects, engineers, consultants, auditors, specialized printers or other individuals or organizations possessing a high degree of professional, unique, specialized, technical skill or expertise not adaptable to competitive bidding, or where the service involves a contract for special activities, negotiations for the acquisition of land, insurance bonds or any other service of a similar nature to the above, engaged for a particular project or series of projects. Such contracts that exceed the informal bidding limits must be approved by the city manager and the city council prior to execution.

(Ord. 407 § 2 (part), 1987).

(a) Nothing in this chapter shall prohibit the city from using, and the city is hereby authorized to use, specialized contracting procedures when authorized by state law. Each such procedure need not be specifically authorized herein. Such specialized procedures may include, but are not limited to, prequalification of contractors or subcontractors and design-build contracting procedures.

(b) The city manager is authorized to determine whether or not the needs of any particular project warrant the use of legally available specialized contracting procedures, or to delegate that determination to other city staff.

(c) The city manager is authorized to adopt and enforce all policies and procedures necessary to effectively utilize any specialized contracting procedures authorized by state law. All such policies and procedures shall be written and available for review in the office of the city clerk.

(d) Where required by applicable state law, the policies and procedures shall provide for a process to appeal an administrative decision. Failure to file a timely appeal shall constitute a waiver of any and all rights to challenge the administrative decision whether by administrative process, judicial process, or any other legal process or proceeding.

(Ord. 596, §1, 2005)

All departments shall submit to the purchasing officer, at such times and in such forms as he/she shall prescribe, reports showing all supplies and equipment which are no longer used or which have become obsolete or worn out. The purchasing officer shall have authority to sell all supplies and equipment which cannot be used by any department or which have become unsuitable for city use, or to exchange the same for, or trade in the same on, new supplies and equipment. Any such sales pursuant to this section shall be made in accordance with Sections 3.14.070, 3.14.080 or 3.14.090, whichever is applicable.

(Ord. 407 § 2 (part), 1987).

With respect to recycling, the city council may, by resolution, establish a purchasing preference for products containing recycled materials where fitness and quality is similar.

(Ord. 450 § 2, 1991).