South El Monte Municipal Code Ch. 3.18 Bidding Procedures—public Project Contracts

A. Contract Amounts.

1. Public projects of forty-five thousand dollars or less may be performed by city employees by force account, by negotiated contract, or by purchase order.

2. Public projects of one hundred seventy-five thousand dollars or less may be let to contract by informal procedures as set forth in Section 3.18.020.

3. Public projects of more than one hundred seventy-five thousand dollars shall, except as otherwise provided in this Code, be let to contract by formal bidding procedure.

B. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following words mean:

"Public project."

Construction, reconstruction, erection, alteration, renovation, improvement, demolition, and repair work involving any publicly owned, leased, or operated facility; or painting or repainting of any publicly owned, leased, or operated facility. "Public project" does not include maintenance work, including but not limited to: routine, recurring, and usual work for the preservation or protection of any publicly owned or publicly operated facility for its intended purposes; minor repainting; resurfacing of streets and highways at less than one inch; or landscape maintenance, including mowing, watering, trimming, pruning, planting, replacement of plants, and servicing of irrigation and sprinkler systems.

"Facility."

Building, structure, ground facility, real property, streets and highways, or other public work improvement.

(Ord. 1031 §1, 2002; Ord. 1123 §1, 2009; Ord. 1189 §1, 2014)

In accordance with the uniform cost accounting procedures set forth in Public Contract Code, Chapter 2, Article 2 (commencing with Section 22010), the city may let to contract public projects of one hundred seventy-five thousand dollars or less by using the following informal procedures:

A. The city shall maintain a list of all qualified contractors, identified according to their categories of work. The development and maintenance criteria contractor's list shall be determined by the California Uniform Cost Accounting Commission. The city will solicit competitive bids from all contractors on the list.

B. All contractors on the list for the category of work being bid, or all construction trade journals specified in Public Contract Code Section 22036, or both all contractors on the list for the category of work being bid and all construction trade journals specified in Public Contract Code Section 22036, shall be mailed a notice inviting informal bids, unless the product or service is proprietary.

C. All mailing of notices to contractors and construction trade journals pursuant to Public Contract Code Section 22034(b) shall be completed not less than ten calendar days before the bids are due.

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

E. The city engineer and the director of either community development or community services, or both, as appropriate, shall evaluate all bids. Upon the advice of the city engineer and appropriate staff, the city manager, or designee, may award the contract.

F. If all bids received are in excess of one hundred seventy-five thousand dollars, the city council may, by adoption of a resolution by four-fifths vote, award the contract at one hundred eighty-seven thousand five hundred dollars or less, to the lowest responsible bidder, if the city council determines the city's cost estimate to be reasonable.

(Ord. 1031 §1, 2002; Ord. 1123 §2, 2009; Ord. 1189 §2, 2014)

In cases of emergencies, as determined by the city council, including, but nor limited to, states of emergencies as defined in Section 8558 of the California Government Code, when repairs or replacements are necessary to permit the continued conduct of operation or services of a public agency or to avoid danger to life and property, the city council, by majority vote, may proceed at once to replace or repair any public facility without adopting plans, specifications, or working details or giving notice of bids to let contracts.

For the purposes of this section, the city manager, or designee, is hereby delegated the public emergency, subject to confirmation by the city council by a four-fifths vote at its next regular meeting. The work may be done by day labor at the direction of the city manager, by contract or by a combination of the two. If notice for bids to let contracts is not given, the city shall comply with Chapter 2.5 (commencing with Section 22050) of the Public Contract Code.

(Ord. 1031 §1, 2002)