Watsonville Municipal Code Art. 2 Purchases of Equipment and Supplies less than Twenty Thousand and No/100ths…

Purchases of equipment and supplies for less than Twenty Thousand and no/100ths ($20,000.00) Dollars and nonprofessional services for less than Ten Thousand and no/100ths ($10,000.00) Dollars, if authorized by a department head, may be purchased without the bidding procedures of this chapter and without a written contract with the vendor. Although no specific purchasing process or form of contract is established for this level of purchase, competitive bidding, RFQs or RFPs are recommended when practical. (Ord. 1403-20 (CM), eff. May 28, 2020)

Purchases are exempt from the requirements of this chapter if:

(a) An emergency requires that an order be placed with the nearest available source of supply, service or equipment;

(b) Reasonable attempts have been made to obtain informal bids or proposals, and less than three (3) proposals can be obtained.

(c) Equipment, supplies or nonprofessional services are unique, available only from one (1) source, or sought to match existing equipment or supplies already in use (also known as a sole source purchase);

(d) Equipment, supplies or nonprofessional services have been uniformly adopted or otherwise standardized in the City. In this case, evidence for the standardization shall be documented and maintained as a public record and approved by the Purchasing Officer before the purchase and then at least once every five (5) years;

(e) The purchase is made cooperatively with one (1) or more other units of government through cooperative purchasing programs substantially the same as the City of Watsonville’s;

(f) When in the opinion of the Purchasing Officer the equipment, supplies and nonprofessional services are available from a vendor who has been selected as the lowest bidder within the prior twelve (12) months by another public entity using competitive bidding procedures substantially the same as those used by the City for the acquisition of such equipment or supplies (sometimes called “piggybacking”);

(g) The purchase of used supplies or equipment;

(h) Contracts for professional witness services if the purpose of such contracts is to provide for professional advice services or testimony relating to an existing or probable judicial proceeding in which the City is or may become a party, including contracts for special investigative services for law enforcement purposes;

(i) Agreements negotiated and/or prepared by the City Attorney or special counsel in connection with the settlement of a dispute, claim, or matter of litigation or threatened litigation;

(j) Contracts to commission original works of art, and for fine art or entertainment;

(k) The purchase of books, magazines, newspapers, subscriptions, online library reference services, film, videos, and assorted materials for which contracts by competitive bid solicitation are not practical;

(l) Specialized seminar, training, and educational classes;

(m) Contracts for election services;

(n) Contracts for legal services;

(o) Franchise agreements; and

(p) Contracts for procuring and maintaining insurance policies. (Ord. 1403-20 (CM), eff. May 28, 2020)