Yucca Valley Municipal Code Ch. 3.12 Purchases

In order to establish efficient procedures for the purchase of supplies 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 and to assure the quality of purchases, a purchasing system is hereby adopted. (Ord. 277, 4-3-2018)

Purchases of supplies and equipment shall be made only by purchase orders. Except as otherwise provided herein, no purchase order shall be issued unless the prior approval of the Department Director/Manager or his designated representative has been obtained. (Ord. 277, 4-3-2018)

Except in cases of emergency, the Department Director/Manager shall not issue any purchase order for supplies or equipment unless there exists an unencumbered appropriation in the fund account against which said purchase is to be charged. (Ord. 277, 4-3-2018)

The Department Director/Manager shall, in his discretion, inspect supplies and equipment delivered to determine their conformance with the specifications set forth in the order. The Department Director/Manager or designee shall have authority to require chemical and physical tests of samples submitted with bids and samples of deliveries which are necessary to determine their quality and conformance with specifications. (Ord. 277, 4-3-2018)

Purchases of supplies and equipment shall be by bid procedures pursuant to this section. Bidding may be dispensed with only under conditions stated in section 3.12.060 of this chapter.

A. Formal Sealed Bid Procedures: Except as otherwise provided herein, public projects which exceed five thousand dollars ($5,000.00), as defined in California Public Contracts Code section 20162, and purchases of supplies and equipment of an estimated value at or greater than twenty five thousand dollars ($25,000.00), shall be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder pursuant to the formal bid procedure as hereinafter prescribed.

B. Notice Inviting Formal Bids: Notices inviting formal bids shall include a general description of the article or service desired, shall state where bid documents and specifications may be secured, and the time and place for opening bids.

C. Published Notice For Formal Bids: Notices inviting formal bids shall be published at least ten (10) days prior to the date of opening of the bids. Notices shall be published at least once for nonpublic projects and at least twice, not less than five (5) days apart, for public projects, in a newspaper of general circulation in the Town.

D. Notice: The Department Director/Manager or designee shall advertise the pending formal purchases by publishing on the Town's website.

E. Bidder's Security: When a public project is involved, and in other cases when deemed necessary by the Department Director/Manager, formal bids shall be accompanied by security, either cash, cashier's check, certified check or surety bond, in a sum equal to ten percent (10%) of the total aggregate of the bid, and shall be designated in the notice inviting bids. Bidders shall be entitled to return of bid security; provided, however, that a successful bidder shall forfeit his bid security upon his refusal or failure to execute the contract within ten (10) days after the notice of award of contract has been mailed, unless the Town is solely responsible for the delay in executing the contract. The Town Council may, on refusal or failure of the successful bidder to execute the contract, award it to the next lowest responsible bidder who is willing to execute the contract, or may reject all bids and re-advertise.

F. Formal Bond Requirements: A faithful performance bond and labor and material bond shall be required for all public projects, unless waived by the Town Council, in an amount reasonably necessary to protect the best interests of the Town. In addition, the Town Council shall have authority to require a faithful performance bond or other bonds before entering into a contract other than a public project contract. If bonds are required, the form and amount thereof shall be designated in the notice inviting bids.

G. Formal Bid Opening Procedure: Sealed bids shall be submitted to the Town Clerk, or designee and shall be identified as "bids" on the envelope. The Town Clerk, or designee, shall publicly open all bids at the time and place stated in the public notices. A tabulation of all bids received shall be available for public inspection in the Town Clerk's Office during regular business hours for a period of not less than thirty (30) calendar days after the bid opening.

H. Rejection Of Formal Bids: In its discretion, the Town Council may reject any and all bids presented and may cause re- advertising for bids pursuant to the procedure hereinabove prescribed. However, when all bids exceed the authorized budgeted amount, the Town Manager may authorize rejection of all bids and authorize rebidding based upon the original specifications or as they may be modified, in accordance with procedures prescribed herein.

I. Award Of Formal Bid Contracts: Except as otherwise provided herein, formal bid contracts shall be awarded by the Town Council to the lowest responsible bidder. The determination of "lowest responsible bidder" shall be at the discretion of the Town Council pursuant to findings and recommendations presented by the Department Director/Manager at the time of award of contract.

J. Tie Formal Bids: If two (2) or more formal 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 re-advertising for bids, the Town Council may in its discretion accept the one it chooses or accept the lowest bid made by and after negotiation with the tie bidders at the time of the bid opening or award of contract.

K. No Formal Bids Received: When no formal bids or no responsive bids are received, the Department Director/Manager is authorized to negotiate for written proposals, and his recommendation shall be presented to the Town Manager and award, if any, shall be made in accordance with applicable provisions prescribed herein.

L. Open Market Or Informal Bid Procedure:

1. Allowed: Purchases of supplies and equipment of an estimated value in the amount less than twenty five thousand dollars ($25,000.00) may be made by the Department Director/Manager in the open market pursuant to the procedure prescribed in this subsection, and without observing the procedure prescribed in subsection A of this section; provided, however, all bidding may be dispensed with for purchases of supplies and equipment having a total estimated value of less than five thousand dollars ($5,000.00).

2. Minimum Number Of Informal Bids: Open market purchases shall, wherever possible, be based on at least three (3) informal bids, and shall be awarded to the bidder offering the most advantageous bid to the Town after consideration of price, quality, durability, servicing, delivery time, standardization and other factors.

3. Notice Inviting Informal Bids: The Department Director/Manager, or designee shall solicit informal bids by written requests to prospective vendors, or by telephone, or by public notice posted on a public bulletin board at the Town offices.

4. Record Of Informal Bids: The Department Director/Manager shall keep a written record of all open market purchases and informal bids for a period of one year. This record, while so kept, shall be open to public inspection. (Ord. 277, 4-3-2018)

Notwithstanding any provision of this chapter to the contrary, the competitive bidding procedures and requirements may be dispensed with in any of the following instances:

A. When the estimated amount involved is less than twenty five thousand dollars ($25,000.00);

B. When the commodity can be obtained from only one vendor;

C. The Town Manager may authorize the purchase of materials, supplies, equipment and services where an emergency is deemed to exist and it is determined that service involving the public health, safety or welfare would be interrupted if the normal procedure were followed. All emergency purchases, which would otherwise require formal bidding procedures, made pursuant to this section shall be submitted to the Town Council for ratification at the next regular Council meeting after the purchase is authorized;

D. The Town Council may authorize the execution of contracts for personal services, for professional and consultant services, and for other nonpublic projects and for contractual services without observing the bidding procedures provided herein where the amount of the contract exceeds the value set forth therein;

E. The Town Manager is authorized to enter into contracts for personal services, for professional and consulting services and for other contractual services without observing the bidding procedure provided herein where the amount of the contract does not exceed the amount of fifty thousand dollars ($50,000.00); provided there exists an unencumbered appropriation in the fund account against which said expense is to be charged;

F. Any agreement involving acquisition of supplies, equipment or service entered into with another governmental entity;

G. When the Town Council finds that adherence to the procedures in this chapter would be inefficient, impractical and unnecessary;

H. The Town Council may authorize the execution of a lease or leases for office space for the Town government without observing the bidding procedures provided herein irrespective of the term of the lease or leases or the amount of rent and other charges to be paid by the Town under the lease or leases.

I. When a contract is available through a Leveraged Procurement Agreement with a government agency or a Cooperative Purchasing Agency in which the contract has been competitively solicited. (Ord. 277, 4-3-2018)

The Town Council shall, by resolution, prescribe procedures, rules and regulations governing the solicitation, selection and award of proposals or bids for the furnishing of personal services or professional or consulting services or for other contractual services, the contracts for which may be awarded without observing the bidding procedures provided for in this chapter. Such procedures, rules and regulations shall have as one purpose the obtaining of contractual services of the highest quality together with cost effectiveness. (Ord. 277, 4-3-2018)

A. Reports Of Surplus: All using departments shall submit to the Town Council, reports showing all supplies and equipment which are no longer used or which have become obsolete and worn out.

B. Trade-Ins: The Department Director/Manager shall have authority to exchange for or trade-in on new supplies and equipment all supplies and equipment which cannot be used by any department or which have become unsuitable for Town use.

C. Sale: The Department Director/Manager shall also have authority, subject to approval of the Town Manager, to dispose of surplus supplies or equipment by auction or by sale or otherwise after receiving bids or proposals which, in his/her judgment, provide the maximum return to the Town. (Ord. 277, 4-3-2018)

Notwithstanding subsection 3.12.050A of this chapter, from and after such time as the Town Council has adopted a resolution electing to make the Town subject to the uniform construction cost accounting procedures set forth in California Public Contract Code article 2 (commencing with section 22010) of chapter 2 of part 3 of division 2, and has notified the State Controller of such election, the Town Council may utilize the alternative procedures for the award of public project bids set forth in California Public Contract Code article 3 (commencing with section 22030) of chapter 2 of part 3 of division 2. When utilizing the alternative procedures authorized by this section for public projects as to which formal bidding procedures are not required, the provisions of section 3.12.100 of this chapter shall be complied with. (Ord. 277, 4-3-2018)

Pursuant to California Public Contract Code section 22032, when utilizing the alternative procedures authorized by section 3.12.090 of this chapter, the following provision shall apply to public projects for which formal bidding procedures are not required:

A. Public projects of forty five thousand dollars ($45,000.00) or less may be performed by employees of the Town by force account, by negotiated contract or by purchase order.

B. Public projects of one hundred seventy five thousand dollars ($175,000.00) or less may be let to contract by the informal bidding procedures set forth in subsection C of this section. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if all bids received are in excess of one hundred seventy five thousand dollars ($175,000.00), the Town Council may, by passage of a resolution by a four-fifths (4/5) affirmative vote, award the contract at one hundred eighty seven thousand five hundred dollars ($187,500.00) or less to the lowest responsible bidder if the Town Council determines that the Town's original cost estimate for the project was reasonable pursuant to California Public Contract Code section 22034(d).

C. The following provisions shall be complied with in selecting contractors to perform public projects pursuant to this section:

1. The Department Director/Manager shall maintain a list of qualified contractors, identified according to categories of work. The list shall be developed and maintained in accordance with criteria established for such lists by the California Uniform Construction Cost Accounting Commission.

2. Each contractor on the list for the category or work being bid, and/or all construction trade journals specified by the above commission to receive mailed notice of all informal and formal construction contracts being bid for work in San Bernardino County, as determined by the Department Director/Manager, shall be mailed a notice inviting informal bids unless the product or service is proprietary.

3. All mailings of notices to contractors and construction trade journals pursuant to subsection C2 of this section shall be completed not less than ten (10) calendar days before bids would be due pursuant to such notice.

4. Each notice inviting informal bids shall describe the project in general terms, state how to obtain more detailed information about the project, and specify the time and place for submission of bids. (Ord. 277, 4-3-2018)

Pursuant to 2 CFR 200.317 through 200.326, all non-Federal entities must use its own documented procurement procedures which reflect applicable State and local laws and regulations provided that the procurements conform to applicable Federal law and the standards identified in this chapter. Procurement procedures are documented separately within the Accounting Policies and Procedures Manual. (Ord. 277, 4-3-2018)