Chapter 3.28
PURCHASING
Sections:
3.28.020 Establishment of Centralized Purchasing Division.
3.28.030 Exceptions to centralized purchasing.
3.28.050 Unauthorized purchases.
3.28.060 Formal bidding procedure – Public works projects.
3.28.070 Formal bidding procedure.
3.28.080 Exceptions to bidding requirements.
3.28.090 Local vendor preference.
3.28.100 Professional services.
3.28.110 Cooperative purchasing.
3.28.120 Award and execution of contracts.
3.28.125 Amendments to contracts.
3.28.130 Insurance and licensing.
3.28.140 Procurement of recycled products.
3.28.010 Adoption.
In order to establish efficient procedures for the purchase of supplies, equipment, materials and services; to secure the same for the City at the lowest possible cost commensurate with the quality needed; to exercise positive financial control over purchases; and to ensure that purchases are consistent with the City’s adopted budget; a purchasing system is adopted. (Ord. 675 § 1, 2008; Ord. 55 § 1, 1982)
3.28.020 Establishment of Centralized Purchasing Division.
There is created a Centralized Purchasing Division under the City Manager or the City Manager’s designee in which is vested the authority for the purchase of supplies, equipment and services. (Ord. 675 § 2, 2008; Ord. 55 § 2, 1982)
3.28.030 Exceptions to centralized purchasing.
The Director of Finance or designee may, when authorized by the City Manager in writing, authorize a department or division to purchase supplies and equipment when such purchases may be made more advantageously or expeditiously by the respective department or division. (Ord. 811 § 5, 2017; Ord. 675 § 3, 2008; Ord. 260 § 1, 1988; Ord. 55 § 3, 1982)
3.28.040 Purchase order – Encumbrance of funds.
Repealed by Ord. 675. (Ord. 260 § 2, 1988; Ord. 55 § 4, 1982)
3.28.050 Unauthorized purchases.
No City department head, division head or other employee shall make or order the purchase of any supplies, equipment, materials or services or make any contract without the prior approval, in writing, of the Director of Finance. (Ord. 811 § 6, 2017; Ord. 675 § 5, 2008; Ord. 260 § 1, 1988; Ord. 55 § 5, 1982)
3.28.060 Formal bidding procedure – Public works projects.
Contracts for public projects shall be administered in the manner provided by Section 22032 et seq. of the Public Contracts Code as may be amended from time to time. (Ord. 853 § 3, 2022; Ord. 55 § 6, 1992)
3.28.070 Formal bidding procedure.
Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, any purchase which exceeds $60,000 in value for supplies, services, and equipment, or the amount established by Public Contracts Code Section 22032 and succeeding amendments for contracts on public works projects, will be by formal bid.
A. Notices inviting sealed bids shall be published at least twice, not less than five days apart, the first time being 10 days before the date of the opening of the bids, in a newspaper of general circulation in the City, or they shall be posted in at least three places in the City that have been designated by ordinance as the places for posting public notices.
B. Notices inviting bids shall include a general description of the articles to be purchased, where bid forms and specifications may be obtained, and the time, date and place for the opening of bids.
C. When deemed necessary by the Director of Finance, bidder’s security may be prescribed in the public notice inviting bids. Bidders shall be entitled to return of bid security; provided, however, that a successful bidder shall forfeit the bid security upon the bidder’s refusal or failure to execute the contract within 10 days after the notice of award of contract has been mailed. The City Council may, on refusal or failure of the successful bidder to execute the contract, award it to the next lowest responsible bidder. If the City Council awards the contract to the next lowest bidder, the amount of the lowest bidder’s security shall be applied by the City to the contract price differential between the lowest bid and the second lowest bid, and the surplus, if any, shall be returned to the lowest bidder. If the City Council rejects all bids presented, due to the failure of the successful bidder to execute the contract, and readvertises, the amount of the lowest bidder’s security may be used to offset the cost of receiving new bids and the surplus, if any, shall be returned to the lowest bidder.
D. Sealed bids together with bidder’s security shall be submitted to the Director of Finance or designee. The bid shall be so identified on the envelope. Bids shall be opened in public at the date, time and place stated in the public notices inviting the bids. Any bid received after the scheduled time of the bid opening shall be returned to the bidder unopened. A tabulation of all bids received shall be available for public inspection during regular business hours for a period of not less than 30 calendar days after the bid opening.
E. At its sole discretion, the City Council may reject any and all bids presented and readvertise for bids pursuant to the procedure prescribed above. In the event no bids are received or all bids are rejected, the City Council may, in accordance with Public Contracts Code Section 20167, and any amendments thereto, direct the Director of Finance or designee to proceed pursuant to paragraphs relating to open market procedure or competitive negotiations.
F. If two or more bids received are for the same total amount or unit price, quality and service being equal, the City Council may at its discretion accept the bid it chooses with or without further negotiations with the tie bidders.
G. The City shall have authority to require performance and labor and materials security before entering a contract in such amount as it finds reasonably necessary to protect the best interests of the City. If the City requires security, the form and the amount of the security shall be described in the notice inviting bids. The notice inviting bids may provide that security may be posted in the form of a surety bond, a letter of credit drawn on an institution located in San Diego County and approved by the City Attorney, or a cash deposit. (Ord. 853 § 4, 2022; Ord. 811 § 7, 2017; Ord. 675 § 6, 2008; Ord. 260 §§ 1, 3, 1988; Ord. 188 § 1, 1986; Ord. 55 § 7, 1982)
3.28.080 Exceptions to bidding requirements.
Where otherwise required by this chapter, formal or informal bidding procedures may be waived, at the discretion of the City Manager or his or her designee, when:
A. An emergency requires that the supplies, services or equipment be acquired from the nearest available source or vendor.
B. The supplies, services or equipment can be obtained from only one vendor or source.
C. The supplies or equipment are required to match or be compatible with other supplies or equipment previously purchased by the City.
D. The City Manager or City Council has established a standardized type or make of supplies or equipment for the City.
E. The City Manager, or his or her designee, determines that competitive bidding is impossible, or not in the public’s interest.
F. Services, other than a public project, as defined by Public Contracts Code Section 20161, are to be performed entirely by City forces.
G. For public projects, as defined by Public Contracts Code Section 20161, no bids are received, or the City Council has rejected all bids pursuant to Public Contracts Code Section 20167, and any amendments thereto.
H. The value of the supplies, services or equipment to be purchased does not exceed $10,000.
Open market purchases for supplies or equipment shall, wherever possible, be based on at least three bids and shall be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder. The lowest responsible bidder will be the individual or firm who submits a responsible bid based on total cost, and which is determined to be the most advantageous to the City. (Ord. 810 § 2, 2017)
3.28.090 Local vendor preference.
For the purposes of this section, a local vendor is a business that is located in and licensed to provide goods and/or supplies within the City limits of Poway, and reports sales taxes to the State of California. The purchase of taxable goods by the City of Poway in any solicitation of bids or quotes for goods or services and any solicitation for work involving the supply of materials or goods as a part of the bid or quote is subject to the application of a local vendor preference. When calculating bids or quotes based on the lowest responsible bid, and which involves the purchase of taxable goods in whole or in part, the preference to be granted to the price bid or quoted by a local vendor shall be one percent, which is equal to the portion of sales tax the City receives. If the bid or quote is a mixture of taxable and nontaxable items, the one percent preference will only apply to the taxable portion of the bid or quote. If the bid or quoted price after the preference is granted makes the local vendor the lowest responsible bidder, the City shall make the purchase from the local vendor at the bid or quoted price. (Ord. 735, 2012)
3.28.100 Professional services.
The selection of a firm for professional services will be made by qualification-based selection. In order to implement this method of selection when contracting for architectural, professional engineering, land surveying, construction management and other professional services, the City must be sure that selection is made on the basis of demonstrated competence and qualifications for the types of services to be performed and at fair and reasonable prices. Whenever possible, at least three proposals shall be required for the professional services needed. The requirement for multiple proposals may be waived if only one firm or individual can provide the service. It is the policy of the City to give prime consideration to consultants and other professionals whose offices are located within the City of Poway, but the final selection shall still be made based on demonstrated competence and professional qualifications first and agreed-upon financial agreement second. (Ord. 361 § 3, 1992)
3.28.110 Cooperative purchasing.
Purchase of supplies, services and equipment by contract, arrangement and agreement for the cooperative purchasing programs with the State, the County and any other public or municipal corporation may be made by the Director of Finance when the administering agency has made their purchase in a competitive manner. In addition, the City Council, City Manager, or purchasing agent, at their prescribed authorization levels, may buy directly from a vendor at a price established by another public agency of the State when the other public agency has made its purchase in a competitive manner. (Ord. 853 § 5, 2022; Ord. 811 § 8, 2017; Ord. 675 § 9, 2008; Ord. 260 § 1, 1988; Ord. 55 § 11, 1982)
3.28.120 Award and execution of contracts.
Except in emergency situations, all contracts for supplies, services and equipment in an estimated amount of $60,000 or more and public works projects in an estimated amount of $60,000 or more shall be awarded by the City Council. Contracts for supplies, services, equipment and public projects pursuant to the processes set forth in PMC 3.28.150 in an amount less than $60,000 shall be executed by the City Manager or the City Manager’s designee. No contract shall be approved by the City Council or City Manager unless the expenditure is consistent with the City’s adopted budget. (Ord. 853 § 6, 2022; Ord. 675 § 10, 2008; Ord. 55 § 12, 1982)
3.28.125 Amendments to contracts.
Approval of amendments to contracts for supplies, services or equipment, other than contracts for public works projects, shall be consistent with the authority limits set forth in PMC 3.28.120. The authority to approve an amendment shall be determined based on the total cost of the contract, including the amendment. (Ord. 675 § 11, 2008)
3.28.130 Insurance and licensing.
When contracting for services of any kind, no matter what the value of the contract is, the contractor must have:
A. A policy of general liability insurance covering the contractor for claims and judgments arising from their products or activities for the City. The policy shall be for a minimum of $1,000,000 and extended by endorsement naming the City as additional insured. The $1,000,000 limit may be adjusted up or down by the Director of Human Resources and Risk Management or designee in conjunction with the City Attorney based upon the type of contract or service being considered and the potential liability exposure.
B. The contractor, when required by law, must be licensed to perform work in the State of California, and the license must be current and properly classified. (Ord. 811 § 9, 2017; Ord. 675 § 12, 2008; Ord. 361 § 4, 1992)
3.28.140 Procurement of recycled products.
When purchasing recycled products of any kind these are the basic requirements:
A. Specification for the supplies and equipment should not require the use of products manufactured from virgin materials or exclude the use of recycled products, reusable products or products designed to be recycled unless it can be demonstrated that these recycled products would not achieve the necessary performance standard.
B. The City will purchase acceptable supplies and equipment that use products with recycled content. Such recycled content shall include post consumer waste of the highest content possible. Reasonable performance shall not be sacrificed for recycled content.
C. Manufacturers, distributors and contractors will be encouraged to provide and use recycled products, reusable products or products designed to be recycled.
D. Wherever possible, recycled products purchased by the City will be labeled as such to promote the program.
E. The City will participate in cooperative purchasing efforts with other government agencies in buying recycled products. (Ord. 413, 1993)
3.28.150 Informal bid procedures under the California Uniform Public Construction Cost Accounting Act.
A. Informal Bid Procedures. A public works construction project, as defined in Section 20161 of the Public Contract Code may be performed by contract acquired by informal procedures as set forth in Section 22032 et seq. of the Public Contract Code.
B. Contractors List. A list of contractors shall be developed and maintained in accordance with the provisions of Section 22034 of the Public Contract Code and criteria promulgated from time to time by the California Uniform Construction Cost Accounting Commission. Such list will be maintained by the Public Works Director or designee.
C. Notice Inviting Bids. When a public works construction project is to be performed which is subject to the provisions of this section, a notice inviting informal bids shall be mailed to all contractors for the category of work to be bid, as shown on the list developed in accordance with subsection B of this section, and to all construction trade journals as specified by the California Uniform Public Construction Cost Accounting Commission in accordance with Section 22036 of the Public Contract Code. Additional contractors and/or construction trade journals may be notified at the discretion of the Public Works Director; provided, however:
1. If there is no list of qualified contractors maintained by the Public Works Director for the particular category of work to be performed, the notice inviting bids shall be sent only to the construction trade journals specified by the Commission.
2. If the producer or service is proprietary in nature such that it can be obtained only from a certain contractor or contractors, the notice inviting informal bids may be sent exclusively to such contractor or contractors.
D. Award of Contract. Award of contract to the successful responsive, responsible low bidder will be executed in accordance with this chapter. (Ord. 853 § 7, 2022)