(A) The City Manager or his or her designee may utilize online bidding to obtain bids, proposals or offers electronically for the purchase of goods, services, construction and information services.
(B) An online bidding solicitation must designate an opening date and time.
(C) The closing date and time for an online solicitation may be fixed or remain open, depending on the structure of the item being bid online. Information regarding the closing date and time must be included in the solicitation. At the opening date and time, the City Manager or his or her designee must begin accepting online bids, proposals or offers, and must continue accepting bids, proposals or offers until the solicitation has officially closed.
(D) All online bids must be posted electronically on the city’s website and updated on a realtime basis.
(E) The City Manager or his or her designee may:
(1) Require bidders, offerors or respondents to register with the city prior to the opening date and time, and as part of the registration, require bidders, offerors or respondents to agree to any terms, conditions or other requirements of the solicitation.
(2) Prequalify bidders, offerors or respondents, and permit only such prequalified vendors to submit bids, proposals or offers online.
(F) All bids, proposals or offers submitted electronically through an online bidding process are public information and subject to the same public disclosure laws that govern bids, proposals and offers received through the competitive, sealed procurement process.
(G) All remedies available to the city and to bidders pursuant to the city’s conventional, sealed bidding practices, as described in this chapter, are also available to the city and bidders in an online bidding process.
(H) The city shall accept online signatures as original signatures.
(Ord. 1462, passed 9-18-2018)