The City may establish a local vendor preference program to be applied in the procurement of goods and nonprofessional services. The adjustment to a formal bid or informal bid provided by a qualifying local vendor shall be implemented according to the following:
(a) Preference. Preference shall be given to vendors that submit a written statement in their bid requesting to be considered a qualifying local vendor and certifying that they meet the criteria in the definition of qualifying local vendor set forth in Section 3.08.020.
(b) False certifications. False certifications shall be immediate grounds for rejection of any bid or if the contract is awarded, grounds for voiding the bid, terminating any agreement, and seeking damages thereto. Failure to certify the above information shall result in the bid being considered by the City without any adjustment for the vendor as described in Subsection (c) below.
(c) Application of local vendor preference.
(1) If the award criteria is lowest responsive bidder, a qualified local vendor shall be given a five percent reduction in price for evaluation purposes.
(2) If the award criteria is best value to the City, the City shall include criteria that gives qualifying local vendors preference in the evaluation process. The equivalent of a five percent preference will be added to the final evaluated score of each qualifying local vendor. If the five percent preference causes a qualifying local vendor to have the best overall score, the qualifying local vendor may be deemed the vendor that provides the best value to the City, provided, said qualifying local vendor must elect to reduce the price portion of its submission to match the price portion of the lowest bid.
(Ord. 247, passed 5-8-2024)