(A) Any public work or improvement, costing more than $1,000 shall be executed by contract, except when a specific work or improvement is authorized by the City Council and approved by the City Manager.
(B) All contracts for more than the bid threshold shall be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder, after publication, advertisement and competition; but no contract for any public work or improvement shall be awarded, except on condition that the contractor gives bond with some bonding company authorized to transact business in the state as surety, in a sum equal to at least 50% of the contract price of the particular work or improvement for the faithful performance of the contract.
(C) The City Manager shall have the power to reject all of the bids and to perform the work with city resources and all advertisements shall contain a reservation of this right.
(D) Sealed bids or proposals. Sealed bids are required on purchases over the bid threshold or more. Advertisement of bids in a local newspaper of general circulation must be not less than five days before bid opening date.
(1) City clerk’s office responsibility.
(a) Prepare bid requests;
(b) Establish date and time for bid opening;
(c) Mail bid requests and advertise as appropriate. If hand delivered, an appropriate receipt of the bid request should be signed by the vendor;
(d) Receive and open bids;
(e) Tabulate bids and distribute to using department for their evaluation and recommendation; and
(f) Maintain all specification and bid data files.
(2) Using department’s responsibility.
(a) Prepare specifications to initiate bid process. This should contain specific information about items needed (i.e., quantity, size, brand preferred, performance requirements, suggested vendors and the like);
(b) Submit requisition to initiate bid process to the City Clerk’s office at least three weeks prior to the date the bids are to be opened;
(c) After bids are opened and tabulated, evaluate bid results and make recommendation on award to City Council for approval; and
(d) Contact Finance Department to initiate preparation of purchase order after City Council approval.
(3) Sealed bid policies. The following policies shall apply to sealed bids.
(a) Bid or proposal opening. Bids will be opened at the time and date specified on the bid request. All bids are opened publicly and read aloud, with a tabulation provided to all vendors participating. Faxed or electronically submitted bids will not be accepted when a sealed bid is required.
(b) Late bids. No bids received after closing time will be accepted. All late bids will be so noted and filed unopened in the bid file unless requested by the vendor to be returned. Bids postmarked on the bid opening date but received after the specified time will be considered late and will remain unopened.
(c) Bid opening schedule. The City Clerk’s office is responsible for setting bid opening dates and times.
(d) Telephone bids. The city will not accept any bid by telephone.
(e) Bid form. The City Clerk’s office will send one copy of the bid request form to each bidder. Bids will not be accepted on any vendor letterhead, vendor bid form or other substitutions unless special permission is granted by the City Clerk’s office.
(f) Unsigned bids. Failure of a vendor representative to sign a bid proposal removes that bid from consideration. A typed official’s name will not be acceptable without that person’s written signature.
(g) Acceptance of bids. The city reserves the right to reject any or all bids, to waive any irregularities in a bid, to make awards to more than one bidder, to accept any part or all of a bid, or to accept that bid (or bids) which in the judgment of the City Council is in the best interest of the city.
(h) Shipping charges. Bids are to include all shipping charges to the point of delivery. Bids will only be considered on the basis of delivered price, except as otherwise authorized by the City Council.
(i) Sample product policy. The city may request a sample product as part of a bid. If this is stated on the bid proposal form, the vendor is required to comply with this request or have the bid removed from consideration.
(j) Approved equal policy. Specifications furnished in the request for bid are intended to establish a desired quality or performance level or other minimum requirements which will provide the city with the best product available at the lowest possible price. When a brand name and/or model is designated, it signifies the minimum quality acceptable. If an alternate is offered, the bidder must include the brand name or model to be furnished, along with complete specifications and descriptive literature, and, if requested, a sample for testing. Other than designated and/or models approved as “equal to” designated products shall receive equal consideration.
(k) Alternate bids. Should it be found, after bids have been opened, that a product has been offered with an alternate specification and that this product would prove to be satisfactory and more economical for the city to use, all bids for that item may be rejected and specifications re-drawn to allow all bidders an equal opportunity to submit bids on the alternate item.
(l) Vendor identification. Potential suppliers are selected from existing vendor files, using department’s suggestions, and any and all sources available to locate vendors related to a specific product or service. New suppliers are added to the bid list as they are identified.
(m) Tie bids. A tie bid is one in which two or more vendors bid identical items at the same unit cost. Tie bids may be determined by one of the following factors:
1. Discount allowed;
2. Delivery schedule;
3. Previous vendor performance;
4. Vendor location; and
5. Trade-in value offered.
(n) Cancellation of invitation for bid or request for proposal. An invitation for bid, a request for proposal, or other solicitations may be cancelled, or any or all bids or proposals may be rejected in part as may be specified in the solicitation when it is in the best interest of the city. The reasons therefore shall be a made of a part of the bid or proposal file.
(o) Public advertisement. In addition to publication in a newspaper of general circulation as required by law, the City Manager may make any other efforts deemed appropriate to notify all prospective bidders of the invitation to bid. This may be accomplished by delivery, verbally, by mail or by posting the invitation to bid in a public place. It is not required that specifications be included in the invitation to bid; however, this notice should state clearly the purchase that is to be made.
(p) Sealed bids and sealed proposals. “Although the formal sealed bid process should remain a standard in public purchasing, there is a place for competitive negotiation. (State and Local Government Purchasing, The Council of State Governments (1975) at 2.2). “Competitive sealed bidding, as defined in this code, is the preferred method of procurement. The competitive sealed proposal method (similar to competitive negotiation) is available for use when competitive sealed bidding is not practicable. Both methods utilize price and product competition, but to different degrees and in different manners. The use of functional or performance specification is allowed under both methods to facilitate consideration of alternative means of meeting (state) needs, with evaluation, where appropriate, on the basis of total or life cycle costs. The methodology and the ranking or relative importance of the criteria to be used in the evaluation process under either method must be fully disclosed in the solicitation. Only criteria disclosed in the solicitation may be used to evaluate the items bid or proposed. The two methods of source selection differ in the following ways.
1. Under competitive sealed bidding, subjective factors may be issued only to determine if the supply, service or construction item bid meets the purchase description. Under competitive sealed proposals, subjective factors may be used to determine not only if the items being offered meet the purchase description, but may also be used to evaluate competing proposals. The effect of this different use of subjective evaluation is that under competitive sealed bidding, once the subjective evaluation is completed, award is made on a purely objective basis to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder. Under competitive sealed proposals, the quality of competing products may be compared and trade-offs made between price and quality of the items offered (all as set forth in the solicitation). Award under competitive sealed proposals is then made to the responsible offer or whose proposal is most advantageous to the city.
2. Competitive sealed bidding and competitive sealed proposals also differ in that, under competitive sealed bidding, no change in bids is allowed once they have been opened, except for correction of errors in limited circumstances. The competitive sealed proposal method, on the other hand, permits discussions after proposals have been opened to allow clarification and changes in proposals provided that adequate precautions are taken to treat each offer fairly and to ensure that information gleaned from competing proposals is not disclosed to other offerors. (Source: A Model Procurement Code for State and Local Governments -- Coordinating Committee’s Tentative Draft. American Bar Association, July 1978. Pages 54 and 55.)
(4) Other aspects to be considered in bid awards. In addition to price, the following aspects also will be considered in the award of a bid:
(a) The ability of the bidder to perform the contract or provide the material or service required;
(b) Whether the bidder can perform the contract or provide the material or service promptly or within the time specified, without delay or interference;
(c) The character, integrity, reputation, experience and efficiency of the bidder;
(d) The previous and existing compliance, by the bidder, with laws and ordinances relating to the contract or service;
(e) The ability of the bidder to provide future maintenance and service for the use of the subject contract;
(f) Terms and conditions stated in bid; and
(g) Compliance with specifications or request for proposal.
(5) Non-performance policy. Failure of a bidder to complete a contract, bid or purchase order in the specified time agreed upon, or failure to provide the service, materials or supplies required by the contract, bid or purchase order, or failure to honor a quoted price on services, materials or supplies on a contract, bid or purchase order may result in one or more of the following actions:
(a) Removal of a vendor from bid list for a period to be determined by the City Council;
(b) Allowing the vendor to find the needed item for the city from another supplier at no additional cost to the city;
(c) Allowing the city to purchase the needed service, materials or supplies from another source and charge the vendor for any difference in cost resulting from this purchase; and
(d) Allowing monetary settlement.
(6) Request for bid. The request for bid form shall be used when deemed necessary by the City Manager.
(7) Summary of bids. The summary of bids form shall be issued by the City Clerk’s office to record quotations.
(Ord. 1024, passed 5-7-2004; Ord. 1693, passed 3-14-2023)