Publisher's Note: This Section has been AMENDED by new legislation (Ord. 319, adopted 1-18-2024). The text of the amendment will be incorporated below when the ordinance is codified.
(A) Every contract for the procurement of goods and services by the city, except as hereinafter provided, shall be by competitive bidding and shall not be approved and let until notice of the intent to so contract and an invitation to sealed bids shall have been advertised once per week, for a period of two successive weeks, in one newspaper of general circulation in the city, the last of which publications shall occur no less than five days prior to the meeting at which the bids are to be opened and examined; provided, that the above requirements shall not apply to any contract for a gross amount of less than $25,000; nor shall this section preclude the use by the city of or be applicable to the purchasing of goods or services through the State Director of the Purchasing Division of the State Department of Finance and Administration as provided by the W.Va. Code § 5A-3-9.
(B) (1) The provision of division (A) above shall not be applicable when the Council, by vote, finds that:
(a) Compliance therewith would be inimical to the public welfare;
(b) Procurement of the contemplated goods or services is of such urgency as to brook no delay;
(c) Other circumstances exist which would render the interests of the city better served by noncompliance than by compliance with division (A) above;
(d) As a practical matter it is determined that there exists only one supplier of the goods or services sought to be obtained;
(e) The goods or services sought to be obtained are for the purpose of maintenance or repair of existing city goods or equipment; or
(f) No suppliers of goods or services sought to be obtained are located within the general circulation area of any of the city newspapers.
(2) When the Council determines that division (A) above is not applicable, the Council shall, at the time of the approval of the contract for the procurement of goods and services, refer to the applicable provision of this division (B) which is relied upon for the waiver of the bidding process.
(C) (1) Notwithstanding other provisions of this subchapter, in any instance that a purchase of goods or services by the city is required under the provisions of this subchapter to be made upon competitive bids, such purchase shall be made from a vendor resident in the city if such bid does not exceed the lowest qualified bid from a nonresident vendor by more than 2% of the latter bid, and if such resident vendor has made written claim for such preference at the time the bid was submitted.
(2) A vendor shall be deemed to be a resident of the city if such vendor is an individual, partnership, association or corporation that maintains an active, bona fide place of business within the city and maintains therein a representative inventory of the commodities on which the bid is submitted and, in the case of a corporation, is duly qualified to do business in the state as is in good standing under the laws of the state and under the ordinances of the city.
(1991 Code, § 2-3) (Ord. passed 11-1-1979; Ord. 175, passed 3-20-2014)
Statutory reference:
Authority of city to require competitive bidding for purchases of supplies and the like, see W.Va. Code § 8-12-10
Availability to municipalities of facilities of state division of purchases, see W.Va. Code § 5A-3-9