A. Requests For Bids:
1. The bidding procurement process is appropriate to use when cost is the major factor in determining the award of a procurement.
2. Contracts shall be awarded by competitive sealed bidding except as otherwise provided by this policy.
3. Any procurement in excess of fifty thousand dollars ($50,000.00) which is not a building improvement or public works project shall require bidding.
4. A request for bids shall be published at least twice in a newspaper published or of general circulation in the local entity at least five (5) days before opening the bids; or if there is no newspaper published or of general circulation in the local entity then posting notice at least five (5) days before opening the bids in at least five (5) public places in the local entity and leaving the notice posted for at least three (3) days; and publishing notice in accordance with section 45-1-101, at least five (5) days before opening the bids.
5. Each notice of a request for bids shall indicate that the City may reject any or all bids submitted.
6. Bids shall be opened publicly in the presence of one or more witnesses at the time and place designated in the invitation for bids. The amount of each bid and any other relevant information, together with the name of each bidder, shall be recorded. The record and each bid shall be open to public inspection.
7. Bids shall be unconditionally accepted without alteration or correction, except as authorized in this policy. Bids shall be evaluated based on the requirements set forth in the invitation for bids.
8. Correction or withdrawal of inadvertently erroneous bids before or after award, or cancellation of awards or contracts based on such bid mistakes, shall be permitted. After bid opening no changes in bid prices or other provisions of bids prejudicial to the interest of the City or fair competition shall be permitted. All decisions to permit the correction or withdrawal of bids or to cancel awards or contracts based on bid mistakes shall be supported by a written determination made by the Procurement Officer.
9. The contract shall be awarded with reasonable promptness, by written notice, to the lowest responsible bidder whose bid meets the requirements and criteria set forth in the invitation for bids.
10. An invitation for bids, a request for proposals, or other solicitation may be canceled, or any or all bids or proposals may be rejected, in whole or in part, as may be specified in the solicitation, when it is in the best interests of the City. The reasons shall be made part of the contract file.
11. The City may reject any or all bids submitted. If the City rejects all bids submitted but still intends to undertake the building improvement or public works project, the City shall again request bids by following the procedure in this section. If, after twice requesting bids by following the bidding procedure, the City determines that no satisfactory bid has been submitted, the City Council may undertake the building improvement or public works project as it considers appropriate.
12. A determination of non-responsibility of a bidder or offeror shall be made in writing. The unreasonable failure of a bidder or offeror to promptly supply information in connection with an inquiry with respect to responsibility may be grounds for a determination of non-responsibility with respect to the bidder or offeror. Information furnished by a bidder or offeror pursuant to this section shall not be disclosed without prior written consent by the bidder or offeror.
B. Requests For Proposals:
1. When the Procurement Officer determines in writing that the use of competitive sealed bidding is either not practicable or not advantageous to the City, a contract may be entered into by competitive sealed proposals. Competitive sealed proposals are most appropriately used for professional service type contracts.
2. Proposals shall be solicited through a request for proposals. Public notice of the request for proposals shall be given at least twenty (20) days prior to the advertised date of the opening of the proposals.
3. Proposals shall be opened so as to avoid disclosure of contents to competing offerors during the process of negotiation. A register of proposals shall be prepared and shall be open for public inspection after contract award.
4. The request for proposals shall state the relative importance of price and other evaluating factors.
5. Offerors shall be accorded fair and equal treatment with respect to any opportunity for discussion and revision of proposals, and revisions may be permitted after submissions and prior to award for the purpose of obtaining best and final offers. In conducting discussions, there shall be no disclosure of any information derived from proposals submitted by competing offerors.
6. Award shall be made to the person whose proposal is determined, in writing, to be the most advantageous to the City, taking into consideration price and the evaluation factors set forth in the request for proposals. No other factors or criteria shall be used in the evaluation. The contract file shall contain the basis on which the award is made.
7. Architect-engineer services are qualification based procurements. Requests for such services should be publicly announced. Contracts should be negotiated by the City based on demonstrated competence at fair and reasonable prices.
8. Subject to the limitations of this section, any type of contract which will promote the best interests of the City may be used, provided that the use of a cost plus a percentage of cost contract is prohibited. A cost reimbursement contract may be used only when a determination is made in writing that such a contract is likely to be less costly to the City than any other type or that is impracticable to obtain the supplies, services or construction required except under such a contract.
9. Required Contract Clauses:
a. The unilateral right of the City to order, in writing, changes in the work within the scope of the contract and changes in the time of performance of the contract that do not alter the scope of the contract work;
b. Variations occurring between estimated quantities of work in a contract and actual quantities;
c. Suspension of work ordered by the City. (Ord. 18-06)