(A) All purchases of, and contracts for, supplies, materials, equipment and contractual services and all sales of personal property found by the City Council not to be required for public use, shall be based, whenever possible, on competitive bids. If the amount of the expenditure for a contractual service or for a commodity normally obtained from the same source of supply, or for a sale of personal property found by the City Council not to be required for public use, is estimated to exceed $25,000, contract bids shall be solicited by public notice and written contracts shall be awarded, except when the services of central state purchasing are utilized. If newspaper advertisements are employed as public notice, the notice shall include a general description of the commodities or services to be purchased or the commodities to be sold, shall state where contract bids and specifications may be secured, and shall specify the time and place for opening of bids.
(B) The purchasing agent may, in addition, solicit bids from prospective bidders, as listed on the bidders list, by sending them copies of the newspaper notice or other notice as will acquaint them with the proposed purchase or sale. All pending purchases or sales shall also, in all cases, be advertised by posting a copy of the contract bid form on a public bulletin board in or adjacent to the City Hall.
(C) (1) All bids shall be submitted sealed to the purchasing agent on the official contract bid form and, in an envelope which shall have indicated thereon the class of commodities to be purchased and the established time for opening of bids. A tabulation of all bids received, whether accepted or rejected, shall be open for public inspection during regular business hours for a period of not less than 30 calendar days after the bid opening.
(2) The purchasing agent shall submit a copy of the tabulation and all bids received to the City Council, together with the Administrator's award. The purchasing agent may reject any or all bids for any or all commodities or contractual services included in the bid form and may re-advertise for bids when the public interest will be served thereby, but will report the action and the reasons therefor to the City Council. If all bids received are for the same total amount or unit price, and if the public interest will not permit the delay of re-advertising for bids, the City Council may authorize the City Administrator or purchasing agent to award the contract to one of the tie bidders by drawing of lots in public, or to purchase the commodities or contractual services in the open market, provided the price paid in the open market shall not exceed the lowest contract bid price submitted for the same commodity or contractual service. In all other cases, the contract shall be awarded by the City Council to the lowest responsible bidder for purchases and the highest responsible bidder for sales. In determining the lowest or highest responsible bidder, the City Council and the purchasing agent shall take into consideration the quality offered and its conformity with the specifications, the delivery and discount terms and conditions of the bid, the service reputation of the bidder and other information and data required to prove the bidder's responsibility.
(D) Contracts for personal property sales shall be awarded by the City Council to the highest responsible bidder and shall be subject to all other applicable requirements of this section.
(E) It shall be the duty of the purchasing agent to discourage uniform bidding by every possible means, and to endeavor to obtain full and open competition on all purchases and sales. Accordingly, the purchasing agent shall require each bidder to accompany the bidder's bid with a statement made under oath that the bidder has not been a party with other bidders to an agreement to bid a fixed or uniform price. Violation of the statement shall render void the bid of the bidders. Any disclosure to, or acquisition by, a competitive bidder, in advance of the opening of the bids of the terms or conditions of the bid submitted by another competitor shall render the proceedings void and shall require re-advertising for bids.
(F) All contract forms shall be approved by the City Attorney as to legality. All contracts shall be signed on behalf of the city by the purchasing agent. A copy of each signed contract shall be filed with the City Clerk.
(G) No city real property shall be sold except by ordinance of the City Council and after the publication of the notice of sale in a newspaper of general circulation in the city at least seven days prior to the sale. The notice shall contain a property description, the name of the purchaser and the terms of and consideration for the sale.
(1985 Code, § 9-26) (Ord. 18-032, passed 12-11-2018; Ord. 2021-015, passed 6-8-2021)