A. If authorized pursuant to section 2-2-5 of this chapter, the purchasing agent, or department heads, if a purchasing agent is not appointed, shall have the authority and responsibility for all procurements on behalf of the City and to enter into any contract or similar transaction necessary to carry out the procurement as follows:
1. Purchases, contracts, and purchase orders less than twenty five thousand dollars ($25,000.00) may be approved and signed by the department head provided the funds for such procurement have previously been appropriated by the City Council in the acquiring department's total budget appropriation.
2. Purchases, contracts, and purchase orders between twenty five thousand dollars ($25,000.00) and one hundred twenty five thousand dollars ($125,000.00) shall be approved and signed by the Mayor or City Administrator, provided the funds for such procurement have previously been appropriated by the City Council to the acquiring department's total budget appropriation.
3. Purchases, contracts, and purchase orders exceeding one hundred twenty five thousand dollars ($125,000.00) shall be approved by the City Council and signed by the Mayor.
4. Any procurement not covered by a previous appropriation shall require approval of the City Council and shall be signed by the Mayor.
5. All contracts must be countersigned by the City Recorder who shall, as the custodian of the records, maintain a copy of the contract as required by State Records Law.
B. City procurements of goods and services reasonably expected to cost less than five thousand dollars ($5,000.00) do not require the solicitation of bids or proposals. Procurements of goods and services reasonably expected to be between five thousand dollars ($5,000.00) and twenty five thousand dollars ($25,000.00) shall require three (3) written quotes for prices from proposed vendors. Where the amount of expenditure for any procurement, other than construction-related procurement, is reasonably likely to exceed twenty five thousand dollars ($25,000.00), a competitive procurement process shall be utilized. For construction-related procurement, a competitive procurement process shall be utilized where the amount is reasonably likely to exceed one hundred twenty five thousand dollars ($125,000.00). In both such situations, the purchasing agent shall issue a request for the procurement by any means which the purchasing agent determines to be in the best interest of the City. The request and subsequent award of a contract, if applicable, shall conform to the requirements of this chapter.
1. The City shall not avoid the competitive procurement process by dividing a project into smaller projects for the purpose of bringing each part of the project below the amount where the competitive procurement process would otherwise be required.
a. Change orders which could not have reasonably been foreseen or contemplated shall not be deemed a division of a project into smaller projects for the purpose of bringing each part of the project below the amount where the competitive procurement process would otherwise be required.
b. Fee increases of not more than five percent (5%) in a multi-year or automatically renewing contract shall not be deemed a division of a project into smaller projects for the purpose of bringing each part of the project below the amount where the competitive procurement process would otherwise be required.
c. When the City has the option to extend the term of a contract for additional terms, the extension shall be approved by: 1) a department head if the annual amount of the original contract was less than twenty five thousand dollars ($25,000.00); 2) the Mayor or City Administrator if the annual amount of the original contract was between twenty five thousand dollars ($25,000.00) and one hundred twenty five thousand dollars ($125,000.00); and 3) the City Council if the annual amount of the original contract was greater than one hundred twenty five thousand dollars ($125,000.00).
d. If a multi-year or automatically renewing contract is for a term of five (5) or more years, or if the contract has been automatically renewed for a period of five (5) years, the contract shall be subject to the competitive procurement process at the end of the then-existing term thereof.
2. The competitive procurement processes shall include, at a minimum, the following requirements:
a. Notice of the request shall be made public in a manner determined by the purchasing agent to be in the City's best interests. The request shall state the requirements to which a prospective applicant may respond.
b. Proposals which are received after the time established in the request or which are otherwise incomplete or nonresponsive shall not be considered unless, at the purchasing agent's discretion, consideration is otherwise allowed by the request, this chapter, or an applicable City policy.
c. Proposals which are received prior to or at the time established in the request shall be opened in a manner established by the request, this chapter, or an applicable City policy. A record of each such proposal shall be retained by the City pursuant to the Utah Municipal general records retention schedule.
d. Each timely and responsive proposal shall be evaluated based upon the criteria established in the invitation, this chapter, and any applicable City policy.
e. Prospective applicants may be pre-qualified by any process established by the purchasing agent. Failure to prequalify shall not disqualify a prospective applicant from consideration with respect to any request unless otherwise provided in the request, this chapter, or an applicable City policy.
f. Any contract awarded pursuant to the competitive procurement process shall be awarded to the lowest responsive and responsible applicant according to the criteria set forth in any request, this chapter, and an applicable City policy. However, no contract shall be awarded if the proposal submitted by the lowest responsive and responsible applicant exceeds the amount which has been previously appropriated to the applicable procurement.
g. The City shall provide written electronic or traditional notification to each applicant of the City's determination of the lowest responsive and responsible applicant. Upon providing such notification, the proposals received by the City shall be open for public inspection.
C. The purchasing agent may waive minor defects in any proposal received provided that doing so is in the best interest of the City.
D. An applicant may withdraw or modify its proposal at any time until the submission deadline set forth in the request has passed.
E. When the City selects a lowest responsive and responsible applicant and awards a contract pursuant thereto, the applicant shall enter into a written contract with the City no later than forty five (45) days after the award of contract. The form and contents of any such contract shall include any provisions set forth in the request and shall be acceptable to the City Attorney. In the event that the City and the successful applicant are unable to enter into a written contract within forty five (45) days after the award of contract, the City may rescind the award and offer the same to the next lowest responsive and responsible applicant without having to start the competitive procurement process anew. (Ord. 30-2018, 5-8-2018)