The following are the purchasing rules for the county.
(A) Purchase of supplies manufactured in the United States. Supplies manufactured in the United States shall be specified for all county purchases and shall be purchased unless the county determines that:
(1) The supplies are not manufactured in the United States in reasonably available quantities;
(2) The price of the supplies manufactured in the United States exceeds by an unreasonable amount the price of available and comparable supplies manufactured elsewhere;
(3) The quality of supplies manufactured in the United States is substantially less than the quality of comparably priced available supplies manufactured elsewhere; or
(4) The purchase of supplies manufactured in the United States is not in the public interest.
(B) Protection of officers; status of documents as public records.
(1) Protection of offers prior to opening. The purchasing agent shall retain all offers received in a secure location prior to the date and time at which offers will be opened in order to prevent disclosure of the contents prior to the opening of the offers.
(2) Unobstructed evaluation of offers. After offers have been opened, the purchasing agent shall be responsible for maintaining the offers in such a manner as to permit evaluation of the offers by the persons responsible for evaluating the offers. The purchasing agents shall maintain such offers in their own offices, as well as a duplicate set of records in the designated purchasing filing cabinets set up by the Board of Commissioners with said filing cabinets to be in a place designated by them. All filings in the designated cabinets will be by instructions provided therewith.
(3) Public record status of bids. Bids submitted in response to an invitation for bids must be available for public inspection and copying after the time of the bid opening. Accepted bids with all necessary accompanying documentation will be kept for inspection in the designated cabinets.
(4) Register of proposals. The purchasing agent shall prepare a register of proposals for each request for proposals issued which shall contain information concerning the proposals available for public inspection and copying. Proposals may not be disclosed. A copy of the register will also be kept in the designated cabinet.
(5) Discussions with offerors responding to a request for proposals. The purchasing agent may conduct discussions with, and best and final offers may be obtained from, responsible offerors who submit proposals determined to be reasonably susceptible of being selected for a contract award.
(6) Delay in opening of offers. Upon request of the purchasing agent and when the Board of Commissioners makes a written determination that it is in the county’s best interests, offers may be opened after the time stated in the solicitation. The date, time and place of the rescheduled opening must be announced at the time and place of the originally scheduled opening.
(C) Evidence of financial responsibility.
(1) Purchases less than $25,000. The purchasing agent may not require evidence of financial responsibility when the estimated cost of a purchase is less than $25,000.
(2) Purchases between $25,000 and $100,000. The solicitation may include a requirement that an offeror provide evidence of financial responsibility. If the evidence of financial responsibility is required, the solicitation must indicate the kind of evidence that will be acceptable. If a bond or certified check is required, it may not exceed 10% of the estimated cost of the purchase.
(3) Purchases over $100,000. The solicitation shall include a requirement that an offeror provide evidence of financial responsibility and must indicate the kind of evidence that will be acceptable. If a bond or certified check is required, it may not exceed 10% of the estimated cost of purchase.
(4) Retention of bonds or checks. Checks and other evidence of financial responsibility shall be retained in a secure place.
(D) Use of RFP for purchases of designated types of supplies.
(1) The county determines that:
(a) It is either not practical or not advantageous to purchase certain types of supplies by sealed competitive bidding; and
(b) Receiving proposals is the preferred method for purchasing the following types of supplies.
(2) See Exhibit A attached to the ordinance codified in this section for a list of supplies designated for RFP purchases.
(E) Modification and termination of contracts.
(1) Price adjustments. The purchasing agent may include provisions to permit price adjustments in a purchase contract. The following provisions for price adjustments may be included:
(a) Price adjustments must be computed by agreement on a fixed price adjustment before the beginning of the pertinent performance or as soon after the beginning of a performance as possible;
(b) Price adjustments must be computed by unit prices specified in the contract or subsequently agreed upon;
(c) Price adjustments must be computed by costs attributable to the events or situations under such clauses with adjustment of profit or fee, all as specified in the contract or subsequently agreed upon;
(d) Price adjustments must be computed in such other manner as the contracting parties may mutually agree upon; or
(e) In the absence of agreement by the parties, price adjustments must be computed by unilateral determination by the governmental body of the costs attributable to the events or situations under such clauses with adjustment of profit or fee, all as computed by the governmental body in accordance with applicable rules adopted by the governmental body.
(2) Adjustments in time or performance. The purchasing agent may include provisions in a purchase contract concerning adjustments for time or performance under the contract.
(3) Unilateral rights of county. The purchasing agent may include in a purchase contract provisions dealing with the unilateral right of the county to order changes in the work within the scope of the contract or to order temporary work stoppage or delays in time or performance.
(4) Quantity variations. The purchasing agent may include in a purchase contract provisions dealing with variations between the estimated quantities of work in a contract and the actual quantity delivered.
(F) Purchase of services.
(1) The county determines that each elected county official and department head may purchase services in whatever manner the purchaser deems to be reasonable.
(2) The county purchasing agency may not require any county purchasing agent or any county official to purchase services in any particular manner; except that the purchase of services that exceed $1,000 shall be approved by the county purchasing agency.
(G) Small business set-aside purchases. The county is desirous of trying to purchase products and supplies from local vendors and to give preference to small businesses and hereby determines to establish criteria for determining qualifications as a small business and to identify specific supplies for small business set-aside purchases.
(1) Qualifications. A business qualifies as a small business if it qualifies as a small business under the standards established by the State Department of Commerce.
(2) Businesses that are not small businesses.
(a) A wholesale business, if its average annual sales for its most recently completed fiscal year exceeds $4,000,000;
(b) A construction business, if its average annual receipts for the preceding three fiscal years exceeds $4,000,000;
(c) A retail business or business selling services, if its annual sales and receipts exceeds $500,000; and
(d) A manufacturing business if it employs more than 100 persons.
(3) Specific supplies eligible for small business set-aside. See Exhibit B attached to the ordinance codified in this section for a list of supplies eligible for small business set-aside.
(H) State business preference.
(1) Qualification. An offeror is a state business if its principal place of business operations and the business is owned or operated by a citizen and resident of the state or is incorporated within the state.
(2) Application of state business preferences. State business preferences shall be applied as follows.
(a) It is the intent of the county to do business locally. The county recognizes that service is more likely to be quicker and more readily available by a local business and thus prefers doing business locally if the same products, supplies and services can be purchased for the same price.
(b) The county prefers doing business in the state.
(I) Publication of notices; invitation of bids.
(1) Notice of invitations.
(a) All notices of invitations for bids shall be published in accordance with I.C. 5-3-1-2 in the Plymouth Pilot-News, Bremen Enquirer and/or Culver Citizen.
(b) The purchasing agent shall schedule the publication of notice to provide a reasonable amount of time for preparation and submission of bids. A notice will be published two times, at least one week apart. The second publication must occur at least ten days prior to the date the bids will be open.
(2) Request for proposals. All notices of request for proposal shall be published in accordance with I.C. 5-3-1 in the Plymouth Pilot-News, Bremen Enquirer and/or Culver Citizen. The purchasing agent shall schedule the publication of notice to provide a reasonable amount of time for preparation and submission of proposals. The notice will be published two times, at least one week apart. The second publication must occur at least seven days prior to the date the proposals will be open.
(3) Request for specifications. All notices of request for specification shall be published in accordance with I.C. 5-3-1 in the Plymouth Pilot-News, Bremen Enquirer and/or Culver Citizen. The purchasing agent shall schedule the publication of notice to provide a reasonable amount of time for preparation and submission of proposals. The notice will be published two times, at least one week apart. The second publication must occur at least seven days prior to the date the proposal will be opened.
(4) Electronic notices. Whenever a notice or other material, including specifications, and invitations for bids, requests for proposals or requests for specifications is sent by mail, the purchasing agent may also send the notice or other material by electronic means; provided, that the transmission of the information is at least as efficient as mailing the information.
(J) Receiving offers.
(1) Opening of offers.
(a) Bids received in response to an invitation for bids must be opened publicly in the presence of at least one or more witnesses at the time and place designated in the invitation for bids.
(b) Proposals received in response to request for proposals must be opened to avoid disclosure of the contents to competing offerors during the process of negotiation.
(c) Proposals received in response to a request for specification may be opened as specified in the request for specifications.
(2) Electronic receipt of offers.
(a) The purchasing agent may receive electronic offers in response to an invitation to bid, request for proposals or a request for specification.
(b) An electronic offer may only receive an electronic offer if:
1. The solicitation includes a procedure for the electronic transmission of the offer; or
2. The purchasing agency receives the offer on a fax machine or other system with a security feature that protects the contents of an electronic offer with the same degree of protection as provided to an offer not transmitted electronically.
(K) Correction and withdrawal of bids.
(1) An offeror may correct inadvertent errors in a bid up to the time at which bids will be opened by supplementing the erroneous bid and submitting a revised bid. A bidder may not supplement an inadvertently erroneous bid after the time at which the bids were opened.
(2) A bidder may withdraw a bid containing inadvertent errors up to the time at which bids will be opened and for a period of not more than 24 hours after the time at which the bids were opened.
(L) Cancellation of solicitation. When the purchasing agent makes a written determination that it is in the county’s best interest, the purchasing agent may cancel a solicitation or reject all offers; provided, that the solicitation included information concerning the procedure for cancellation.
(M) Small purchases. The purchasing agent may purchase supplies with an estimated cost of less than $1,000 per purchase on the open market without inviting or receiving quotes.
(N) Approval of purchases.
(1) All purchasing agents must obtain prior approval from the purchasing agency before making any purchases that are equal to or exceed $1,000.
(2) All purchasing agents shall complete the required forms as required by statute.
(3) Copies of forms may be provided or designated by the purchasing agency from time to time.
(4) Claims submitted that exceed $1,000 that have not been pre-approved, or claims submitted that do not have the correct appropriate paperwork and completed forms will not be approved and paid by the county.
(Ord. 1998-03, passed - -)