(A) Any expenditure for supplies, materials, equipment, construction project or contract obligating the city, where the amount of the city’s obligation is in excess of $10,000, shall be approved by the City Council and shall be governed by the provisions of this section.
(B) The expenditure shall be made the subject of written contract when directed by the City Council. A purchase order shall be a sufficient written contract in cases where the expenditure is in the usual and ordinary course of the city’s affairs.
(C) The Purchasing Agent shall solicit bids from a reasonable number of the qualified prospective bidders as are known to him or her by sending each a copy of the notice requesting bids. Bids shall be solicited by newspaper advertisement when directed by the City Council.
(D) Unless prescribed by the City Council, the City Manager shall prescribe the amount of any security to be deposited with any bid which deposit shall be in the form of cash, certified or cashier’s check or bond written by a surety company authorized to do business in the state. The amount of the security shall be expressed in terms of percentage of the bib submitted. Unless fixed by the City Council, the City Manager shall fix the amount of the performance bond and in the case of construction contracts, the amount of the labor and materials bond to be required of the successful bidders.
(E) Bids shall be opened in public at the time and place designated in the notice requesting bids in the presence of the Purchasing Agent and at least one other city official. The bids shall thereupon be carefully examined and tabulated and reported to the City Council with the recommendation of the Purchasing Agent at the next Council meeting. The recommendation of the Purchasing Agent may take into account such relevant factors as reputation and references. After tabulation, all bids may be inspected by the competing bidders. In lieu of the procedure for opening bids herein specified, the City Council may direct that bids be opened at a Council meeting.
(F) When the bids are submitted to the City Council, if the City Council shall find any of the bids to be satisfactory, the City Council, subject to the rights reserved in the last sentence of this subsection, shall accept the bid of the low qualified bidder. The award may be by resolution or ordinance. The City Council shall have the right to reject any or all bids and to waive irregularities in bidding and to accept bids which do not conform in every respect to the bidding requirements.
(G) (1) At the time the contract is executed by him or her, the contractor shall file a bond executed by a surety company authorized to do business in the state, to the city, conditioned to pay all laborers, mechanics, subcontractors and material laborers as well as all just debts, dues and demands incurred in the performance of the work and shall file a performance bond when one is required.
(2) The contractor shall also file evidence of public liability insurance naming the city harmless from loss or damage caused to any person or property by reason of the contractor’s negligence.
(H) All bids and deposits of certified or cashier’s checks may be retained until the contract is awarded and signed. If any successful bidder fails or refuses to enter into the contract awarded to him or her within 15 days (or such alternative period of time as specified in the bid solicitation materials) after a notice of award has been issued by the city, or fails to file with the city all required bonds and evidence of insurance within the same time, the deposit accompanying his or her bid shall be forfeited to the city, and the City Council may, in its discretion, award the contract to the next lowest qualified bidder or the contract may be re-advertised.
(Am. Ord. 090427-1, passed 4-27-2009)
Statutory reference:
Bidders on public contracts, see M.C.L.A. §§ 123.501 et seq.