(A) Contracts. All contracts for supplies, materials, equipment, contractual services and labor shall be let as provided herein.
(B) Definitions. The terms SUPPLIES, MATERIALS and EQUIPMENT shall include any and all articles and things which shall be furnished to or used by any office, department, commission, agency or institution of the city. CONTRACTUAL SERVICES shall include all purchases, leases and contracts for impersonal services necessary for the operation of any office, department, commission, agency or institution of the city which are not encompassed in the above definition of “supplies, material and equipment”. The term LOWEST RESPONSIBLE BIDDER does not mean the lowest bidder financially only, but shall mean the bidder who by experience and other qualifications, is deemed most capable of performing the work required in a satisfactory manner.
(C) Competitive bids; sealed bids; sale of obsolete equipment; contracts not adapted to award by competitive bidding; government surplus materials. The purchases of and contracts for supplies, materials, equipment and contractual services shall be based on competitive bids. If the amount involved is estimated to exceed $1,000, sealed bids shall be solicited by public notice inserted at least once in a newspaper of county-wide circulation and at least five calendar days before the final date of submitting bids. Such notices shall include a general description of the commodities or contractual services to be purchased and shall state the time and place for the opening of bids. The city may also solicit sealed bids by sending requests by mail to prospective suppliers and by posting notices on a public bulletin board in City Hall. All purchases of $1,000 or less may be made in the open market without publication in a newspaper as above provided, but whenever practical shall be based on at least three competitive bids. All purchases, orders or contracts shall be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder, taking into consideration the qualities of the articles supplied, their conformity with the specifications, their suitability to the requirements of the city and the delivery terms. All bids may be rejected and new bids solicited if the public interest may be served thereby. Contracts which by their nature are not adapted to award by competitive bidding, such as contracts for the services of individuals possessing a high degree of professional skill where the ability or fitness of the individual plays an important part, contracts for the printing or engraving of bonds, tax warrants and other evidences of indebtedness, contracts for utility services such as water, light, heat, telephone or telegraph, contracts for insurance, and contracts for the purchase of magazines, books, periodicals and similar articles of an educational or instructional nature, and the binding of such magazines, books, periodicals, pamphlets, reports and similar articles shall not be subject to the competitive bidding requirements of this section. The city is expressly authorized to procure from any federal, state or local government unit or agency thereof such surplus materials, supplies, commodities or equipment as may be made available through the operation of any legislation heretofore or hereafter enacted without conforming to the competitive bidding requirements of this section. Regular employment contracts in the city service, shall not be subject to the provisions of this section, nor shall this section be applicable to the granting or issuance pursuant to powers conferred, by laws, ordinances or resolutions, of franchises, licenses, permits or other authorizations by the City Council, or by departments, offices, institutions, boards, commissions, agencies or other instrumentalities of the city, nor to contracts or transactions, pursuant to which the city is the recipient of money.
(D) Purchases in open market. The Mayor may authorize in writing any office, department, institution or agency of the city government to purchase in the open market without soliciting bids, any supplies, material or equipment for immediate delivery to meet actual emergencies. A full written account of the circumstances necessitating any such emergency purchase, shall be submitted at once to the City Council. The records of such transactions shall be open to public inspection.
(1975 Code, § 3.17) (Ord. 82-5, passed 4-21-1982)