(A) Principal contracting officer of the city. The Director of Purchasing shall serve as the procurement officer of the city.
(B) Power to adopt operational procedures. Consistent with the provisions of this chapter, the Director of Purchasing may adopt operational procedures governing the internal functions of the Department of Purchases. The regulations and/or policies shall be a matter of public record.
(C) Duties. Except as otherwise specifically provided in this chapter, the Director of Purchasing shall, in accordance with this chapter and any regulations and/or policies established:
(1) Procure or supervise the procurement of all commodities, services and construction needed by the city taking into account the highest quality and competitive cost;
(2) Sell, by public auction or competitive bid, if possible, exchange, trade or otherwise dispose of surplus supplies belonging to the city, including, but not limited to, supplies which have become obsolete, overage or unsuitable for use;
(3) Work with the appropriate department heads to establish and maintain programs for the inspection, testing and acceptance of commodities, services and construction;
(4) Ensure compliance with this chapter by reviewing and monitoring procurements conducted by any agency designee delegated authority under § 38.226;
(5) Establish and maintain a bidder's list, in cooperation with using agencies and as needed, comprised of responsible prospective bidders or offerors who have requested their names to be added to the list, from which list the Department may provide notification of prospective purchases or sales for the commodities or services in the request of the bidder or offeror; however, the notification is a courtesy and shall not be construed as the legal notice required by this chapter;
(6) Track, by electronic means, all contracts and purchase orders in a uniform numerical system on a fiscal year basis (effective on July 1, 2004); and
(7) Prescribe and maintain forms for the use of the Purchasing Department and the using agencies as deemed necessary to the operation of the Purchasing Department.
(D) Regulations or policies.
(1) The Director of Purchasing is authorized to propose regulations and/or policies, consistent with the charter and this chapter, governing the procurement, management, control and disposal of any and all commodities, services, leases and construction procured by the city, unless exempted. Among the subject matters authorized to be addressed in the regulations or policies are the following:
(a) To prescribe the manner in which equipment, materials and supplies shall be purchased, delivered, stored and distributed;
(b) To prescribe the manner of making requisitions and estimates, the future periods which they are to cover, the form in which they shall be submitted and the manner of their authentication;
(c) To prescribe the manner of inspecting all deliveries of equipment, materials and supplies and of making chemical and physical tests of samples submitted with bids and samples of deliveries to determine whether or not the specifications are being complied with;
(d) To provide for the transfer to or between such city agencies of equipment, materials and supplies which are surplus with one such agency but which may be needed by another or others, and for the disposal by sale of equipment, materials and supplies which are obsolete or unusable;
(e) To indicate the types of objective criteria that may be used by the Director of Purchasing in determining "lowest responsible qualified bidder" for the purposes of this chapter;
(f) To define the term "minor irregularities" for the purposes of this chapter; provided, the term shall not include:
1. Variations in the quality, unit price or date of delivery or completion of equipment, materials, supplies or contractual services; or
2. Exceptions to programs required under the general statutes.
(g) To establish policies and procedures for use by agencies in preparing specifications which will ensure that such specifications shall not be unreasonably restrictive and shall encourage competition; and
(h) To provide for any other matters necessary to effect the provisions of this chapter and any regulations or policies promulgated in pursuance thereof.
(2) Consultation. In preparing and proposing all regulations, the Director of Purchasing shall consult with department heads and appropriate consultants regarding the specific applicable standards to ensure compliance with applicable federal or state laws, regulations or requirements, to be included in the regulations or policies.
(E) Discouragement of uniform bidding: government franchises. The Director of Purchasing shall discourage uniform bidding and endeavor to obtain as full and open competition as possible on all purchases and sales.
(1) Purchase orders pertaining to government franchises or contracts with other governmental units. Purchase orders issued to companies having a government franchise for the purpose of providing public utility services, such as telephone, gas, electric light and power, need not be founded on competitive bids. Similarly, contracts entered into with other government units shall not be subject to competitive bidding.
(2) Repairs of equipment.
(a) Repairs of equipment may be contracted for directly with the company or authorized agency of the company manufacturing the equipment without competitive bidding if the competition is unobtainable.
(b) The determination of whether competition is unobtainable shall be made by the Director of Purchasing following review of the responses, if any, to a request for information to companies that may be capable of manufacturing or repairing the equipment in question.
(F) Proceeds from the sale or disposal of city property. Unless otherwise provided by federal or state law, regulation or agreement or the Charter of the city, the proceeds from the sale, lease or disposal of surplus properties shall be returned to the general fund.
(G) Inventory control and classification plan.
(1) The Director of Purchasing shall develop a plan pertaining to the exercise of general supervision and control over all inventories of supplies belonging to the city. The plan shall include the:
(a) Classification of all commodities used by the agencies of the city; and
(b) Preparation of written specifications regarding the commodities.
(2) In the preparation and revision of the standard specifications, the Director of Purchasing shall seek the advice, assistance and cooperation of the using agencies in order to determine their requirements and endeavor to prescribe those standards which best meet the needs of the majority of said agencies. Inventory control shall include:
(a) The management of supplies during their entire life cycle;
(b) The safe, lease or disposal of surplus supplies by public auction, competitive sealed bidding, or other appropriate method determined by Director of Purchasing; provided that, no employee of the owning or disposing agency shall be entitled to purchase the supplies, unless it is determined by the Director of Purchasing that there is no appearance of impropriety; and
(c) Transfer of excess supplies.
(Ord. passed 6-20-2005)