(a) The Mayor is hereby authorized to award contracts for supplies and services, which would by local ordinance or applicable State law be required to be awarded by competitive bidding unless otherwise waived, through a “reverse auction”, when the Mayor determines, in his sole discretion, that the same would be advantageous for the City. A “reverse auction” as used in this section is a purchasing process in which offerors submit proposals in competing to sell services or supplies in an open environment via the internet. “Internet”, “supplies” and “services”, as used in this section, shall be defined as set forth in Ohio R.C. 9.134.
(b) Council adopts the following rules regarding “reverse auctions”:
(1) The City shall solicit proposals through a request for proposals, which shall state the relative importance of price and other evaluation factors;
(2) The City shall provide notice of the request for proposals in a manner and at a time to be determined by the Mayor at his sole discretion;
(3) The City reserves the right on an auction to conduct discussions with offerors who submit proposals determined by the Mayor in his sole discretion to be reasonably susceptible to being selected for award;
(4) The City reserves the right by auction basis to require the successful bidder to provide a performance bond or other form of financial security in an amount and form herein determined by the Mayor;
(5) The City reserves the right to accept or reject any proposal, in whole or in part, at its sole discretion, and to waive any informalities or irregularities in any proposal received or the process;
(6) The City may award a contract to the offeror whose proposal the Council, by motion and majority vote, determines to be the lowest and best offer;
(7) The City assumes no responsibility for, and shall have no responsibility for, the costs incurred by any offeror prior to the award of any contract;
(8) The City reserves the right on an auction-by-auction basis by each offeror for the download of information on the website. Any such fee shall be based upon the reasonable costs to the City of such activity.
(Ord. 2004-13. Passed 7-6-04.)