A. Purchases of supplies, services and equipment and the sale of personal property shall be by competitive procedures, pursuant to applicable sections within this chapter. With the exception of purchases covered by Article 4 of Chapter 1 of Part 3 of the State Public Contracts Code, competitive procedures may be dispensed with when an emergency requires that an order be placed with the nearest available source of supply, or when the commodity is a sole source item which can be obtained from only one vendor. Sole source items shall include purchases of items where there are restrictions in specifications due to the need for standardization or compatibility. The city council may also, by majority vote of its entire membership, dispense with such competitive and other procedures required by this chapter in any individual instance upon finding that it would be impracticable, useless or uneconomical in such instance to follow such procedures, and that the public welfare would be promoted by dispensing with the same.
B. Alternative Purchasing Procedures. In lieu of the purchasing and competitive procedures set forth in this chapter, the following alternative purchasing procedures may be used at the discretion of the purchasing officer for the purchase of supplies, equipment or services.
1. Purchases from the California department of general services, pursuant to California Government Code Section 54205, or the successor statute thereto.
2. Purchases from any joint powers agency or any agency with which the city has entered into a joint powers agreement for purchase of equipment or supplies; provided that the city manager determines that the item can likely be obtained at a cost which is less than the city could likely obtain through the purchasing procedures set forth in this chapter.
3. Purchases of supplies, equipment or services where competitive procedures have already been utilized, such as purchases from federal, state or county governments, including, state of California agencies, counties, cities, joint power agencies, special districts, and nonprofit agencies whose main purpose is to assist cities or other public entities, and the supplies or equipment are supplied to the city at the same or better price, as was obtained through the competitive procedures of that entity.
C. Procurements which by their nature are not suited to award by competitive bidding shall not be subject to the competitive requirements and/or approval authority limits specified in this chapter as identified in the table below. The city manager/designee or purchasing officer/designee shall have the authority to approve the following items:
Description | Exempt from Competitive Procedure | Exempt from Approval Authority Limits in § 2.24.012 |
Description | Exempt from Competitive Procedure | Exempt from Approval Authority Limits in § 2.24.012 |
1. Utility services such as water, electric power, natural gas, telephone and internet service provider, except when alternative supplies or services are available | X | X |
2. Witness and jury fees and other payments as may be ordered by the court | X | X |
3. Medicines or medical supplies or services which are not generic in nature, and which would not be available from other sources through competitive bid or negotiation | X | |
4. Advertisements and notices | X | |
5. Courier/delivery/messenger | X | |
6. Emergency fuel purchases | X | X |
7. Insurance claims and premiums | X | X |
8. Medical payments (physicians, lab) | X | |
9. Membership dues | X | |
10. Payments to other governments | X | |
11. Petty cash replenishment | X | |
12. Property rentals | X | |
13. Real property/easement acquisition | X | |
14. Subscriptions | X | |
15. Trade circulars/books/periodicals/subscriptions | X | |
16. Travel expense/advances | X | |
17. Seminars/conferences | X | |
18. Required government or regulatory goods and services | X | |
19. Fringe benefits | X | X |
20. Debt service payments | X | X |
21. Purchases made on behalf of a third-party, for which that third-party will be promptly and appropriately billable, excluding grant-related expenditures (i.e., costs incurred on behalf of a customer renting a facility) | X | X |
22. Performing artists and any vendors for city events | X | X |
23. Urgent repairs to continue existing city operations in compliance with California Government Code up to double the city manager’s authority established in Section 2.24.012 | X | X |
24. Postage | X | X |
25. Bank administrative charges | X | |
26. Memorandum of understanding (MOU) and related agreements with other public agencies for joint projects | X | |
27. Real estate purchases, leases and easements | X | |
28. Conservation Partnership Agreements | X | |
29. Temporary staffing agencies agreements with staffing agencies | X | |
30. Inventory held for resale at city events or the city store | X | |
31. California Correctional Industries Division purchases | X | |
32. Materials purchased at public auction, bankruptcy sale, or similar auction/sale where purchases are made significantly below market cost | X | |
33. Other items for which a competitive procurement procedure cannot be practicably applied | X | |
Other items may be exempt from competitive procurement as determined by city council authorization at any time. (Ord. 414 § 5, 2022; Ord. 42 § 1, 1990)