Section 3.08.070 Purchasing Procedure.

Purpose. The city recognizes the importance of adopting a comprehensive purchasing ordinance that authorizes the use of modern procurement practices, provides for electronic processing and monitoring of purchasing activities, and establishes responsibility for oversight and reporting within city government.

A.  Definitions. For the purpose of this section, the following definitions shall apply:

“Approved communication methods” means any communication required or desired to be made in connection with a purchase provided, however, that such communication is by hand, by overnight or guaranteed delivery service, by deposit in a depository of the United States Postal Service properly addressed and postage prepaid, by facsimile transmission delivered to the intended addressee, or by electronic communication including but not limited to e-mail or other electronic means delivered to the intended addressee, or otherwise approved by official policy of the board of public purchases.

“Audit rights” means the city’ s independent right to audit charges, costs, expenses, payments, setoffs, change orders and other expenditures under any purchase arrangement whether or not such right is specifically included in the bid package or other documents related to the purchase.

“Authorized pricing methods” means one of several permitted methods for obtaining informal competitive price quotations in the purchase of goods, general services, special or professional services where permitted herein provided, however, that such quotation is obtained in hard copy by e-mail, facsimile, computer or other electronic communication to the contracting officer, by current catalog price or price sheet, internet quote, or other method approved by the board of public purchases.

“Award” means the purchasing agent’ s announcement of the selection of the apparent: (a) responsible low bidder in a competitive bid process; (b) most qualified and responsible bidder in a QBS selection process; (c) responsible bidder(s) in a consolidated purchasing process; or (d) responsible bidder in any other selection process authorized herein; provided, however, that an award or notification of intent to make an award does not create a legal right in the bidder regarding the subject matter of the bid or entitlement to a contract, but is intended to inform the bidder that additional obligations of the bid must be met, such as the posting of surety and evidence of insurance, negotiation of a contract, and securing proper approval of the party authorized to enter into a contract or obligation binding upon the city.

“Best value” means, during a competitive bidding process or request for proposal process, the purchasing agent, after considering the recommendations of the contracting officer, if any, may consider the following factors in determining to make an award to a bidder other than the apparent lowest responsible bidder: (a) the bidder’ s price; (b) the bidder’ s business reputation; (c) the quality of the bidder’ s goods or services; (d) the extent to which the goods or services meet the city’ s needs; (e) the bidder’ s current or past relationship with the city; (f) the impact on the city’ s ability to comply with laws and rules relating to contracting with historically underutilized businesses and non-profit organizations employing persons with disabilities; (g) the total long-term cost to the city to acquire the bidder’ s goods or services; and (h) any relevant criteria specifically listed in the bid documents. The city reserves the right to make an award either to the lowest responsible bidder or to the bidder that provides goods or services having the best value to the city.

“Bidder” means any person, sometimes referred to herein as a vendor or proposer, seeking to do business with the city pursuant to this section, including any individual, corporation, partnership, sole proprietorship, joint stock company, joint venture, limited liability partnership, limited liability company, or any other private legal entity, each of which shall be required to disclose in its bid, whether or not the bid documents specifically make such request, the names and addresses of the bidder’ s officers, directors, members and owners holding five percent or more in ownership of the bidder or its parent at the time of the submission of its bid, which obligation to disclose shall continue for the duration of the bidder’ s relationship with the city.

“Bidder list” means a mailing or notification list, maintained by the city, of all suppliers, vendors, contractors or service providers who have made a request by an approved communication method to receive notice of the city’ s intent to make particular purchases, which bidder list does not imply that such those parties on it have been pre-qualified or pre-approved to do business with the city. The city reserves the right to charge a nominal maintenance fee to those parties that desire to be included on the bidder list to cover the city’ s cost of making and keeping the same.

“Board of public purchases” or “BPP” means the board created by charter responsible to discharge the duties described therein and herein with respect to the city’ s purchasing process, including, but not limited to, hearing and determining appeals taken from decisions made by the purchasing agent, preparing reports of its activities in overseeing the city’ s purchasing practices, establishing purchasing policies, rules and regulations in furtherance of this section, publishing annual purchasing statements, and the like. The official policies, working rules and regulations adopted shall, on their respective effective dates, be published, applicable to and used in the implementation and interpretation of this section, and shall not otherwise be contrary to or in derogation of the rights, duties and responsibilities of city officials, executives and administrators set forth in the charter and ordinances, as the same may be amended from time to time.

“Brand name;” “brand name or equal specification” means a bid specification (a) limited to one or more items according to manufacturer name, product code or catalog number (brand name specification), or (b) providing the information stated in (a) above to describe the standard of quality, performance, and other salient characteristics needed to meet city requirements but allowing for the submission of equivalent products.

“Consolidated purchasing” means a centralized purchasing method whereby the purchasing agent determines annually, based upon the anticipated purchases projected by contracting officers and his/her own experience, that the purchase of items or categories of items in bulk or pursuant to price agreements on a city-wide basis from one or more vendors will result in economies of scale and cost-savings to the city.

“Competitive bidding” or “competitive bid” means the city’ s procedure for obtaining goods or general services in which sealed bids are submitted in response to bid specifications. This process does not permit any negotiation with the apparent winning bidder after the receipt and opening of bids. Competitive bidding may be accomplished as a result of public advertisement or other electronic public notice methods adopted as official policy by the BPP.

“Competitive proposal” means a QBS process used for obtaining special or professional services in which the city solicits a request for proposals based upon qualifications, experience and other specific requirements, together with a request for a price.

“Contract” means any type of written agreement or documented arrangement involving a purchase, regardless of what the evidence of such arrangement may be called or how it may be referred to, which is approved by the contracting officer, contain terms and conditions protecting the city’ s legal interests, is properly funded and, where required by charter or ordinance, has been approved by the city council or its designee; provided, however, that so-called letters of intent, letters of interest, memoranda of agreements, and other examples of latent, potential, unilateral or executory documents or arrangements that otherwise may not be binding upon the city, may become a binding legal obligation of the city only if and to the extent that any such document or arrangement has been approved by the city council or its designee.

“Contracting officer” means any director or deputy of a city department, any president or chief executive of a city agency, board, or commission, including the board of education, the WPCA and any other similar duly-constituted agency of city government as defined by Charter or ordinance, or contained in the city’ s table of organization, including his/her respective designee set forth in writing to the purchasing agent, having direct authority or due authorization to initiate purchases.

“Critical emergency purchase” means a purchase of goods or services that, if not purchased or ordered immediately, can result in injury to human life or significant property damage, or result in consequences detriment to the city’ s best interests. These types of purchases include all requirements needed on an emergency basis (a) to comply with federal, state or local laws or codes, or (b) to avoid complete loss of funds made available by non-city public and private funding sources, or (c) to make emergency repairs of city-owned property, buildings, infrastructure, equipment and vehicles, the need for which or the quantity thereof could not have been reasonably anticipated with proper advance planning. The purchasing agent should use the informal competitive quotation process for critical emergency purchases, if possible, but shall not be limited by the applicable threshold dollar amounts set forth herein due to the emergency nature of the purchase. Last-minute purchases not constituting true emergencies or other emergency purchases that do not comply with this definition may only be approved in accordance with the mayoral bid waiver process set forth herein.

“Decentralized purchase order” means payment, other than through the purchase order process, for a department, agency or commission’ s purchases of items or services of any kind that conform to the official policy of the board of public purchases as to items that may be so purchased and paid for, expenditures that may be made in this manner due to the timing or requirements of a non-city funding or financing source, dollar thresholds, exceptions, prohibitions, and the like, provided, however, that a purchase may be paid by decentralized purchase order for a greater amount than any dollar threshold established for such item or expenditure if the purchase constitutes either a critical emergency purchase, involves a purchase that if not made and paid for in this manner would result in the loss of funding, or constitutes a purchase or expenditure otherwise permitted by Charter or ordinance and is approved in writing by the comptroller.

“General services” means all services that result in a measurable end product as defined by bid specifications, including but not limited to all services used in the process of building, altering, maintaining, improving or demolishing any city-owned property, structure, building or public infrastructure, but excluding architectural, engineering and other design services, and construction services. Examples of general services include, but are not limited to, electrical work, road resurfacing, sewer repair, building demolition, equipment maintenance and waste disposal services.

“Goods” means supplies, material, equipment and articles, whether purchased or leased, including, but not limited to, fuels, furniture, computers, paper products, food products, sand, and high-tech hardware and software, telecommunications equipment and office equipment.

“Informal competitive proposal” means the purchase of special or professional services that are in excess of seven thousand five hundred dollars ($7,500.00) but do not exceed twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000.00) based upon a reasonable and documented attempt to solicit proposals as set forth herein, which process shall not require public advertisement.

“Informal competitive quote” or “informal competitive quotation” means the purchase of goods or general services or the purchase of special or professional services that are in excess of one thousand dollars ($1,000.00) but do not exceed seven thousand four hundred ninety-nine dollars ($7,499.00), which processes shall not require public advertisement.

“Lowest responsible bidder” means the bidder whose bid is (a) a complete response to the invitation to bid and (b) the lowest of those bidders possessing the skill, ability, financial capacity, business integrity and experience necessary for faithful performance of the described work based on objective criteria. Evaluation of lowest responsible bidder shall include best value considerations whether or not such considerations are set forth in the bid documents. Bidders may be excluded from consideration entirely if they are listed on the disqualified vendor list at the time the invitation to bid is the subject of public advertisement or at the time the city otherwise seeks to make a purchase as described herein. In a request for proposals process, a bidder may be chosen as lowest responsible bidder from among those bidders that are pre-qualified or based upon recognized industry standards that the contracting officer responsible for the purchase has certified in writing to the purchasing agent as commercially relevant. The city reserves the right to reject any and all bids and to waive informalities in a bid to the extent that such informalities are not material and do not give one bidder an unfair advantage over other responsive and responsible bidders.

“Mayoral bid waiver” means the mayor’ s authority to grant a written waiver of the requirements for public advertisement, and the need for a competitive bidding or competitive proposal process in connection with critical emergency purchases, after receiving (a) the contracting officer’ s written statement of the need for such waiver with all appropriate backup information, and (b) the purchasing agent’ s written recommendation of the need for such waiver.

“Public advertisement” or “publicly advertised” means the advertisement in one or more media of the city’ s desire to make a purchase expected to cost seven thousand five hundred dollars ($7,500.00) or more placed (a) in a newspaper of general circulation in the Bridgeport area, (b) in other print media designated to encourage a greater number of bids, (c) on the city’ s internet website, (d) on other electronic media available to the general public, or (e) in other media authorized by the BPP; it being understood that certain purchases, such as those made by the informal competitive quote and the informal competitive proposal processes, critical emergency purchases, qualified purchases, and purchases under one thousand dollars ($1,000.00) shall not require public advertisement. The content and location of public advertisements shall be determined as set forth herein or as otherwise authorized by official policy of the BPP. Purchases shall not be deliberately split in amount, artificially staggered over time, or otherwise be the subject of any other artifice designed to avoid the requirement to utilize competitive bidding or other purchasing methods required herein.

“Qualified purchase” means a purchase of goods or services where either there is only one source for such purchase a purchase from a special source will provide a lower cost than would result from competitive bidding, time is critical and the purchase could not have been planned, or the purchase involves items whose prices are controlled by federal or state regulation.

“Quality-based selection” or “QBS selection” means a method for purchasing special or professional services by either initially pre-qualifying bidders prior to obtaining a price proposal or making a final selection without a price proposal. Such process initially requires the submission of professional qualifications, demonstrated business experience, specific project experience, evidence of business integrity, and professional competence. Where qualifications alone are paramount in the selection process and price is not a factor, a final selection is made based on qualifications alone. In other QBS processes where price is not a factor initially in the selection process, or only one of a number of factors to be considered in making a final decision, a final selection is made based upon the submission of price proposals following pre-qualification.

“QBS selection panel” means a group of individuals qualified by knowledge, training and experience in purchases of the type contemplated and having no real or apparent conflict of interest in the outcome of the QBS selection, consisting of at least three city employees selected by the contracting and supplemented where possible by other similarly qualified individuals from the general public having no real or apparent conflict of interest in the outcome of such selection, or otherwise as specified by official policy of the BPP. Such panels shall use uniform, objective selection criteria established in advance for the particular purchase or criteria otherwise specified in writing by the BPP. The QBS selection panel shall make a written report of its selection, the criteria used and its recommendation to the board of public purchases, which shall make the final decision and award.

“Request for proposals” means a form of QBS selection process that includes a request for professional qualifications where such qualifications are important but not paramount, and where price is a paramount factor to be considered in making an award. A request for proposals may follow a request for qualifications from pre-qualified bidders.

“Request for qualifications” means a form of QBS selection that includes a request for professional qualifications where such qualifications are paramount in the selection and price is not a factor.

“Special or professional services” means the furnishing of judgment, expertise, design, advice or effort by persons other than city employees, not involving the delivery of a specific end product defined by bid specifications. These types of services include, but are not limited to, consulting, legal, financial, technical, audit, appraisal, architecture, design, engineering and other similar professional services not contemplated as general services. Such services shall also include unique, warranty or single-source services not generally available for specific city-owned property, equipment, building systems and equipment, and vehicles where the nature of the required services cannot be defined in advance by bid specifications and the professional or proprietary knowledge and expertise of the service provider is paramount to the lowest cost and otherwise in the city’ s best interests.

“Summary bid process” means a competitive bid process described herein that the city may elect to utilize among the selected responsible, qualified bidders for a purchase when all bids exceed any budget appropriation.

B.   Purchase of goods and general services.

1.   Purchases not requiring competitive bidding. Except for items the city requires to be purchased from vendors selected during a consolidated purchasing process, competitive bidding through the purchasing agent is not required for purchases between one dollar ($1.00) and nine hundred ninety-nine dollars ($999.00); provided, however, that purchases shall not be deliberately split in amount, artificially staggered over time or be the subject of any other artifice in order to avoid the requirement to utilize the competitive bidding process, informal competitive quotation process or another purchasing method otherwise required herein. The comptroller and the purchasing agent shall monitor such purchases and report any questionablepractices to the BPP within five days of becoming aware of such practices.

2.   Purchases permitted by informal competitive quotation process. Purchases of goods or general services that are in excess of one thousand dollars ($1,000.00) but less than seven thousand four hundred ninety-nine dollars ($7,499.00), see C.G.S. § 7-148v, as the same may be amended from time to time, shall be based upon authorized pricing methods; provided, however, that purchases shall not be deliberately split in amount, artificially staggered over time, or be the subject of any other artifice in order to avoid the requirement to utilize the competitive bidding process or another purchasing method otherwise required herein. An informal competitive quotation process shall be conducted as follows:

(a)  Price quotations, either oral or written, shall be solicited from at least three vendors or service providers by one or more authorized pricing methods. A valid vendor’ s or service provider’ s documented refusal to quote shall qualify as a quotation. If the process yields less than three responsive and responsible bidders or if it yields only a single, responsive and responsible source for the purchase, a selection shall be made if such selection is in the city’ s best interests under the circumstances. The contracting officer shall promptly document the informal competitive quotation process in writing to the purchasing agent.

(b)  A purchase of goods or general services shall be counted as one purchase for like items. Unlike items, grouped together on one purchase requisition, shall require price notations only for those items on the purchase requisition that are in excess of three thousand dollars ($3,000.00). The determination of like and unlike items shall be based on the commodity codes assigned such items under the then-current city financial system.

(c)  The purchasing agent may waive solicitation of informal competitive quotations for a critical emergency purchase or for any other purchase for which a mayoral bid waiver may be sought as provided herein.

3.   Purchases requiring competitive bidding. Competitive bidding shall be used for all purchases of goods and general services exceeding the sum of seven thousand five hundred dollars ($7,500.00) (See C.G.S. § 7-148v, as amended); provided, however, that purchases shall not be deliberately split in amount, artificially staggered over time, or be the subject of any other artifice in order to avoid the requirement to utilize the competitive bidding process, informal competitive quotation process or another purchasing method otherwise required herein.

4.   Consolidated purchasing.

a.   Commonly used goods, general services, special and professional services. The purchasing agent shall make purchases that are commonly used by several departments, where the total annual purchase for each type of goods or services anticipated to be used by such departments is in excess of twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000.00) per fiscal year in the aggregate, in order to achieve the best price.

b.   Exclusions from consolidated purchasing. The purchasing agent may exclude purchases from the requirements of consolidated purchasing, provided that the contracting officer submits a written request with justification for exclusion from consolidated purchasing and the purchasing agent makes a written determination that:

i.    no significant cost savings; other efficiencies or benefits can be achieved through consolidated purchasing; or

ii.    the unique requirements of such purchase require that such purchase be made separately from consolidated purchasing.

c.   Requirements contracts; price agreements. The purchasing agent may, at his/her discretion, purchase specific items under one procurement by procuring a master requirements contract or a price agreement under which city departments may obtain goods or services directly from the vendor. In selecting such a vendor, the total cost of all goods or services at the expected quantities or dollar values to be purchased shall be used in determining the total cost of the proposal or bid and the selection shall be made on the basis of best value.

d.   Planning for anticipated needs. The purchasing agent shall solicit from the various departments and contracting officers their anticipated requirements for goods and services prior to each fiscal year and, as appropriate, shall invite representatives of various departments to determine specifications for items of goods or services to be obtained using consolidated purchasing for their common needs.

C.  Competitive bidding process.

For each purchase of goods or general services made by competitive bidding, the following shall apply.

1.   All requirements, terms and conditions sought by the city, including quality, delivery terms and vendor or contractor qualifications shall be contained in the bid specifications. For purchases requiring a contract, the contracting officer shall include a draft contract as part of the bid package whenever possible, or other provision shall be made to protect the legal interests of the city. If pre-qualification of bidders is sought prior to bids being accepted or prior to award, the criteria to be met shall also be set forth in the bid documents.

2.   The purchasing agent shall publish a notice inviting sealed competitive bidding at least once by public advertisement. The notice shall, to the extent practicable, be published not less than ten working days before the final date for submitting bids. Said notice shall contain a general description of the goods or general services desired, the place where the bid specifications may be obtained, the day, hour, place and manner for bid opening, and other pertinent information.

3.   The purchasing agent shall, in addition to the public advertisement, solicit and receive sealed bids by approved communication methods from all qualified, responsible bidders on the bidder list, whose goods and services comply with the purchases sought according to the city’ s then-current commodity codes, by sending them copies of the public advertisement promptly after publication. Such communication notices shall be solely for the convenience of suppliers. Any failure to provide or delay in providing any supplier with such notice shall not invalidate the bid process, incur liability to the city or prejudice it in any manner.

4.   The purchasing agent may revise the bidder list(s) by deleting bidders who have not responded to three consecutive bids sent to them, who have not registered or re-registered electronically, or have not otherwise given written notice to the city by an approved communication method of their interest in remaining on such bidding list.

5.   All bids shall be submitted sealed, to the extent that the purchasing method used permits sealing, to the purchasing agent and shall be accompanied by bid security in the form of certified check, credit card authorization, or bond in the amount stated in the public advertisement or bid documents. A bid is non-responsive unless such security is received prior to bid opening. Each bidder is solely responsible for submitting all bid requirements in strict compliance with the public advertisement. The bids shall be opened in public at the time and place stated. Any bid received after the time specified, in any other manner than required, or at any other location than specified in the public advertisement shall be deemed non-responsive, shall be rejected, and shall be returned, unopened where the method used may allow, to the bidder.

6.   For each purchase made by competitive bidding, a record of all bids submitted, giving the names of the bidders and amounts of the bids and indicating the successful bidder, together with the originals of all competitive bids and any other pertinent documents, shall be preserved by the purchasing agent in accordance with state law or the city’ s record retention practices, whichever shall be longer in duration.

7.   The purchase shall be awarded to the lowest responsive, responsible, and qualified bidder or pre-qualified bidder who meets the requirements, terms and conditions contained in the bid specifications and represents the best value to the city. In the case of a purchase by competitive bidding where the public advertisement indicates that bidders will be pre-qualified, the purchasing agent has the authority to make an award exclusively from the list of pre-qualified bidders.

8.   In the event all bids submitted by responsive, responsible and qualified bidders exceed the city’ s budget for such purchase, after deduction of all reasonably anticipated contingencies, at the request of the contracting officer, the purchasing agent shall conduct a summary bid process open only to such responsible, qualified bidders that originally submitted a bid. Such summary bid process may include a post-bid conference, shall permit resubmission of such original bids or the submission of new bids in not less than three days from the mailing of notice to the original bidders, and may provide for the deletion or modification of one or more alternates or change in the specifications provided in the original bid package, as determined by the contracting officer.

D.  Awarding of contracts that contain alternates.

1.   All bid specifications for a purchase for which alternates are to be included shall have the alternates listed in their order of priority, provided, however, that the contracting officer may change the priority of such alternates during a summary bid process.

2.   Prior to making an award for which the bid specifications list alternates to be included, the contracting officer shall inform the purchasing agent as to which alternates are to be included in the award.

E.   Purchasing special or professional services.

1.   Purchases permitted by consolidated purchasing. Purchases of special or professional services anticipated to cost less than twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000.00) per fiscal year may be procured through consolidated purchasing as provided herein.

2.   Purchases exempt from competitive bidding. Purchases of special or professional services anticipated to cost between one dollar ($1.00) and nine hundred ninety-nine dollars ($999.00) shall be made in the manner specified in paragraph B(1) hereof.

3.   Purchases permitted by informal competitive quotation process. Purchases of special and professional services anticipated to cost between one thousand dollars ($1,000.00) and seven thousand four hundred ninety-nine dollars ($7,499.00) shall be made in the manner specified in paragraph B(2) hereof.

4.   Purchases requiring an informal competitive proposal process. Purchases of special or professional services that are in excess of seven thousand five hundred dollars ($7,500.00) but do not exceed twenty-four thousand nine hundred ninety-nine dollars ($24,999.00) shall be based upon a reasonable and documented attempt to solicit proposals, without the need for public advertising, in the following manner:

a.   Proposals shall be solicited from at least three qualified or pre-qualified vendors. An otherwise qualified vendor’ s refusal to submit a proposal shall qualify as the solicitation of a proposal. The contracting officer shall document the process in writing and submit a report to the purchasing agent. If a single reasonable source exists for the service, the contracting officer shall include this information in his/her submission to the purchasing agent.

b.   The solicitation of proposals may be waived for any critical emergency purchase by obtaining a mayoral bid waiver. A waiver other than a mayoral bid waiver shall require the contracting officer to certify in writing to the purchasing agent the need for a waiver, and the purchasing agent shall determine if such waiver is appropriate. No further approval shall be required. If the purchasing agent is not requested to give such waiver or refuses to approve such waiver, a mayoral bid waiver may be sought. All said waivers shall be included in the purchasing agent’ s quarterly report to the BPP.

5.   Purchases requiring a QBS selection process. In cases where the contracting officer intends to purchase special or professional services that are anticipated to exceed twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000.00), a QBS selection process shall be used for such purchase.

F.   Quality-based selection processes: pre-qualification process; competitive proposal process; competitive qualification process followed by competitive proposal process.

1.   Solicitation of proposals using quality-based selection.

a.   Quality-based selection as a pre-qualification process.

i.    A QBS selection process may be utilized to pre-qualify bidders for the purchase of special or professional services in an amount greater than twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000.00), where the contracting officer determines that such services are unique or that the nature of the project requires selection criteria primarily influenced by the bidder’ s knowledge and experience in similar or related projects. The contracting officer’ s recommendation to conduct such a pre-qualification process shall be set forth in writing and submitted to the purchasing agent for approval. A QBS selection panel shall be formed by the contracting officer or otherwise in accordance with official policy of the BPP.

ii.    Public advertisement of the QBS selection process, whether or not such process is used for pre-qualification of bidders or final selection, shall be deemed satisfied for such purchase.

iii.   The contracting officer shall prepare the public advertisement containing necessary and desirable information for those who might respond to a QBS selection process and the criteria to be used for selection. A QBS selection panel shall be formed to evaluate the responses, determine the qualified respondents and proceed to make a selection and/or to submit a request for proposals to such respondents.

iv.   The QBS selection panel shall review all qualifications submitted and shall, where necessary and practical, interview not less than three proposers (or such lesser number as shall have submitted qualifications so long as the purposes of competitive procurement meeting the best interests of the city is achieved). The QBS selection panel shall evaluate the responses, identify the qualified or pre-qualified proposers, and proceed to submit a request for proposals to the highest-ranking pre-qualified proposers and thereafter make a selection recommendation to the BPP. The QBS selection panel shall make a written report of its selection, the criteria used and its recommendation to the board of public purchases, which shall make the final decision and award. The use of such QBS processes shall be included in the purchasing agent’ s quarterly report to the BPP.

v.   The city reserves the right to refuse to award or approve a contract with, or purchase from, a bidder as a result of prior facts and circumstances that resulted in increased costs, additional risks or liabilities, or other damage harmful to the best interests of the city reasons, including, but not limited to the following:

(a)  the bidder having defaulted on a previous contract and failed to cure such default, resulting in termination of the contract;

(b)  the bidder having failed, without acceptable justification, to complete a contract within the contract time;

(c)  the bidder having completed the material terms of a contract, neglecting or refusing to close out the contract by delivering all required documentation, training, warranties, manuals and the like, failing to complete punchlist or warrantly work in a timely manner as required by the contract; or

(d)  the bidder having made misleading or false statements, representations or warranties concerning its financial stability, personnel, qualifications, experience, capitalization, performance record, absence of conflicts.

b.   Quality-based selection as a final selection process. A QBS selection process may be utilized in the purchase of special or professional services without seeking price proposals when the contracting officer determines that such services are unique or that the nature of the project requires selection criteria where the knowledge and experience of a bidder in similar or related projects are paramount, and the best interests of the city will be served by the use of such process without considering price as a determining factor in selection. The contracting officer shall then negotiate a proposed contract with the selected bidder with the assistance of the office of the city attorney, at compensation determined by the contracting officer to be fair and reasonable to the city, considering the estimated value, scope, complexity and professional nature of the services to be rendered. Such selection shall be conducted, documented and recommended to the BPP for approval in the same manner as described above for a quality-based selection as a pre-qualification process, together with the proposed contract. The contract price shall be determined in the following manner:

i.    After selection, the contracting officer shall then enter into negotiation of a contract, preferably on a form included with the bid documents, with the selected vendor with the assistance of the office of the city attorney, using a formula for compensation determined by the contracting officer to be fair and reasonable to the city, considering the scope of the work, the delivery or completion requirements, the complexity and specialized nature of the services to be rendered, and other relevant factors. Such formulas may include, but are not limited to, time and materials with or without a not-to-exceed price, cost of the work plus a fee, lump sum, guaranteed maximum price, and the like. The contracting officer’ s rationale for selection of a compensation formula shall be made in writing to the purchasing agent prior to entering into negotiations; or

ii.    Should the contracting officer be unable to negotiate a satisfactory contract with the selected vendor, negotiations shall be terminated in writing; or

iii.   The contracting officer shall then enter into negotiations with the next most qualified firm identified in the selection process and still interested in the project. Should the contracting officer be unable to negotiate a satisfactory contract with such vendor, negotiations shall be terminated in writing and shall proceed to negotiate with the next most qualified firm, and so on; or

iv.   The city reserves the right to refuse to award or approve a contract with or purchase from a bidder for the same reasons as set forth in Section F above.

c.   Reports. For each purchase of services by QBS selection process, the contracting officer or QBS selection committee, as the case may be, shall make a written report of all such purchases to the BPP, the city council, the mayor, the office of policy and management, and the finance department. The purchasing agent shall make a record of all proposals submitted, giving the names of the proposers, indicating the successful proposer, clearly stating the basis for the selection made, the basis for the award made by the BPP, including the originals of all proposals and any other documents pertaining to the selection process, and shall keep the same in accordance with the city’ s records retention policy.

2.   Requests for proposals.

Except as otherwise authorized in this section, for each purchase of special or professional services in excess of twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000.00) where professional qualifications and experience are important but where price is the paramount factor to be considered in making a selection, such purchase shall be made by competitive proposal process, as follows:

a.   Preparation of the request for proposals. The contracting officer shall prepare a request for proposals. All requirements, terms and conditions, including bidder qualifications, desired by the city shall be included in the request for proposals. Whenever possible, a draft contract shall be made a part of the request for proposals or other bid documents. The purchasing agent shall assist in the preparation if needed. For purchases that require an additional funding appropriation, the request for proposals shall clearly state that the award of a contract is contingent upon the appropriation of funds.

b.   Solicitation of proposals.

i.    The purchasing agent shall, in cases where such proposed purchase is not preceded by a QBS pre-qualification process, by public advertisement make notice of the request for proposals at least once within ten working days prior to the deadline to submit proposals, unless the contracting officer determines that a shorter response time is required. Whenever the service requested is so specialized that few appropriate bidders can reasonably be expected to respond to said notice, public advertisement shall also be made in other media appropriate to the nature of the service requested and calculated to result in a greater number of proposals.

ii.    The purchasing agent shall, in addition to the public advertisement, solicit competitive bids from all qualified, responsible bidders on the bidder list, whose goods and services comply with the purchases sought according to the city’ s then-current commodity codes, by sending them copies of the public advertisement promptly after publication. Such mailings shall be solely for the convenience of suppliers. Any failure to provide or delay in providing any supplier with such notice shall not invalidate the bid process, incur liability to the city or prejudice it in any manner.

iii.   The proposal process may be waived for any critical emergency purchases or for any other reasons contained in this section and in the manner provided herein.

c.   Evaluation of proposals.

i.    The purchasing agent, with the assistance of the contracting officer, if any, shall evaluate all proposals based upon the criteria and requirements stated in the request for proposals, or otherwise in accordance with BPP official policy. For purchases exceeding one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000.00) the QBS selection panel shall, if possible and practical, conduct personal interviews with the most qualified bidders.

ii.    A QBS selection panel shall be formed to review the proposals and make a selection according to pre-established selection criteria and a price proposal. Such selection shall be conducted, documented and recommended to the BPP for approval in the same manner as described above for a quality-based selection as a final selection process. The use of requests for proposal shall be included in the purchasing agent’ s quarterly report to the BPP.

iii.   The contracting officer or QBS selection panel, as the case may be, shall not accept as responsive or review any proposal received that is not in strict compliance with this section.

iv.   The contracting officer or QBS selection panel, as the case may be, shall select the proposer whose proposal is deemed to best provide the services desired, taking into account the requirements, terms and conditions contained in the request for proposals and the criteria for evaluating proposals and make a recommendation to the BPP, which shall make the final award.

v.   For each purchase of services by competitive proposal, the contracting officer or QBS selection panel, as the case may be, shall make a written record of all proposals submitted, giving the names of the proposers, indicating the successful proposer, clearly stating the basis for the selection made, and including the originals of all proposals and any other documents pertaining to the selection process, and shall submit the same to the purchasing agent for keeping in accordance with the city’ s records retention policy.

3.   Request for qualifications process followed by request for proposals process. A QBS selection process may be utilized to pre-qualify bidders for the purchase of special or professional services in an amount greater than twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000.00), where the contracting officer determines that such services are unique or that the nature of the project requires selection criteria primarily influenced by the bidder’ s knowledge and experience in similar or related projects but that price is also an important factor in making a selection. The contracting officer’ s recommendation to conduct a request for qualifications process followed by a request for proposals process with pre-qualified bidders shall be set forth in writing and submitted to the purchasing agent for approval. A QBS selection panel shall be formed and shall attempt to select a minimum of three qualified bidders to receive a request for proposals. The QBS selection panel shall make a written report of its selection following review of responses to the request for proposals, the criteria used and its recommendation to the board of public purchases, which shall make the final decision and award. The use of such pre-qualification process followed by a proposal process shall be included in the purchasing agent’ s quarterly report to the BPP.

G.  Waiver of competitive processes in critical emergencies.

1.   Waiver of competitive bidding for critical emergency purchases.

a.   The contracting officer shall set forth in writing to the purchasing agent the reasons why public advertising and competitive bidding or other competitive process otherwise required by this section should be waived. Critical emergency purchases shall be limited to those purchases reasonably necessary, and only for such duration, as may be required to meet the emergency circumstances described. The purchasing agent shall initially determine whether a critical emergency purchase is appropriate and, if so, shall make a written recommendation to the mayor to grant such a waiver. The mayor shall consider the matter and issue a mayoral bid waiver if appropriate, or in his/her absence the council president shall consider and decide such matter, before any critical emergency purchase may be made.

b.   After the issuance of any mayoral bid waiver, the purchasing agent shall inform the contracting officer, who shall submit written certification of the selection of the particular vendor or vendors and other pertinent details within five working days after such purchase to the mayor, the city council, the director of finance, the director of the office of policy and management, and the BPP. Such purchases shall be included in the purchasing agent’ s quarterly report to the BPP.

2.   Waiver of competitive bidding for qualified purchases.

a.   Purchases other than critical emergency purchases may be made without competitive bidding or other competitive processes otherwise required by this section for the following reasons:

i.    Only one qualified or available vendor or sole source can be identified through reasonable efforts, for example, where only one vendor is authorized or certified to do such work, where parts are available only through a single dealer or distributor, or where the work is proprietary or relates to products that are proprietary and cannot be substituted without adverse effects or complications.

ii.    Purchase from a special source, including but not limited to a sale, purchasing plan, government discount or trade-in allowance, will provide a lower cost than that which would result from a competitive process.

iii.   Time is a critical factor and such purchase could not have been previously anticipated through proper advance planning.

iv.   The purchase involves items the prices of which are federal or state regulated.

b.   The purchasing agent shall make written certification of the reasons for the waiver of competitive bidding or public advertisement, the reasons for the selection of the particular vendor or vendors, and other pertinent details within five working days after such purchase to the mayor, the city council, the director of finance, the director of the office of policy and management, and the BPP. Such purchases shall be included in the purchasing agent’ s quarterly report to the BPP.

H.  Duties of the purchasing agent; contracting officers; board of public purchases.

1.   Purchasing agent. The purchasing agent has the primary responsibility for working with contracting officers concerning the content of public advertisements and the general content of all bid specifications and specific city requirements, issuance of public advertisements for all competitive bids and QBS selection processes for goods, general services, or special or professional services, and such other responsibilities set forth in the charter or ordinances or established by the BPP. The purchasing agent is responsible for reporting all material exceptions, deviations from or violations of this section to the mayor, the city council, the director of finance, the office of policy and management and the BPP within fourteen (14) days of learning of such matter.

2.   Contracting officer. The contracting officer, directly or through his/her designee, has primary responsibility for protecting the legal interests of the city by ensuring that, with the advice of the city attorney, the city’ s legal rights and remedies are protected in connection with such purchase. The contracting officer also has the primary responsibility to develop the technical requirements and other project-specific needs for inclusion in the bid documents, to disclose the selection process and criteria to be used, to specify the legal requirements for the contractual relationship with the bidder including, wherever possible, the form of contract to be entered into, and the like. The contracting officer is further responsible to ensure that he/she has authority to make the subject purchase, the resulting contract has received all city approvals required and, upon the execution of any contract, original executed documents or true and complete copies are distributed promptly to the finance department and the city attorney. It is also the primary responsibility of the contracting officer or his/her designee to attend to the details of the purchase and the administration of the relationship with the selected vendor over time, including but not limited to ensuring that: the contract is adhered to; problems, disputes, events of default and the like are properly documented and promptly brought to the attention of the city attorney for advice or action; all insurance policies and security (e.g., cash deposits, bonds, letters of credit, guarantees) remain current, up-to-date and in place for the city’ s benefit; and the contract documentation and close-out thereof, including where appropriate, obtaining all lien waivers and final releases, guarantees, operating and service manuals, employee training, etc., is completed.

3.   Board of public purchases. The BPP shall be familiar with purchasing department operations and other city operations involved in the purchasing process, and shall perform the responsibilities assigned to it in the Charter, ordinances and this section. Such responsibilities include, but are not limited to, hearing appeals from decisions of the purchasing agent, handling bid protests, reviewing appeals from decisions regarding vendor disqualification, establishing official purchasing policies, working rules and regulations, evaluating periodic reports from the purchasing agent, taking appropriate action where required, and otherwise ensuring that the purchasing process operates as intended. The BPP shall circulate any proposed official policy, working rule or regulation for review and comment to the purchasing agent, the mayor, the city council, the department of finance, the office of policy and management, and the city attorney thirty (30) days in advance of its intent to adopt, and shall not vote to adopt such proposal until it has received and considered comments during such thirty (30) day period.

I.    Contract requirements.

1.   Contract required. A written contract between the city and a bidder is required for any purchase that exceeds twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000.00). Such requirement may be satisfied with a contract form included in the bid documents and executed by the parties, a contract negotiated and executed by the parties after award, or by the standard terms set forth on the city’ s purchase order form acceptable to the office of the city attorney, as the same may be amended from time to time. Except for purchases where the contract is contained on the purchase order, any other contract shall be reviewed and approved as acceptable by the office of the city attorney, by the city’ s risk manager where insurance, indemnification, guarantees, bonds or other security is required, and by other appropriate city departments, and such contract shall be signed by the mayor or other designee in the manner authorized by the city council, provided, however, that, with respect to contracts resulting from a competitive bidding process, the purchasing agent is authorized to execute such contracts in consultation with the office of the city attorney. Purchases for amounts less than seven thousand five hundred dollars ($7,500.00) shall be governed by the terms of the purchase order acceptable to the office of the city attorney.

2.   Contract approval; material modifications. All contracts for purchases that exceed twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000.00) shall require city council approval and shall be signed by the mayor or the contracting officer, with the following exceptions:

a.   In cases where this section allows the terms of the contract to be contained on the purchase order, which does not require the execution of additional contract document;

b.   In cases where this section authorizes the purchasing agent to sign all contracts that result from the competitive bidding process;

c.   In cases involving consolidated purchasing, the purchasing agent is authorized to sign all contracts that result;

d.   In cases where a critical emergency purchase is authorized, the mayor or his designee is authorized to sign all contracts that result; and

e.   In cases where a qualified purchase is authorized, the mayor or his designee is authorized to sign all contracts that result.

If material modifications in the scope, time or price of the contract are desired after signing, except in the case of a construction contract or other contract that provides by its terms for the submission, consideration, rejection or approval of changes in scope, time or price, which changes are of the type that were not anticipated at the time of bid and result from unforeseen conditions, changes in law, latent defects in bid specifications and similar changed circumstances, such material modifications shall require written approval by and signature of the mayor in consultation with the director of finance, the director of the office of policy and management, and the office of the city attorney, unless the BPP has adopted an official policy governing the procedure for dealing with material changes.

3.   Contract extensions.

a.   The contract time for performance in contracts having an original value of greater than one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000.00) that resulted from a QBS selection process, critical emergency purchase or qualified purchase may not be extended unless the contracting officer certifies in writing to the purchasing agent the necessity of such extension and that no significant additional cost to the city will result. If the purchasing agent approves such request, such extension may not exceed six months, except for construction contracts where the contract contains provisions for changes in schedule, including suspension of work, which shall govern the duration of any such extension.

b.   Any purchase that results from competitive bidding or competitive proposal processes may be extended beyond the contract time period for up to one additional year from the date of award without additional bidding for one or more of the following reasons:

i.    The vendor is the sole qualified or available provider. This shall include sole source or proprietary service/maintenance contracts for existing equipment and vehicles.

ii.    Additional competitive bidding or requests for proposals would result in an increase in cost or significant disruption of city operations. Employee benefits contracts with third-party providers and administrators are included in this category.

iii.   City services would have to be discontinued in the absence of another vendor. There shall be a six-month limit on the contract extension.

iv.   An option to extend the contract term is included in the bid documents or the contract.

c.   The contracting officer is responsible to give written notice to the purchasing agent of such extensions, the purchasing agent shall keep a record of every contract extension, and shall include such extensions in his/her quarterly report to the BPP.

4.   Additional purchases from a vendor prohibited. The city shall not purchase any item of goods or services from a vendor that was not of the type or closely related to the goods or services described in the bid documents or the contract.

J.    City right to set-off delinquent property taxes owed.

1.   Right of set-off. Pursuant to C.G.S. § 12-146b, as amended, the city has the right to set-off against any payment due to a vendor or to withhold payment from any vendor if any taxes levied by the city against any vendor or its property, both real and personal, are delinquent, provided, however, that no such amount withheld shall exceed the amount of tax, plus penalties, lien fees and interest outstanding at the time such set-off or withholding of payment occurs. Any vendor that has either been selected by competitive bidding process, has signed a contract or has obtained a purchase order hereby authorizes the city to execute such set-off or to withhold such payment from amounts otherwise due to the vendor.

2.   Authority to set-off. Upon the tax collector’ s issuance of any delinquent tax list, the contracting officer or the comptroller shall have the authority to set-off against any payment due to a vendor or to withhold payment to such vendor the amount of any delinquent taxes due, together with penalties, lien fees and interest outstanding.

K.  Purchases through state and federal bid lists, cooperative agreements between municipalities and the like.

1.   Use of other bid lists. Procurements obtained by competitive bidding conducted by the State of Connecticut, by the Connecticut Hospital Association or its affiliates, by the federal General Services Administration, or through cooperative associations or agreements between and among municipalities may be utilized when the purchasing agent determines, in writing to the BPP, that utilization of such procurements would be in the best interests of the city; provided, however, that either the purchasing agent shall issue guidelines for the proper utilization of such procurements or the BPP shall adopt an official policy for the proper utilization of such purchases. The purchasing agent shall be responsible for the proper utilization of such other bid lists and cooperative agreements and shall take proper precautions to prevent misuse as he/she may deem to be in the best interests of the city.

L.   Exemptions from this section.

The sale or purchase of public utilities, as defined under Connecticut law, are not subject to the provisions of this section, however, any provider of a public utility that seeks to do business with the city must meet the threshold requirements of a responsive and responsible bidder under this section.

M.  Reports to be prepared by the purchasing agent.

1.   Quarterly reports. The purchasing agent shall prepare a written quarterly report within thirty (30) days after the close of each calendar quarter ending in the months of September, December, March and June in a fiscal year, and shall submit the same to the BPP, with copies to the mayor, the city council, the department of finance, and the office of policy and management. Said reports shall contain information about the following activities:

a.   Purchases made by the competitive bidding process;

b.   Purchases made by the competitive proposal process;

c.   Waivers granted from competitive bidding or competitive proposal processes, including critical emergency purchases, mayoral bid waivers issued and qualified purchases;

d.   Waivers granted from informal bid and proposal processes;

e.   Contracts granted material extensions of scope, time or price;

f.    Contracts granted material modifications of terms and conditions;

g.   Purchases made through federal or state bid lists or through cooperative purchasing arrangements with associations or other municipalities;

h.   Violations or suspected violations of this section; and

i.    Other activities required to be reported to the BPP herein.

2.   Annual list of purchases. A list of all purchases made by the purchasing agent shall be filed annually with the city clerk. Said list shall include the name, address, disadvantaged or minority business status of the vendor, the department, board, or commission making such purchase, the types of goods or services purchased and the total price paid by the city.

N.  Audit.

The city’ s internal auditors shall conduct an audit of purchasing activities every three years or as otherwise directed by the BPP. Notwithstanding this requirement, the department of finance, office of policy and management or the mayor may request an independent auditor to perform an audit of city purchases.

O.  Violations and penalties.

Any deliberate, willful attempt to violate or circumvent the purchasing process established by this section shall be a violation of the city’ s code of ethics, as the same may be amended from time to time, and shall be dealt with as appropriate by the ethics commission. Any decision by the ethics commission shall not prohibit the city from pursuing its other legal rights and remedies in connection with such violations.

P.   Purchases requiring use of other procedures.

Notwithstanding the provisions of this section, with regard to any purchase that is funded in whole or in part by federal or state grant funding or other assistance where the city is the applicant or directly or indirectly benefits therefrom, or as a condition of such funding or assistance the city is required to follow the grantor’ s procurement rules and regulations, such other procurement rules and regulations shall be followed in lieu of the purchasing processes described in this section.

Q.  Records retention. All records of purchases made and related activities shall be retained in accordance with state of Connecticut guidelines for retention of public records.

R.   Mandated contract terms incorporated by reference. All terms required by law to be inserted in a contract for particular purchases or purchases in general, including but not limited to equal employment opportunities, affirmative action goals, and the like, shall be deemed to be incorporated by reference into any contract described in this section as if fully such terms are set forth therein. (Ord. dated 6/16/03)