Okaloosa County BOCC — July 6, 2016 — Revisions — reading text

 APPENDIX D ADDITIONAL FTA PROVISIONS, CERTIFICATIONS, FORMS & CHECKLIST Procedures for Ensuring Most Efficient and Economic Purchase (Including Lease vs Purchase analysis) FTA C4220.1F, IV, 1. Procedures address efficient/economic purchases, but not requirement for "lease vs purchase' analysis. 1. DETERMINING THE RECIPIENT’S NEEDS. To support a third party contract with Federal assistance awarded by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), the Common Grant Rules require the recipient to adopt adequate procedures for determining the type and amount of property and services it needs to acquire: a. Eligibility. The property and services to be acquired must be eligible under the Federal law authorizing the FTA assistance award and any regulations thereunder. For example, FTA prohibits the use of capital assistance for the recipient’s operations expenses. If FTA assistance will be used to finance the cost of property or services, the property or services must be within the scope of the specific project from which that FTA assistance will be derived. b. Necessity. The Common Grant Rules requires the recipient to establish procedures to avoid the purchase of unnecessary property and services (including duplicative items and quantities or options it does not intend to use or whose use is unlikely). In monitoring whether a recipient has complied with its procedures to determine what property or services are unnecessary, FTA bases its determinations on what would have been a recipient’s reasonable expectations at the time the recipient entered into the contract. (1) Unnecessary Reserves. FTA expects the recipient to limit the acquisition of federally assisted property and services to the amount it needs to support its public transportation system. In particular, FTA seeks information about the recipient’s fleet to ensure that the recipient does not acquire more vehicles than it needs for public transportation service in its service area. Further guidance on spare ratios is contained in the most recent versions of FTA Circular 5010.1 providing Grant Management guidance, FTA Circular 9030.1 providing Urbanized Area Formula Program guidance, and FTA Circular 9300.1 providing Capital Investment Program guidance. (2) Acquisition for Assignment Purposes. The recipient may contract only for its current and reasonably expected public transportation needs and may not add quantities or options to third party contracts solely to permit assignment to another party at a later date. These limits on assignments, however, do not preclude joint procurements that are entered into simultaneously by two or more parties to obtain advantages unavailable for small procurements.  (a) General Prohibition. The recipient may contract only for its current and reasonably expected public transportation needs, and may not add quantities or options to third party contracts solely to permit assignment to another party at a later date. (b) Changes in the Recipient’s Needs. FTA recognizes that the quantity of property or services a recipient reasonably believes it may need at the time of contract award may change. A recipient’s later needs might decrease due to changed circumstances or honest mistakes. In those situations, the recipient may assign its unneeded contract authority to another entity that would like to acquire the property or services. (c) Exceptions. These limits on assignments, however, do not preclude: 1 Joint Procurements. Two or more recipients may enter into a single procurement at the same time to obtain advantages unavailable for smaller procurements, as discussed more fully in Chapter V, section 3 of this circular. 2 State or Local Government Purchasing Schedules or Purchasing Contracts. A State or local government may enter into contracts that support its purchasing schedules or purchasing contracts established as discussed more fully in Chapter V, section 4 of this circular. c. Procurement Size. The recipient should consider whether to consolidate or break out the procurement to obtain a more economical purchase. (1) Joint Procurements. It may be economically advantageous for a recipient to enter into a joint procurement with others that have similar needs. The recipient responsible for undertaking the joint procurement may, upon contract award, assign to the other participants responsibilities for administering those parts of the contract affecting their property or services. Participation in a joint procurement, however, does not relieve any participating recipient from the requirements and responsibilities it would have if it were procuring the property or services itself, and does not relinquish responsibility for the actions of other participants merely because the primary administrative responsibility for a particular action resides in an entity other than in itself. (2) Small Procurements. In other circumstances, breaking out procurements may provide greater opportunities for Disadvantaged Business Enterprises (DBEs), small and minority firms, and women’s business enterprises to participate. As stated in paragraph 1.b(2) of this Chapter, the FTA expects the recipient to ensure that it contracts only for its current and reasonably expected needs. Absent efforts to foster greater opportunities for DBEs, small and minority firms, and women’s business enterprises, the recipient should not split a large procurement merely to gain the advantages of small purchase available for federally assisted procurements of $100,000 or less identified in 41 U.S.C. Section 403(11).  d. Options. The recipient’s contracts may include options to ensure the future availability of property or services, so long as the recipient is able to justify those options as needed for its public transportation or project purposes. An option is a unilateral right in a contract by which, for a specified time, a recipient may acquire additional equipment, supplies, or services than originally procured. An option may also extend the term of the contract. Chapter VI of this circular contains procedures for evaluating options. e. Lease versus Purchase. To obtain the best value, the recipient should review lease versus purchase alternatives for acquiring property and, if necessary, should obtain an analysis to determine the more economical alternative. The recipient may use FTA capital assistance to finance the costs of leasing eligible property if leasing is more cost effective than full ownership. Before the recipient may lease an asset, FTA regulations, “Capital Leases,” 49 CFR Part 639, Subpart C, require the recipient to make a written comparison of the cost of leasing the asset compared with the cost of purchasing or constructing the asset. Costs used in the comparison must be reasonable, based on realistic current market conditions, and based on the expected useful service life of the asset. Responsiveness [Sealed Bid] FTA C4220.1F, VI, 3.c.(2)(f) (a) Fixed Price Contract. A firm fixed price contract is usually awarded in writing to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder, but a fixed price incentive contract or inclusion of an economic price adjustment provision can sometimes be appropriate. When specified in the bidding documents, factors such as transportation costs and life cycle costs affect the determination of the lowest bid; payment discounts are used to determine the low bid only when prior experience indicates that such discounts are typically taken. Out of Scope Changes FTA C4220.1F, VI, 3.i.(1)(b) Sole Source. When the recipient requires supplies or services available from only one responsible source, and no other supplies or services will satisfy its requirements, the recipient may make a sole source award. When the recipient requires an existing contractor to make a change to its contract that is beyond the scope of that contract, the recipient has made a sole source award that must be justified. 1. Unique Capability or Availability. The property or services are available from one source if one of the conditions described below is present: a. Unique or Innovative Concept. The offeror demonstrates a unique or innovative concept or capability not available from another source. Unique or innovative concept means a new, novel, or changed concept, approach, or method that is the product of original thinking, the details of which are kept confidential or are patented or copyrighted, and is available to the recipient only from one source and has not in the past been available to the recipient from another source. b. Patents or Restricted Data Rights. Patent or data rights restrictions preclude competition. c. Substantial Duplication Costs. In the case of a follow-on contract for the continued development or production of highly specialized equipment and major components thereof, when it is likely that award to another contractor would result in substantial duplication of costs that are not expected to be recovered through competition. d. Unacceptable Delay. In the case of a follow-on contract for the continued development or production of a highly specialized equipment and major components thereof, when it is likely that award to another contractor would result in unacceptable delays in fulfilling the recipient’s needs. 2. Single Bid or Single Proposal. Upon receiving a single bid or single proposal in response to a solicitation, the recipient should determine if competition was adequate. This should include a review of the specifications for undue restrictiveness and might include a survey of potential sources that chose not to submit a bid or proposal. a. Adequate Competition. FTA acknowledges competition to be adequate when the reasons for few responses were caused by conditions beyond the recipient’s control. Many unrelated factors beyond the recipient’s control might cause potential sources not to submit a bid or proposal. If the competition can be determined adequate, FTA’s competition requirements will be fulfilled, and the procurement will qualify as a valid competitive award. b. Inadequate Competition. FTA acknowledges competition to be inadequate when, caused by conditions within the recipient’s control. For example, if the specifications used were within the recipient’s control and those specifications were unduly restrictive, competition will be inadequate. Veteran's Preference FTA C4220.1F, IV, 2.c.(1)(c) Veterans Employment. Recipients and subrecipients of Federal financial assistance under this chapter shall ensure that contractors working on a capital project funded using such assistance give a hiring preference, to the extent practicable, to veterans (as defined in section 2108 of title 5) who have the requisite skills and abilities to perform the construction work required under the contract. This subsection shall not be understood, construed or enforced in any manner that would require an employer to give preference to any veteran over any equally qualified applicant who is a member of any racial or ethnic minority, female, an individual with a disability, or former employee. SAM/EPLS (Debarment/Suspension) FTA C4220.1F, IV, 2. a.(2)(b) General Services Administration (GSA) Excluded