Okaloosa County BOCC — April 27, 2013 — Okaloosa County Purchasing Manual-5 — reading text

determine if action to remove the vendor from the bid and quotation list is warranted. e. All follow-up action shall be documented in detail. L. PURCHASING SPECIFICATIONS 1. Specifications: An accurate description of materials or services to be purchased. a. As quality and service are as important as price, the Purchasing Department must be furnished with specifications that will fulfill, but not exceed, the requirements for which the materials and/or services are intended. b. In considering and developing specifications, be mindful that expenditures derived from public source and administered by public bodies cannot be expected to provide for “deluxe” or luxurious levels of quality. It is, therefore, necessary to follow a general policy toward the purchasing of good, standard grades of merchandise that represents an optimum relationship between quality and price, at all times consistent with providing a satisfactory level of service. c. Bids and quotations must be based upon adequate specifications. A lengthy specification composed or designed solely for the purpose of eliminating competition other than those able to supply a particular brand name commodity shall be prohibited. Actual brand name or common description should be used only when no other of its kind would be equally satisfactory. Specifications should be detailed so as to afford a basis for full and fair competitive bidding upon a 27  common standard, and shall be free from restrictions that would stifle competition. d. Detailed lengthy specifications should be faxed or e-mailed directly to the Buyer handling the order. e. If contract is funded by a grant, the bid documents and contract may be subject to prior approval by the granting agency. 2. Responsibilities: The responsibility for purchase rests with the Purchasing Department and, therefore, a joint responsibility is shared with the requesting department for the specifications. Should modification or alteration to a specification to provide for competitive bidding be required, the Purchasing Director shall communicate such intent to the requesting department. Such communication shall include particularity as to why a change in specifications is desired and the extent and nature of such changes. M. BID INVITATION 1. Formal bid invitations are used when the County is capable of specifically defining the scope of work which a contractual service is required or when the County is capable of establishing precise specifications defining the actual commodity or group of commodities required. a. Except in the case of an emergency, as defined in section 1.m. below, orders in excess of $50,000.00 shall be procured through bid invitations. b. The Purchasing Department shall maintain a list of approved vendors. Such list shall include a description of the vendor’s commodities, general price information, vendor contact information, MBE, DBE and WBE business status. c. Approved vendors shall be furnished a bid invitation that will indicate all pertinent information necessary to submit an accurate formal bid. It shall indicate the deadline for submitting sealed bids and the time and place for the pre-bid conference and the bid opening. d. The Purchasing Department may hold pre-bid conferences prior to bid openings. The Purchasing Director, representatives from the requesting department and the vendors interested in submitting a bid shall attend these conferences. The purpose of these conferences is to gain a common understanding of the bid specifications and to gain feedback from the private sector (vendors) concerning the specifications. e. At least 14 days prior to the date for opening the sealed bids, a notice shall be published in a local newspaper(s) announcing the bid invitation to provide all interested vendors, not on file in the Purchasing Department, the opportunity to submit a bid. f. On the time and date specified, the sealed bids shall be opened and recorded. The specifications shall be checked for accuracy and, where applicable, samples may be requested for testing. Tabulations shall be made available for review. g. The Tabulating Committee, consisting of the Purchasing Director and the Department Director involved, shall review the bids and recommend to the Board 28  the recommended vendor(s) on a basis of the lowest and best bid meeting specifications. h. Awards and Rejections: (1) The Board, in its absolute discretion, may reject any bid from a bidder that fails to complete or perform an Okaloosa County contracted project in a timely fashion. The Purchasing Director shall emphasize this condition to potential bidders. (2) There is no obligation on the part of the County to award the bid to the lowest bidder, and the County reserves the right to award the proposal to proposer submitting a responsive proposal with a resulting negotiated agreement which is most advantageous and in the best interest of Okaloosa County, and to reject any and all proposals or to waive any irregularity or technicality in proposals received. Okaloosa County shall be the sole judge of the proposal and the resulting negotiated agreement that is in its best interest and its decision shall be final. (3) The County specifically reserves the right to reject any conditional bid and will reject those that make it impossible to determine the true amount of the bid. Each item must be bid separately and no attempt is to be made to tie any item or items to any other item or items. i. Correction or Withdrawal of Bids. A bid submitted to the County as part of a competitive bid procedure may not be withdrawn unilaterally by the bidder. Mistakes discovered before bid opening may be modified or withdrawn by written notice received by the Purchasing Department. After bid opening, corrections in bids shall be permitted only to the extent that the bidder can show by clear and convincing evidence that a mistake of nonjudgmental character was made, the nature of the mistake, and the bid price actually intended. The Purchasing Director reserves the right to reject any bid containing a material mistake. After bid opening, no changes in bid prices or other provisions of bids prejudicial to the interests of the County or fair competition shall be permitted. Unit price, when applicable, will be the prevailing decision when an extension price is in error. j. Upon acceptance and approval of the bid by the Board, the Purchasing Department shall prepare the necessary contract as required for all contracts involving services and materials. k. A contract is required on all projects involving services, labor, material and equipment when in excess of bid limitation, or on services less than the bid limitation if deemed to be in the best interest of the County. l. Any increase in transportation cost established by the ICC shall also be documented and additional cost paid by the County. m. Deviation from the $50,000.00 limit for emergencies is authorized for the replacement of materials, parts, repair and maintenance of existing equipment. However, the deviation shall be coordinated with the Chairman of the Board or, in his/her absence; coordination will be with the Vice-Chairman and shall be reported at the next Board meeting. 29 2. Local Bidder Preference: Okaloosa County grants a preference to in-county bidders only when bids are received from firms located in states, counties, municipalities or other political subdivisions which offer preference to bidders located in such political subdivisions. The amount of preference given to local bidders will be the same as that given by the state, county municipality or other political subdivision in which the out-of- county bidder is located. If the political subdivision in which a bidder is located offers a preference to its local firms, that bidder must plainly state the extent of such preference to include the amount and type preference offered. Any bidder failing to indicate such preference will be removed from the County list and any and all bids from that firm will be rejected. “Okaloosa County will grant no local preference when bids are let or acquisitions made involving the use of Federal Transit Administration Funds or any other grant funded program which prohibits against geographical preferences.” 3. Bid Bonds: All bidders are required to submit a bid bond (when deemed by the Purchasing Department to be in the best interest of the County) in the form of a cashier’s or certified check in the amount of 5% of their total bid. The bid bond shall be attached to the bid. Unsuccessful bidders shall be entitled to full return of their bid bond. Upon determination by the Board, the successful bidder shall forfeit its bid bond or a portion thereof, upon failure to enter into a contract or failure to act on the purchase order issued after the bid award date. The release of any bid bond shall be determined by the County Administrator and/or the Purchasing Director. 4. Bids will not be considered from vendor(s) and/or on a product(s) from a manufacturer that is currently involved in financial reorganization or bankruptcy proceedings. 5. All bids involving the use of Federal Transit Administration Funding shall incorporate all pertinent requirements. 6. The Board has established a solicitation silence policy (No Contact Clause) which prohibits oral and written communication regarding all formal solicitations for goods and services (formal bids, Request for Proposals, Requests for Qualifications) issued by the Board through the Purchasing Department. All bidders/proposers must execute the “No Contact Clause” Form and agree to comply with its provisions. Such forms shall be included with the bidders/proposers submittal. The No Contact Clause commences upon receipt of the procurement proposal, by the County, and terminates upon Board approval to award a contract or reject all bids/responses. When the No Contact Clause is in effect, no oral or written communication is allowed regarding the solicitation between prospective bidders/proposers and members of the Board, the County Administrator or members of the Board-approved Review Committee. All questions or requests for information regarding the solicitation must be directed to the designated Purchasing Representative listed in the solicitation. Any information that may affect the Review Committee or staff recommendation, submitted after bids/responses are due, shall be directed to the Purchasing Director or designee. The Purchasing Director, or designee, shall determine whether such information should be considered by the Review Committee, staff or Board in the decision process. 30  Any violation of the No Contact Clause