Okaloosa County BOCC — May 17, 2013 — Procurement Manual PROPOSED Transit Language 4-22-13 — reading text

FTA PROVISIONS, CERTIFICATIONS, REPORTS, FORMS AND OTHERS I. Purpose The purpose of these policies and procedures is to establish guidelines relating to the purchase or sale of real and personal property, the granting of concessions, and the making of certain contracts by the BCC, in accordance with U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) Federal Transit Administration (FTA) documents, [FTA Circular 4220.1F 11/01/2008; Rev. 1, 04/14/2009; Rev. 2, 07/01/2010; 49 C.F.R. 18, Master Agreement (FY 2010), Best Practices Procurement Manual (October 2005), Triennial Review Workbook (FY 2010)]. This Appendix governs purchases funded through the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) only. II. Ethics/Standards of Conduct It is the policy of the BCC to adopt an arm’s length relationship in regard to all suppliers, vendors, service companies, and passengers, with whom the BCC may have a relationship as part of its normal daily operations. It is important that the BCC not only remain free from all conflict of interest situations, but that the BCC must also remain free from the appearance of a conflict of interest. A. Personal Conflicts of Interest No employee, officer, board member, or agent of the BCC may participate in such activities as contract specifications, solicitations, selection, or award, if a real or apparent conflict of interest would be involved. Such a conflict would arise when any of the following parties has a financial or other interest in the entity selected for award: (1) an employee, officer, board member, or agent of the BCC; (2) any member of his or her immediate family; (3) his or her partner; (4) an organization that employs, or intends to employ, any of the above. No employee, board member, officer, or agent of the BCC will make investments or act for personal gain based upon special knowledge obtained, whether directly or inadvertently, as a result of employment with the BCC. No employee, board member, officer, or agent of the BCC will have any relationship or engage in any activity that might involve or lead to personal obligations that could impair the objectivity of such person’s judgment, or imply to others that favoritism or obligations exist between such persons and third party contractors, or sub recipients. B. Gifts Never solicit or accept money, loans, credits or prejudicial discounts, gifts, entertainment, favors or services from your present or potential suppliers which might influence or appear to influence purchasing decisions. 1  FTA PROVISIONS, CERTIFICATIONS, REPORTS, FORMS AND OTHERS C. Violations Anyone violating the regulations for proper ethics and standard of conduct may receive appropriate disciplinary action up to and including written warning and termination of employment. III. Disadvantaged Business Enterprises the BCC maintains a Disadvantaged Business Enterprises program. The program is updated, in accordance with 49 C.F.R. Part 26. IV. General Procurement Practices A. Awards to Responsible Contractors the BCC will make every effort to ensure that all procurement activities be entered into with responsible businesses, persons, and contractors. A responsible contractor is one which: ¾ Has adequate financial resources, or the ability to obtain such resources as required during the performance of the contract, if adequate security is not otherwise furnished; ¾ Is able to comply with the required or proposed delivery or performance schedule; ¾ Has a satisfactory record of performance or the equivalent, and ¾ Has a satisfactory record of and reputation of integrity. B. Review of Procurement Requests to Avoid Duplicate or Unnecessary Purchases the BCC has purchasing procedures for micro-purchases, small purchases, and large purchases (IFB/RFP/ A&E), respectively. The Purchaser completes micro and small purchases, and the Purchasing Director conducts IFB / RFP / A&E purchases/contracts. Because of the collaborative effort involved in conducting IFB / RFP / A&E, it is not possible to make duplicate purchases under this process. Because one person completes small and micro purchases, there is no duplication of these purchases either. Budget compliance is the responsibility of each department head. Prior to the preparation of a purchase request, each department head must review his/her budget to ensure that funds are available. A representative of the Clerk of Courts Finance Department must sign all purchase orders. The Okaloosa County BCC is a small, financially constrained organization and much attention is paid to purchasing only necessary items. 2  FTA PROVISIONS, CERTIFICATIONS, REPORTS, FORMS AND OTHERS C. Competition; Non-Collusive Bids and Proposals All purchases and sales, whether by formal advertising or otherwise, will be made on a competitive basis to the maximum practicable extent. In the event identical bids are submitted on any contract for the sale or purchase of property, the Purchasing Director will report such fact to the BCC’s General Counsel if there is any reason to suspect collusion. D. Splitting Purchases Purchases will not be split, so as to place them in a smaller procurement category. E. Purchase Orders Purchase orders or other written request for purchases are required for all purchases. V. Methods of Procurement A. Micro-Purchases BCC maintains that Micro-purchases are purchases or contracts that do not exceed $2,500. Purchases below that threshold may be made without obtaining competitive quotes, if the BCC determines that the price is fair and reasonable. The Davis-Bacon Act must be applied to construction contracts over $2,000. Minimum documentation requirements include determination that the price is fair and reasonable, and how this determination was made. Whenever feasible, it is the BCC’s preference to complete a “Micro-Purchase” form documenting at least two telephone quotes, or obtain copies of at least two written quotes for such purchases. (See definition of written quote.) Subsequently, the Purchaser will complete a “Purchase Order” form. All micro-purchases with only 1 quote must include the “Fair and Reasonable Price Determination” Stamp, signed, dated, and the reason checked off. (See Appendices for example of Stamp.) If submitted electronically, the written quote must be printed. If the quote is obtained by telephone, the dates, names of vendors, addresses, phone numbers, and contact persons must be submitted for at least 2 vendors, and documented on the “Micro-Purchase” form. (See example in appendices). B. Small Purchases Small purchases, as defined in U.S. DOT / FTA 4220.1F, are purchases of services, supplies, or other property that exceed $3,000, but not more than $100,000. The BCC 3  FTA PROVISIONS, CERTIFICATIONS, REPORTS, FORMS AND OTHERS will adopt a minimum of orders in excess of $2,500 but less than $50,000 for small purchases. A minimum of three written quotes is necessary for small purchases. Written quotes are documents submitted by the vendor to the BCC in writing via fax, mail, or electronic means. C. Large Purchases FTA Circular 4220.1F states that purchases over $100,000 must provide for full and open competition. The BCC’s policy is $50,000 for large purchases. These contracts will be awarded by sealed bid or request for proposals, unless there is an explicit exception. Independent estimates must be made before receiving bids or proposals, which may include bidders’ estimates of the total cost of the service or project. 1 General Requirements for all Large Purchases a Practices Deemed Restrictive of Competition, and therefore not allowable include: ¾ Unreasonable requirements placed on firms in order for them to qualify to do business; ¾ Unnecessary experience and excessive bonding requirements; ¾ Noncompetitive pricing between firms or between affiliated companies; ¾ Noncompetitive awards to any person or firm on retainer contracts; ¾ Organizational conflicts of interest (also applies to micro and small purchases); ¾ Restrictive use of brand names (also applies to micro and small purchases); ¾ Any arbitrary action in the procurement process (also applies to micro and small purchases); ¾ Geographic preferences (With the exception of Architectural and Engineering services). b Pre-qualification Criteria - If firms are required to pre-qualify to bid, or submit competitive proposals, the procedures and criteria for pre-qualifying will be kept on file and made available to potential bidders. The BCC will in such cases maintain a current list of pre-qualified firms, and will not preclude potential bidders from qualifying during the solicitation period. c Specifications, Plans, and Drawings – Plans, drawings, or specifications will state only the BCC’s actual minimum needs and will describe the property or service to be acquired or sold, as the case may be, in a manner which will encourage maximum competition and eliminate, insofar as possible, any restrictive features which might limit acceptable offers to a relatively few bidders. Where the BCC’s requirements for a commodity can only be estimated, and bids are to be submitted based upon that estimate, the specifications for the commodity may provide that the BCC’s requirements may vary within a given range from the estimate. Specifications and drawings with references to brand 4  FTA PROVISIONS, CERTIFICATIONS, REPORTS, FORMS AND OTHERS names, or items manufactured by a single company, will be used to the minimum extent feasible. d Purchase Description - A purchase description may be used in lieu of a specification where the use of a specification is not feasible. A purchase description should set forth the essential characteristics and functions of the items or materials required. Purchase descriptions will not be written so as to specify a product, or a particular feature of a product, explicit to one manufacturer, unless it is determined that the particular feature is essential to the BCC’s requirements, and that similar products of other companies lacking the particular feature would not meet the minimum requirements of the item. Generally, the minimum acceptable purchase description is the identification of a requirement by use of a brand name followed by the words “or equal.” Where a “brand name or equal” purchase description is used, the “salient characteristics” of the brand name must be described so that bidders may offer an “or equal” product. Known, acceptable products should be listed. e Alternate Articles - Invitations for bids and