City of San Bernardino | Purchasing Manual
Form# PURCH-100 Purchasing Guidelines and Procedures Rev. April 18, 2023 Page 24 of 99 (10) calendar days before the date for receiving qualifications or proposals, unless exigent circumstances call for a shorter time.
(iii) Review of Qualifications or Proposals. The City will receive qualifications or proposals at the date, time and place of submission on the notice inviting RFQs/RFQuals/RFPs. Any proposals received after the proposal opening time will be time/date stamped and returned unopened to the proposer. The City will review and evaluate qualifications or proposals based on the evaluation and selection criteria in the RFQs/RFQuals/RFPs and rank proposals based on factors listed in the RFQ/RFQual/RFP.
(iv) N
egotiation. Once proposals are ranked, the City may negotiate a contract with the highest ranked proposer only, may negotiate with multiple proposers, or may attempt to reach an agreement with the highest ranked proposer before negotiating with other proposers in order of ranking. The City may also dispense with negotiations and recommend an award based on the proposals. (v) A
ward. Award for professional services contracts shall be to the best qualified vendor who will best serve the City’s interests taking into acco unt the demonstrated competence, professional qualifications and suitability for the project. Award for other contracts shall to the vendor offering the best value to the City, in the City’s sole and absolute discretion.
(vi) R ejection of Bids. The City Council may, in its sole and absolute discretion, reject all proposals presented and re-advertise.
V. EXEMPTIONS
Exemptions from the procurement process may be requested under the following circumstances:
(a) Emergency Purchases. An exemption may be granted in case of an emergency, which is so urgent as to preclude advance action by the Mayor and Common Council and which requires purchase of supplies, materials, equipment, and contractual service. (i) In such a case, the City Manager shall have the authority to authorize the Purchasing Division to secure in the open market such supplies, materials, equipment, or contractual services as deemed necessary. (ii) This emergency authority shall extend to all purchases; irrespective of the fact that amount might exceed the City Manager’s authorization threshold. In such instances a full explanation of the emergency circumstances shall be filed with the Mayor and City Council (MC § 3.04.070).
(iii) If emergency work is performed, the Purchasing Division should be notified by the next business day, or as soon as practical. This will allow the Purchasing Division to properly ratify purchase orders.
City of San Bernardino | Purchasing Manual
Form# PURCH-100 Purchasing Guidelines and Procedures Rev. April 18, 2023 Page 25 of 99 (iv) An emergency includes the following: (1) a public calamity; (2) an immediate need to prepare for national or local defense; (3) the breakdown of machinery or equipment causing a service impediment requiring immediate resolution; (4) a hazard to public health or welfare; and (5) situation in which the City will be unable to perform services for the public.
(b) Cooperative Purchases. The City may engage in cooperative purchasing for goods or services as a third-party agency "piggybacking" on another agency's competitively bid agreement. Cooperative purchasing reduces administrative expenses and secure prices and other benefits of a large volume purchase. Caution must be exercised to ensure that the City is in compliance with all applicable federal, state, and local laws as well as the Policy. The Purchasing Division must be consulted prior to any department engaging in cooperative purchasing.
(c) Sole Source. When a department determines that the goods, services or public project can only be obtained from a sole source. For example, only one manufactured makes an item that meets the required specifications or only one item is compatible with existing equipment. Price cannot be used in a determination of sole source. This is an indication of competition in the marketplace.
A sole source purchase is a method of acquisition; it shall not be used to avoid competition. A sole source justification memo is required for any sole source purchase over $10,000. The sole source justification memo must be approved by the Purchasing Manager before the purchase is completed.
(d) Public Works Projects. This Policy shall not apply to the procurement of Public Works Projects. Procurement procedures for Public Works Projects are defined in Chapters
12.20, 12.21 and 12.24 of the San Bernadino Municipal Code. (e) Purchases Approved by Mayor and City Council. A purchase that is otherwise approved by the action of the Mayor and City Council in a public meeting is exempt from this Policy.
(f) Federal/Grant-Funded Procurement. Federal/grant-funded procurements shall be exempt from this Policy if such funding requires compliance with an alternative set of procurement rules not in compliance with this Policy. This is more particularly described in Section VII(c) of this Policy.
(g) Exemptions Authorized by San Bernardino Municipal Code Section 3.04.010(D)(1).
Items listed in San Bernardino Municipal Code section 3.04.010(D)(1) shall be exempt from this Policy. This includes, but is not limited to, purchases/sales from other governmental agencies.
(h) Inadequate Competition. Inadequate competitive is defined as when, after solicitation from a number of sources (which must be documented for audit purposes), competition is determined to be inadequate. Inadequate competition includes the lack of receipt of responsive bids.
VI. PROTEST PROCEDURES
(a) Right to Protest. Prior to making the award, any responsible bidder in connection with