Subject to certain exceptions, the County Purchasing Law of 1983 requires that all purchases and leases or lease-purchase agreements be made or entered into only after public advertisement and competitive bid. One exception to the public advertisement and competitive bidding requirement is for purchases costing less than the maximum applicable threshold over which public advertising and sealed competitive bids or proposals are required for nonemergency, nonproprietary purchases as established by resolution or ordinance of the applicable governing body. This bill specifies that a change in the amount of the applicable threshold over which public advertisement and sealed competitive bids or proposals are required must be made by resolution of the governing body. Under present law, a local governing body having centralized purchasing authority with a full-time purchasing agent may, by resolution or ordinance of its governing body, increase the threshold over which public advertisement and sealed competitive bids or proposals are required to an amount not to exceed $50,000 for nonemergency, nonproprietary purchases. A local governmental entity having either non-centralized purchasing authority or centralized purchasing authority but not a full-time purchasing agent is authorized to, by resolution or ordinance of its governing body, increase the threshold over which public advertisement and sealed competitive bids or proposals are required to an amount not to exceed $25,000 for nonemergency, nonproprietary purchases. The County Purchasing Law of 1983 also provides that purchases, leases, or lease-purchase agreements with expenditures of less than the maximum applicable threshold established by the local governing body in a fiscal year may be made in the open market without newspaper notice, but must, wherever possible, be based upon at least three competitive bids. This bill replaces the requirement for three competitive bids with three written quotations, when possible, for purchases costing less than the bid threshold established by the local governing body but more than 40% of such bid threshold, or some lower amount as may be established by the governing body by resolution. This bill makes the same changes to the procedure for purchases less than the threshold under the Municipal Purchasing Law of 1983.

Statutes affected:
Introduced: 5-14-204(1), 5-14-204, 5-14-205, 6-56-305