Town of Greenwich, NY Procurement Policy

Goods and services which are not required by law to be procured pursuant to competitive bidding must be procured in a manner so as to assure the prudent and economical use of public moneys, in the best interest of the taxpayers, to facilitate the acquisition of goods and services of maximum quality at the lowest possible cost under the circumstances, and to guard against favoritism, extravagance, fraud and corruption while at the same time giving the Town Board the opportunity to use the best value option as defined in § 163 of the New York State Finance Law. The best value option may be used if it is more cost efficient over time to award the good or service to other than the lowest bidder if factors such as lower cost of maintenance, durability, higher quality and longer product life are considered as well. To further these objectives, the governing board is adopting internal policies and procedures that meet or exceed the procurement requirements of both the competitive bidding requirements of General Municipal Law § 103 as well as the noncompetitive bidding policies of § 104-b or any other general, special or local law.

§ 60-3 When competitive bidding required.

The policy for determining whether a procurement of goods and services is subject to competitive bidding and documenting the basis for any determination that competitive bidding is not required by law is as follows:

Competitive bidding required for:

(1)

Purchase contracts above $10,000.

(2)

Public works contracts above $20,000.

Competitive bidding is not required for:

(1)

Purchase contracts of $10,000 or less.

(2)

Public works contracts of $20,000 or less.

§ 60-4 Purchases requiring written or verbal quotations.

[Amended 1-8-2008; 7-8-2008 by L.L. No. 4-2008]

All proposals or quotations for goods and services not subject to competitive bidding shall be secured by use of written requests for proposals, written quotations or verbal quotations, in conformance with the following table:

[Amended 11-16-2019]

Value of Contract	Number of Verbal Quotes Required	Number of Written Quotes Required	Subject To Prior Town Board Approval?
Under $1,000	0	0
$1,001 to $2,000	3
$2,001 to $10,000		3	Yes
$10,001 to $20,000 (public works only) (Adopted Jan. 2008)		3	Yes

Additional considerations:

(1)

Best value option.

[Amended 5-14-2013 by L.L. No. 1-2013]

(a)

The best value option may be utilized by the Town in connection with procurements either pursuant to § 60-3 or 60-4. Goods and services procured and awarded on the basis of best value are those that the Town Board determines will be of the highest quality while being the most cost efficient. The determination of quality and cost efficiency shall be based on objectively quantified and clearly described and documented criteria, which may include, but shall not be limited to, any or all of the following: cost of maintenance; proximity to the end user if distance or response time is a significant term; durability; availability of replacement parts or maintenance contractors; longer product life; product performance criteria; and/or quality of craftsmanship.

(b)

Whenever any contract is awarded on the basis of best value, instead of lowest responsible bidder, the basis for determining best value shall be thoroughly and accurately documented in writing either in the minutes of the Board Meeting or on the requisition form submitted for approval to the Budget Officer or to the Supervisor/Deputy Budget Officer.

(2)

A requisition form must be completed and approved prior to actual purchase. Authorized signatures on purchase requisition forms may be either the Budget Officer or the Supervisor/Deputy Budget Officer. Said requisition form must then be attached to the voucher for payment.

(3)

Purchases of commodities, services or technology shall not be artificially divided for the purpose of satisfying discretionary buying thresholds established by this procurement policy.

[Added 2-14-2012 by L.L. No. 2-2012]

§ 60-5 Exceptions to competitive bidding or written or verbal quotation requirements.

Various exceptions to the competitive bidding requirements exist. The Town also deems them to be exceptions to the written or verbal quotation requirements of § 60-4. The most common are:

Purchases through the State of New York (OGS), Washington County or the federal government are allowed after receiving two additional verbal quotes or bids to insure the prudent and economical use of public monies.

[Amended 2-14-2012 by L.L. No. 2-2012]

Emergency situations. There are three basic statutory criteria to be met in order to fall within this exception. [See GML § 103.] These are that (1) the situation arises out of an accident or unforeseen occurrence or condition; (2) public buildings, public property or the life, health, safety or property of the political subdivision's residents are affected; and (3) the situation requires immediate action which cannot await competitive bidding. Even when a governing board passes a resolution that a public emergency exists, the public interest dictates that purchases are made at the lowest possible costs, seeking competition by informal solicitation of quotes or otherwise, to the extent practicable under the circumstances. Documentation should include verbal quotes, and other relevant data.

[Amended 9-8-2015]

Leases. The courts have held that "true lease" agreements are neither purchases nor contracts for public work and are therefore not subject to competitive bidding under General Municipal Law § 103. In the event, however, that the Town considers leasing, prior to leasing the Town shall submit requests for proposals to at least three different vendors, when more than one vendor offers the product to be leased, in order to attempt to obtain multiple proposals for comparison to ensure that the Town obtains the best value at the lowest possible cost, and to conduct a cost-benefit analysis of leasing versus purchasing.

[Amended 9-8-2015; 6-14-2022 by Res. No. 65-22]

Surplus materials. There is a statutory exception [GML § 103] to competitive bidding requirements which permits the purchase of surplus and secondhand supplies, materials or equipment without competitive bidding from the federal or state government or from any other political subdivision or public benefit corporation within the state. However, purchases of used items from any other source (e.g., private sources like auctions or going-out-of-business sales) are not exempt from bidding requirements. Documents should include market price comparisons (verbal or written quotes), and name of government.

[Amended 9-8-2015]

Professional services such as engineers, surveyors and attorneys.

Nonemergency repairs. Repairs to equipment for which no vendor will give a firm quote until after the equipment is delivered for repair and examined. Depending upon the anticipated cost of the repair the following authorizations will be required before the equipment is repaired:

[Amended 1-8-2008; 9-10-2019; 11-16-2019; 5-11-2021 by Res. No. 47-21]

Anticipated Cost of Repair	Approvals Required
Less than $2,000	None
Over $2,000	Budget Officer, Supervisor and one other Board member

§ 60-6 Review of policy; failure to comply with policy; amendments.

The governing board shall annually review these policies and procedures. The Supervisor shall initiate the annual review of the procurement policy and perform an evaluation of the internal control structure established to ensure compliance with the procurement policy.

The unintentional failure to fully comply with the provisions of this chapter or General Municipal Law § 104-b shall not be grounds to void action taken or give rise to a cause of action against the Town of Greenwich or any officer or employee thereof.

The Town Board shall have the right to amend and modify this Procurement Policy by resolution of the majority of the Board. No public hearing shall be required.

Any questions that may arise as to whether or not an approval is required, which type of approval is required, or whether or not a contemplated procurement fits within one of the exceptions provided for in this policy should be reviewed by the Town Board at a regular or special meeting before any action is taken on the procurement.