[Cass County Order No. 97-04 of 5-22-2000; Cass County Order
No. 97-04 of 1-11-2001; Cass County Order No. 12-01 of 1-20-2012;
Cass County Order No. 12-03 of 4-9-2012]
A.
The
following procedures regulate the purchase of goods and services.
They are developed pursuant to public policy, accepted purchasing
practices and State law. All offices and/or departments shall adhere
to these procedures.
1.
Purchases under one thousand dollars ($1,000.00). The purchase of goods or services totaling one thousand dollars
($1,000.00) or less from a single vendor may be initiated by the office
or department. The office or department does not need to secure phone
quotes for purchases of one thousand dollars ($1,000.00) or less,
but employees are expected to obtain the lowest price and best value
possible.
2.
Purchases from one thousand dollars ($1,000.00) to six thousand
dollars ($6,000.00). On purchases in this range from a single
vendor, the requesting officer or department must obtain three (3)
phone quotes for purchases that exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000.00)
and are less than six thousand dollars ($6,000.00). The telephone
quote should be written down to record the competitive quotes, including
specifications, vendor name, representative name, total quote including
any shipping and handling charges, and date quote requested and received.
A "no quote" response will qualify as a required quote.
3.
Purchases of six thousand dollars ($6,000 00) and over. Purchases of six thousand dollars ($6,000.00) and over must be advertised
and handled as formal bids. Utility charges and goods or materials
purchased from the spot commodity market shall be exempt from the
sealed bid procedures. Bids requiring written specifications will
have their specifications drafted by the office or department making
the purchase. The County Commission shall make the final bid award
and has sole authority to obligate the County.
4.
Cooperative procurement programs. Missouri law authorizes
political subdivisions to participate in cooperative agreements, including
cooperative procurement. County offices and departments are authorized
to participate in cooperative procurement, more specifically agreements/contracts
that have been established utilizing a formal competitive bid/rfp
process which allows the use of such by other political subdivisions,
thereby saving money on the purchase of goods and/or services through
the economies of scale and through the reduction of administrative
costs. Any cooperative procurement transaction that requires a signed
agreement must be approved by the County Commission.
5.
Single feasible source. In some instances, a particular
good or service may only be available from one (1) vendor. In these
instances, the regular procurement quote/bid processes are waived.
All requests for single feasible source (also known as "sole source")
purchases must be submitted to the County Commission with sole source
justification. The County Commission must determine in writing and
entered into the Commission minutes that there is only a single feasible
source for the supplies. Immediately upon discovering that other feasible
sources exist, the Commission shall rescind the waiver and proceed
to procure the supplies through the processes as described herein.
A single feasible source exists when:
a.
Supplies are proprietary and only available from the manufacturer
or a single distributor; or
b.
Based on past procurement experience, it is determined that only
one (1) distributor services the region in which the supplies are
needed; or
c.
Supplies are available at a discount from a single distributor for
a limited period of time.
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On any single feasible source purchase where the estimated expenditure
is three thousand dollars ($3,000.00) or over, the Commission shall
post notice of the proposed purchase. Where the estimated expenditure
is five thousand dollars ($5,000.00) or over, the Commission shall
also advertise the Commission's intent to make such purchase in at
least one (1) daily and one (1) weekly newspaper of general circulation
in such places as are most likely to reach prospective bidders or
offerors and may provide such information through an electronic medium
available to the general public at least ten (10) days before the
contract is to be let.
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6.
Emergency purchases. The County Commission may waive
the requirement of competitive bids or proposals when the County Commission
has determined that there exists a threat to life, property, public
health, or public safety or when immediate expenditure is necessary
for repairs to County property in order to protect against further
loss of, or damage to, County property, to prevent or minimize serious
disruption in County services or to ensure the integrity of County
records. Emergency procurements shall be made with as much competition
as is practicable under the circumstances. After an emergency procurement
is made by the County Commission, the nature of the emergency and
the vote approving the procurement shall be noted in the minutes of
the next regularly scheduled meeting.
7.
Professional services. Professional services are
considered to be non-competitive in nature and are therefore not subject
to the competitive bidding requirements.
8.
Engineering, architectural and land surveying services. Missouri law provides for a selection process based on a qualification
based system, rather than a competitive price bidding system, with
regard to procuring engineering, architectural and land surveying
services. Sections 8.285 — 8.291, RSMo. The County should encourage
firms to annually submit a statement of qualifications and performance
data. When the County requires engineering services, it should review
the qualifications on file along with any others which may be submitted,
and rank order its top three (3) firms, select the firm it considers
to be the best qualified and capable of performing the work, and then
negotiate a contract.
9.
Budget expenses other than purchases.
a.
Request for payment of budgeted expenditures other than purchases
shall be made on an Encumbrance Requisition Form.
b.
This Encumbrance Requisition Form shall be submitted to the County
Clerk. The County Auditor will provide written verification of the
availability of unencumbered funds for the budgeted expenditures.
The County Clerk shall present the encumbrance form to the County
Commission for approval.
c.
Approved encumbrance requisitions shall be returned to the County
Auditor for accounting purposes.
10.
Conflict of interest. It shall be considered a conflict
of interest and a violation of the County's policy for a County employee
or an immediate family member to attempt to conduct, or conduct, business
with the County as a vendor of goods or services if the employee is
involved directly or indirectly with the County's procurement process
of the respective goods or services.
