§ 902. County purchasing policies and practices.

Unless changed pursuant to section 502 of this Charter, the director of budget and finance shall be the county purchasing agent and shall have the following purchasing functions which he may delegate to a deputy purchasing agent in his office and under his supervision or to another county official if authorized by legislative act of the county council:

(a)

The making of all purchases and contracting for all public work and services, and for all supplies, material and equipment for all offices, departments, institutions, boards, commissions and other agencies of the county government for which payment is to be made out of county funds.

(b)

If recommended by the county administrative officer and approved by legislative act of the county council, the establishment and operation of a county warehouse for county supplies, material and equipment and the maintenance of a sufficient stock of stable commodities to meet the requirements of the county government.

(c)

The development and operation of a uniform and modern system of property accounting and stores control based upon perpetual inventory.

(d)

The establishment, after consultation with the appropriate county officials, of suitable specifications and standards for all supplies, materials and equipment to be purchased, and the inspection of all deliveries to determine compliance with such specifications and standards.

(e)

The establishment and maintenance of a system of requisitions and receipts covering the furnishing of supplies, materials and equipment to the various offices, departments, institutions, boards, commissions and other agencies of the county.

(f)

The establishment, with the approval of the county administrative officer and by legislative act of the county council, of reasonable rules and regulations governing the circumstances under which the use of competitive bidding is not appropriate or feasible. When such bidding is not appropriate, a contract shall be awarded only by competitive negotiations, unless such negotiations are not feasible. When neither competitive bidding nor competitive negotiations are feasible, contracts may be awarded by noncompetitive negotiations. Whenever a contract is awarded by a process other than competitive bidding, a copy of the contract shall be given to the county council and, at the next legislation session-day following the award of the contract, the secretary to the county council shall formally announce to the council the nature of the contract and the parties to the contract. The announcement shall be recorded in the minutes of the County Council, a permanent record, which shall be available for inspection by the public.

(Bill No. 87, 1978, § 1; approved by voters Nov. 7, 1978; effective Dec. 8, 1978; Bill No. 117, 1982, § 1; approved by voters Nov. 2, 1982; effective Dec. 3, 1982; Bill No. 102-96, § 1; approved by voters Nov. 5, 1996; effective Dec. 5, 1996)

Editor's note

The publisher corrected a former reference to "or reasonable rules" in subsection (f) of this section to read "of reasonable rules". All prior versions of the Charter contained the latter language. The publisher believes that the error occurred inadvertently in Bill No. 102-96.