TO: Mayor Richard C. Irvin
FROM: Martin S. Lyons, Chief Financial Officer/City Treasurer
DATE: July 27, 2020
SUBJECT: title
Purchasing Guidance Regarding the use of Cooperatives and Requests for Proposals.
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Over the past year, the City of Aurora, along with other cities nation-wide have continued to evolve in the methods used in purchasing goods and services. This evolution has involved greater use of technology and the use of Cooperative purchasing in many forms. The purpose of this agenda item is to have an open discussion as to whether more structure is needed as we continue to use new methods to purchase goods and services in an efficient and effective manner, while still keeping the public trust in the use of public funds as the top priority.
REQUESTS FOR PROPOSALS - Items to consider include:
1) When to require permission from Finance Committee or City Council before an RFP is sent out
2) Minimum requirements to be included in RFPs, such as advertising, minimum pricing, scoring parameters, etc.
PURCHASING COOPERATIVES:
1) Age of Cooperative price/bid data
2) Scope of Cooperative purchase - Was the bid done for similarly sized communities? Did using a cooperative actually help pricing or just save staff time.
3) Limit Cooperatives to price purchases and not discounts/rates
BROKERED RESEARCH/SUPPORT:
1) Minimum requirements for Brokers to follow
2) Subject areas preferred for use of brokers/experts
3) Insurance, pricing, and documentation required of brokers.
TECHNOLOGY IN PURCHASING PROCESS:
1) COVID has changed our method of receiving and soliciting bids and these changes can be more efficient, including electronic distribution, receipt and opening of documents.
2) Utilization/creation of a new web portal for purchasing
3) E signature via new software recently purchased.
In 2019 the City reviewed a Purchasing Matrix that outlined the spectrum of methods for purchasing. Since then we have had multiple experiences with the above topics. Fi...
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