Department of Finance
Reference: Contracts and Purchases Code Updates
To: Mayor Gregory Mills and Members of City Council
Through: Michael P. Martinez, City Manager
Prepared By: Kelsey Archuleta, Procurement & Contracts Manager
Date Prepared: April 9, 2024
PURPOSE
To propose updates to the Brighton Municipal Code which will improve clarity, promote operational efficiency, and align with industry best practices.
BACKGROUND
Procurement Code Updates
In 2022, Council approved significant updates to the Contracts and Purchases section of the Municipal Code. Following approval in 2022, City staff have periodically reviewed the Code to continuously identify areas for improvement and address evolving industry regulations or standard practices. As such, staff have identified multiple areas of Code that require amendment to clarify the intent, correct writing mechanics, and adapt to changing needs. These include the following items:
• Proposed increase to City Manager’s authority for award.
o Current authority for award by the City Manager includes contracts for the purchase of materials, services, and construction with a total value between $50,000 and $100,000. In an effort to improve operational efficiency, staff propose an increase to the upper limit of the City Manager’s authority for award to $500,000.
In analyzing 2023 data, staff found that the increased limit could result in a reduction of time in the procurement cycle by up to twelve days per acquisition. City Council would be presented with approximately 29 fewer contracts for approval annually. This update will also allow for increased staff capacity as time spent performing administrative tasks related to preparation of presentations and written staff reports will be reduced.
o Staff propose an increase and alteration to the City Manager’s contract amendment or change order authority to be consistent with contract authority limits. The proposed language includes a percentage and dollar component: up to 10 percent or $500,000 of the original contract value, whichever is greater.
Similar to the authority for award increase proposed above, and based upon the same data set, this amendment could reduce the number of change orders requiring Council approval by five, annually.
o Furthering the effort to consistently apply procedure, staff propose increasing the City Manager’s authority to approve a new Master Price Agreement which has an annual not to exceed task order value up to $500,000.
Staff additionally propose granting the City Manager the authority to approve an extension of an existing Master Price Agreement so long as the annual not to exceed amount has not increased from its original value. This proposed change will reduce the number of items presented to Council by at least 40 on an annual basis.
• Bid Bond requirements.
o It is an industry standard to procure bid bonds for certain projects. Bid bonds can provide the City with assurance that a Contractor has the financial means to complete a project, should a project be awarded to them. The current language in Code does not set clear expectations for the collection of bid bonds. Staff propose the language in this section to be updated with more concise requirements in this regard. The new language will require staff to collect bid bonds for all construction projects valued over $500,000 or projects of lesser value for which the City Manager deems a bid bond to be necessary.
• Clarifying the following language:
o 3-8-30 Authority for award
Subsection (a) has been updated to better define the award limits of the City Manager. Staff proposed the addition of, “cost greater than $50,000 but equal to or less than $500,000 shall be awarded . . . by the City Manager.”
Subsection (b) has been updated to better define the award limits of the City Council. Staff have proposed the addition of, “cost greater than $500,000 shall be awarded . . . by the City Council.”
Both subsections have been updated to remove redundant language. As currently written these subsections state award shall be made through “formal solicitation procedures or the formal RFP process[.]” Staff propose removing the phrase, “formal RFP process” from these subsections as formal solicitation procedures encompass the Request for Proposal (RFP) process by definition.
• Minor amendment:
o Section 3-8-100 - Award of contract; criteria for consideration
Subsections 8 and 9 have been altered to correct punctuation.
Subsection 10 has been added pursuant to the addition of Section 3-8-200 Suspension and debarment. This subsection states that a person or entity’s suspension or debarment status will be considered as a factor in determining a person or entity’s responsibility prior to recommending them for an award.
CRITERIA BY WHICH COUNCIL MUST CONSIDER THE ITEM
The proposed updates are primarily focused on improving operational efficiency of the Procurement Division. Other changes are intended to clarify language for consistent application of procedures and define expectations which are consistent with standard practices of the industry.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
There is no direct financial impact to these changes.
STAFF RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommend approving the changes as they are proposed.
Attachments:
Ø Presentation
Ø Ordinance
OPTIONS FOR COUNCIL CONSIDERATION
Ø Approve the Ordinance as proposed.
Ø Amend and approve the Ordinance.
Ø Do not approve the Ordinance.
Attachments:
Ø Ordinance