Replaces 08/19/2009
I. APPLICABILITY
The policy applies to all purchases and commitments requiring an expenditure of funds under the control of the Board of Library Trustees of the Arlington Heights Memorial Library.
All purchases and commitments for a given type of goods or service should be considered on an annual or other logical time basis and reasonable groupings of similar types of goods and services should be made for purposes of applying this policy.
Routine operating supplies, services, and capital goods are authorized for purchase through the Board’s approval of the annual budget. The Executive Director may expend, or commit to expend, a sum not to exceed $20,000 for budgeted purchases or $10,000 for unbudgeted purchases without the prior approval of the Board, provided such action will not cause the total expenditure in any budget category to be in excess of the amount authorized for that account by the board in the annual budget.
II. CONTRACTUAL SERVICES, COMMODITIES AND CAPITAL GOODS
| A. | Formal Bids
Formal bids are required for contractual services, commodities and capital goods and shall be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder considering the applicable criteria listed in this policy, except that formal bidding is not required in the following five cases, unless it is otherwise required by Section 5-5 of Chapter 75 of the Illinois Compiled Statutes 1993. |
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1. |
Where the amount is under $20,000 |
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| 2. | Where the goods or services are economically procurable from only one source, such as contracts for public utility services, books, and specially designed business and research equipment and related supplies. | ||
| 3. | Where the services required are professional, artistic or other skills. | ||
| 4. | In emergencies. An emergency shall be deemed to exist when immediate repairs to, or replacement of, equipment owned by the library is necessary in order to permit the library to function and its regular services to be performed, or when there has been a local disaster or catastrophe. | ||
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5. |
Whenever the board determines that comparable competitive bids are very difficult or impossible to obtain and the product or service provided by the supplier will enable the Library to operate more efficiently and economically.
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a. | A legal notice announcing the availability of a “call for bids” shall be published in at least one local newspaper at least once. The board may, in its discretion, select additional newspapers or other publications in which to place such advertisements as it shall from time to time deem necessary and desirable. | |
| b. | The "call for bids" shall describe in detail the required qualifications for contractor or suppliers, specifications of the goods or services, terms of delivery, draft of the contract (if applicable), need for performance bond (if applicable), whether samples are required, the form in which to submit the bid, any other conditions, and the time and place for opening bids. | ||
| B. | Price Quotations
Purchases and commitments for contractual services, commodities and capital goods with an aggregate value of $1,000 but not more that $20,000 shall be made on the basis of at least three quotations from the most qualified suppliers, all to the extent practicable in the circumstances. The most qualified supplier will be determined using the applicable criteria listed in this policy. |
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| C. | Discretionary Purchases
The purchase of commodities used by the library on a regular basis shall be exempt from the requirements of Formal Bids and Price Quotation when the value of the purchase is less than $1,000. |
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| D. | Qualification of Contractors and Suppliers
It is the intention of the Library to award contracts only to a contractor or supplier who furnishes satisfactory evidence that it has the requisite capital, experience, ability, organization, and staffing to enable it to perform the work successfully and promptly, and to complete the work within the time set forth in the specifications. The Library shall consider the following criteria. |
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| 1. | The ability, capacity and skill of the contractor or supplier to perform the contract; and | ||
| 2. | Whether the contractor or supplier has the experience within the last three years performing work similar to that required under the Contract; and | ||
| 3. | Whether the contractor or supplier has the organization and staffing to enable the contractor or supplier to perform the contract successfully and promptly, within the time specified and without delay or interference; and | ||
| 4. | The character, integrity, reputation, judgment, experience and efficiency of the contractor or supplier; and | ||
| 5. | The quality of the contractor or supplier’s performance of previous contracts; and | ||
| 6. | The contractor or supplier’s safety record, including OSHA citations, in the past three years; and | ||
| 7. | The previous and existing compliance by the contractor or supplier with the laws and ordinances relating to public bidding generally and to this contract in particular; and | ||
| 8. | The sufficiency of the financial resources and ability of the contractor or supplier to perform the contract in particular; and | ||
| 9. | The information derived by the library from references supplied by the contractor or supplier or from inquiries by library with respect to prior work performed by the contractor or supplier; and | ||
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A pre-award interview may be required at which the contractor or supplier would present its qualifications and project team and discuss this project with the library; and | ||
| 11. | Any other factor that the library may legally consider in determining the proposal that is in the best interests of the library. | ||
III. INVESTMENTS
The authority to purchase investments on behalf of the Library is given to the Treasurer of the Village of Arlington Heights. The Village Treasurer is bonded by the Library as required by state law (75 ILCS 5/4-9). Cash and investment management is governed by the policies of the Village of Arlington Heights Board of Trustees. Financial reports are provided by the Village Finance Department to the Board of Library Trustees on a monthly basis.