§ 2-285. General provisions.

The provisions of this article are based upon the authority granted to the Board of County Commissioners of Polk County, Florida, in Chapter 125, Florida Statutes, and the Polk County Charter that came into effect on January 1, 1999.

(a)

Title. This article shall be known and cited as the "Polk County Procurement Ordinance."

(b)

Application and exclusions. The provisions of this article shall apply to every purchase/procurement of goods, services, supplies, equipment or materials, or the letting of any contract for vertical and horizontal construction of any type for any agency, department, or advisory board under the control of the board of county commissioners, irrespective of their funding source, including state and federal assistance monies, except as otherwise specified by law and to the sale or conveyance of real or personal property belonging to the county. They shall not apply to:

1.

Agreements between the board and nonprofit organizations or governmental entities, including the procurement, transfer sale or exchange of goods and/or services.

2.

Procurement of dues and memberships in trade or professional organizations; subscriptions for periodicals; advertisements; postage; expert witnesses; lobbying services; abstracts of titles for real property; title insurance for real property; court reporter services; water, telecommunication services, sewer and electricity for the use of the board of county commissioners or any agency, department or advisory board under the control of the board of county commissioners, where a fee or charge is paid to the provider for those utilities; copyrighted materials; patented materials; litigation support services; and fees and costs of job-related seminars and training.

3.

Goods and/or services given or accepted by the county via grant, gift or bequest.

4.

Real property.

5.

Any contract awarded by the State of Florida; any contract which has been let to the lowest qualified and responsible bidder pursuant to competitive sealed bids by a county, municipality, school board, other units of local government in Florida, the Florida Sheriff's Association, the Florida Association of Counties, or any purchases made pursuant to Section 163.01, Florida Statutes.

6.

Any contract pursuant to request for proposal which has been let to a responsive, responsible proposer, pursuant to competitive sealed proposals by a county, municipality, school board, other units of government and an immediate need has been determined by the purchasing division director.

7.

Items purchased for resale to the general public.

8.

Purchases from private cooperative groups or organizations or a Federal General Services Contract when the best interests of the county would be served thereby, provided the purchasing division has attempted to obtain three (3) written or verbal quotations and those quotations confirm that the contract price is lower than the price available from vendors who are not a party to said contract.

9.

The repair of wrecked county vehicles which have been designated for repair by the county's risk manager.

10.

Purchases of educational tests, text books, printed instructional materials, films, filmstrips, video-tapes, disk or tape recording or similar licensed or copyrighted audio-visual materials, computer software, library books, reference books, periodicals, printed library cards, and other copyrighted materials where these items are purchased directly from the producer or publisher, the owner of the copyright, an exclusive agent within the state, a governmental agency, or a recognized educational institution.

11.

The binding of insurance policies.

(c)

Women/Minority Business Enterprise (W/MBE) Program policy statement. The policy statement of the W/BME is hereby made a part of this section and is described as follows: It shall be the policy of the Polk County board of county commissioners that W/MBE participants shall have the maximum feasible opportunity to participate in the county's procurement process. The county's purchasing division shall do the following:

1.

Ensure nondiscrimination in the administration of the county's procurement process;

2.

Maintain a procurement environment in which W/MBE participants can compete fairly;

3.

Prevent barriers that may obstruct W/MBE participation in the county's procurement activities;

4.

Assist in the development of firms so that they can compete successfully in the market place outside the W/MBE program; and

5.

Implement the vendor preference and sheltered market programs as set forth below:

a.

Intent and purpose. It is the intent and purpose of these programs to encourage the utilization of women and minority owned businesses which have the benefit to the county of assisting the local economy with job formation while also adhering to the county's binding settlement agreement.

b.

Definitions.

Vendor preference: A program that allows for a local vendor or a W/MBE vendor to match the bid or quote of a non-local or non-W/MBE vendor if that local or W/MBE vendor's bid or quote is within a predetermined percentage as stated in the vendor preference policy.

Sheltered market program: A program which provides that selected procurement opportunities are designated, before solicitation, for competition between registered W/MBEs and local preference vendors only.

Women or minority owned entity: Any business having at least fifty-one (51) per cent ownership by women or minority group members who independently control the management and day-to-day operations of the firm. Group members are Females, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian-Pacific Americans, Native Americans, and Asian-Indian Americans. For purposes of this amendment, women and minority owned entities shall be defined as those entities that have businesses in Hardee, Highlands, Hillsborough, Lake, Manatee, Okeechobee, Orange, Osceola, Pasco, Pinellas and Sumter Counties.

c.

Vendor preference. The vendor preference policy shall be implemented in the following manner:

(i)

When written quotations less than fifty thousand dollars ($50,000.00) are received, and the lowest price is offered by a non-women or minority owned entity located outside of Polk County, and a price is offered by a women or minority owned entity that is within five (5) per cent of the lowest price offered, then the women or minority owned entity shall be given the opportunity to match the lowest price offered, and if agreement to match the lowest price is reached, the women or minority owned entity will be awarded the quote if the women or minority owned entity is otherwise fully qualified and meets all county requirements.

(ii)

When sealed bids are received that do not exceed three million dollars ($3,000,000.00) and the lowest price is offered by a non-women or minority owned entity located outside of Polk County, and a price is offered by a women or minority owned entity that is within two (2) per cent of the lowest price offered, then the women or minority owned entity shall be given the opportunity to match the lowest price offered, and if agreement to match the lowest price is reached, the women or minority owned entity will be awarded the bid if the women or minority owned entity is otherwise fully qualified and meets all county requirements.

(iii)

When sealed bids are received that are greater than three million dollars ($3,000,000.00) but do not exceed five million dollars ($5,000,000.00), and the lowest price is offered by a non-women or minority owned entity located outside of Polk County, and a price is offered by a women or minority owned entity that is within one per cent of the lowest price offered, then the women or minority owned entity shall be given the opportunity to match the lowest price offered, and if agreement to match lowest price is reached, the women or minority owned entity will be awarded the bid if the women or minority owned entity is otherwise fully qualified and meets all county requirements.

(iv)

If a contract is being funded in whole or in part by assistance of any federal, state or local agency which disallows this form of preference, the county will adhere to those requirements by not applying this section.

(v)

This policy in no way supersedes the local preference policy.

d.

Sheltered market. The sheltered market policy shall be implemented in the following manner:

(i)

Where it is determined that there are at least three (3) W/MBE vendors that indicate they are willing and able to bid on a procurement opportunity then that solicitation will be deemed eligible for the sheltered market program.

(ii)

The sheltered market program will be utilized in all areas that the board of county commissioners (BoCC) solicits bids. Areas such as, but not limited to, the purchasing of goods, nonprofessional services, construction, and construction-related services are all to be included.

e.

Implementation and administration.

(i)

Implementation of both the vendor preference and sheltered market programs will take place as part of the daily responsibility of the county's purchasing division.

(ii)

Administration of the vendor preference and sheltered market programs and effectiveness will be the responsibility of the office of supplier diversity (OSD). OSD will utilize the purchasing division, information technology division, budgeting and accounts payable divisions, the minority business input team (MBIT) and any and all other departments needed to insure the proper accounting and utilization of dollars and businesses in these programs for reporting purposes.

f.

Bid selection. The minority business input team (MBIT) will serve as advisors to make the final determination of which bids should be eligible for the sheltered market program based on the monthly report provided by purchasing, showing monthly and year-to-date activity. The MBIT will provide input on an ongoing basis.

g.

Reevaluation period. In order to ensure that the maximum possible positive outcomes are being reached in accordance with these programs, a reevaluation period will be set for three (3) years after the date of initial implementation. At this time it should be assessed whether the programs are reaching their intended goals and if the validity and need for these programs still exists. The evaluation report is to be done by the office of supplier diversity who will make the recommendation to the county manager to continue or discontinue the use of the vendor preference and sheltered market programs with Polk County BoCC.

(d)

Local preference. It shall be the policy of the board of county commissioners to afford local preference to Polk County entities in the execution of this article. The local preference policy shall be implemented in the following manner:

When written quotations (less than fifty thousand dollars ($50,000.00)) are received, and the lowest price is offered by an entity located outside of Polk County, and the next lowest price is offered by an entity located in Polk County, and is within five (5) per cent of the lowest price offered, then the Polk County entity shall be given the opportunity to match the lowest price offered, and if agreement to match the lowest price is reached, the Polk County entity will be awarded the quote if the Polk County entity is otherwise fully qualified and meets all county requirements.

When sealed bids are received that do not exceed three million dollars ($3,000,000.00), and the lowest price is offered by an entity located outside of Polk County, and the next lowest price is offered by an entity located in Polk County, and is within two (2) per cent of the lowest price offered, then the Polk County entity shall be given the opportunity to match the lowest price offered, and if agreement to match the lowest price is reached, the Polk County entity will be awarded the bid if the Polk County entity is otherwise fully qualified and meets all county requirements.

When sealed bids are received that are greater than three million dollars ($3,000,000.00) but do not exceed five million dollars ($5,000,000.00), and the lowest price is offered by an entity located outside of Polk County, and the next lowest price is offered by an entity located in Polk County, and is within one per cent of the lowest price offered, then the Polk County entity shall be given the opportunity to match the lowest price offered, and if agreement to match the lowest price is reached, the Polk County entity will be awarded the bid if the Polk County entity is otherwise fully qualified and meets all county requirements.

When sealed bids are received that are greater than five million dollars ($5,000,000.00), and the lowest price is offered by an entity located outside of Polk County, and the next lowest price is offered by an entity located in Polk County, and is within .5 per cent of the lowest price offered, then the Polk County entity shall be given the opportunity to match the lowest price offered, and if agreement to match the lowest price is reached, the Polk County entity will be awarded the bid if the Polk County entity is otherwise fully qualified and meets all county requirements.

For purposes of this provision the term "Polk County entity" means any business having a physical location within the boundaries of Polk County at which employees are located and from which business is regularly transacted.

If a contract is being funded in whole or in part by assistance of any federal, state or local agency which disallows local preference, the county will adhere to those requirements by not applying this section.

(Ord. No. 06-024, § 2, 5-10-06; Ord. No. 08-014, § 1(2), 5-24-08; Ord. No. 08-063, § II(2), 11-18-08; Ord. No. 10-005, § I(2C), 1-20-09 [1-20-10])