Due to the increasing costs of materials, labor and product acquisitions, staff has witnessed a growing number of projects requiring bids and, correspondingly, an extended time frame to contract award.

In 2013, Montana Code Annotated, Section 7-5-2301, was amended to increase the dollar amount above which sealed bids are required from $50,000 to $80,000.

In February of 2016, staff presented a new Purchasing Policy to City Council, along with the procedures to then be adopted by Administrative Order. At that same time, members of Council had asked staff to review existing resolutions and code to see if the City Administrator, rather than the City Council, would be able to approve small change orders and contract amendments. Staff determined that increasing the bid threshold and the City Administrator's signing authority to $80,000 and adding "amendments and change orders," to the previously adopted Resolution would effectively accomplish this task. In 2016, a new Policy statement and Procedures were adopted, but Council chose to disapprove the increase in bid threshold and City Administrator signing authority.

The City Administrator recently informed the City Council that staff work forward the changes outlined above.  These changes will also be made in the Purchasing Procedures, which will concurrently be adopted by Administrative Order.

Additionally, the State's threshold for issuing Requests for Proposals for consultant, professional services, software agreements, etc. is set at $25,000.  The State's threshold for issuing Requests for Proposals for contracts for architectural, engineering and land surveying services is set at $50,000.  The new Purchasing Procedures propose the City increase the RFP amounts to  match the State's guidelines. 

Minor grammatical and language changes are also proposed for clarification.

City Council may:

Approve the amended resolution; or

Disapprove the amended resolution, and continue to receive smaller contracts, amendments and change orders being presented to City Council for approval.

Competing more projects via written quote, rather than invitations for bids, will maintain competition and likely result in reduced overall costs for the City.  The RFP process can take several weeks and many hours of staff work, which are unwarranted for small dollar professional service contracts.