As the fight against the coronavirus wages on, local government purchasing officers, clerks, department heads, and others who handle procurements are scouring every vendor and supplier they can think of to find everything from surgical masks and gloves to rental equipment to sanitizing and cleaning supplies to telework devices, and yes, even the ever-elusive toilet […]
Posts Tagged ‘bidding’
School of Government COVID-19 Procurement Resources – We’re Here to Help!
Thursday, April 16th, 2020Companies that Boycott Israel – New Contracting Limitation But No Action Required Yet!
Thursday, August 17th, 2017During the final week of the recently adjourned 2017 legislative session, the General Assembly enacted S.L. 2017-193 (H161), “Divestment from Companies that Boycott Israel.” This legislation created a new Article 6G of Chapter 147 prohibiting the investment of state funds in or governmental contracting with any company that boycotts or is involved in a boycott […]
Iran Divestment Act Changes – No Certification Required Anymore!
Wednesday, August 16th, 2017In 2015, the General Assembly enacted the Iran Divestment Act (IDA) which prohibits state agencies and local governments from contracting with a company that the NC State Treasurer has determined invests more than $20 million dollars in the Iranian energy sector (for more information on the IDA, see this blog post). The Treasurer is required […]
HB2 Reset Beyond Bathrooms . . . Local Government Contracting Limitations Repealed
Thursday, March 30th, 2017Earlier today the General Assembly passed H142 (S.L. 2017-4), Reset of S.L. 2016 repealing HB2 (S.L. 2016-3), the Public Facilities Privacy and Security Act, which was enacted during a special session held in March 2016. In repealing HB2, H142 enacts a new statute preempting state agency and local governments from regulating access to multiple occupancy […]
Beyond Bathrooms – Special Session Legislation Impacts City and County Contracts
Thursday, March 24th, 2016UPDATE March 2017: See this post for a discussion of the impact of HB2’s repeal on city and county contracting authority. UPDATED April 2016: See Trey Allen’s blog post update for information on a recent 4th Circuit ruling that has bearing on HB2 (Title IX discrimination claim involving a transgender student’s use of bathrooms in […]
IT’S BACK . . . New E-Verify Contracting Requirements
Monday, October 5th, 2015In the waning days of the 2015 legislative session, the General Assembly enacted legislation that once again changes the E-Verify contracting prohibition for state and local government contracts. In some respects HB318 (Protect North Carolina Workers Act) limits the prohibition; in many other respects, however, the prohibition has been expanded. Local governments, school units, […]
New Construction Contractor Prequalification Requirements
Tuesday, July 29th, 2014Since 1995, local governments have had express statutory authorization to prequalify bidders for public construction contracts under G.S. 143-135.8. If you look to this statute for guidance on the criteria or process to be used for prequalifying bidders, you will find the following: “Bidders may be prequalified for any public construction project.” That’s it? That’s […]
Disposing of Small Surplus Items: One Man’s Junk is Another Man’s Treasure
Thursday, April 3rd, 2014Warm weather is finally here and it’s time for some spring cleaning. There’s your worn out office chair, that dented file cabinet whose drawers are stuck shut, those obsolete computers, and goodness-knows-what that is gathering dust in the public works warehouse. You hate to throw the stuff away. If someone will buy it (some people […]
New Design-Build Bridging Construction Method – Design-Build “Lite”
Thursday, February 6th, 2014My last post discussed the new design-build construction method authorized by the General Assembly during the 2013 Session. S.L. 2013-401/H857 created not only a design-build construction contracting process, but also a construction contracting process called design-build bridging. Enacted as G.S. 143-128.1B, design-build bridging might be thought of as design-build “lite,” meaning it is a somewhat […]
New Design-Build Construction Method – No Local Act Required
Wednesday, January 29th, 2014Those familiar with local government construction contracting know the drill – put out an RFQ to hire an architect or engineer to design the project and then bid the construction work. But what if a local government wants to hire both its design professional and its contractor at the beginning of the project to work […]
E-Verify Requirements Apply to Public Contracts – NOW!
Wednesday, September 4th, 2013UPDATE: The General Assembly amended the E-Verify contracting prohibition for cities and counties during the 2014 legislative session. Under Section 13 of S.L. 2014-119, which went into effect on October 1, 2014, the E-Verify contracting prohibition now ONLY applies to purchase and construction or repair contracts in the formal bidding ranges (i.e., those subject to […]
2013 Public Purchasing and Contracting Legislative Update – What’s Hot and What’s Not
Thursday, June 6th, 2013The General Assembly’s crossover deadline has come and gone, so now is a good time to pause and take stock of pending legislation affecting public purchasing and contracting. Bills proposing changes to our state’s public contracting statutes include authorizing design-build and public private partnership construction contracts, authorizing local preferences, and requiring E-Verify by construction contractors. […]
New SOG Publication on HUB Participation Requirements . . . And Other SOG Purchasing and Contracting Resources
Wednesday, February 20th, 2013Which of the following statements is true? A local government can reject a construction bid if the bidder does not list enough HUB subcontractors to meet the local government’s HUB participation goals. If a bidder forgets to identify on his bid the HUB subcontractors he plans to use on a project, he can submit this […]
Mini-Brooks Act FAQ’s
Wednesday, September 28th, 2011NOTE: This post has been updated to reflect changes enacted by the General Assembly in 2013 and 2014. In North Carolina, the procurement of professional services performed by architects, engineers, surveyors, and construction managers at risk is governed by G.S. 143-64.31, sometimes referred to as the “Mini-Brooks Act.” Following are some frequently asked questions about […]
2011 Purchasing and Contracting Legislative Wrap-Up
Friday, July 1st, 2011The North Carolina General Assembly adjourned on June 18, 2011 and will reconvene next month on July 13th. When it reconvenes in July, the legislature will only consider a narrow list of bills, namely redistricting, election laws, legislative appointments to boards and commissions, bills vetoed by the governor, and bills already in conference (Res. 2011-9). So, unless the […]
Emergency Procurement – When is an emergency really an emergency?
Tuesday, June 7th, 2011A tornado has ripped through Coatesville, damaging its water and sewer system, tearing the roof off of town hall, destroying the police department’s vehicles, and leaving tons of debris in its wake. The town declares a state of emergency and immediately begins mobilizing to recover from the disaster. Citizens are without water and sewer, town […]
When Do Government Transparency Laws Apply to Private Entities?
Wednesday, June 1st, 2011A city contracts with a private company to collect solid waste within the city. If not for this contract, city employees would carry out this function. The only connection between the city and the company is the contract. It’s a small company and the contract accounts for a significant portion of its revenue. Is the […]
Rejecting Bids – Who Can and When Can They?
Wednesday, April 13th, 2011Pauline Purchaser has advertised a contract and is pleased by the number of bids she’s received. When she opens the bids, much to her dismay, she discovers that all are way over budget. As Pauline regroups to figure out what went wrong, she realizes there was a flaw in the specifications. She decides to reject […]
Signed, Sealed, Delivered: When Sealed Bids Are Required
Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011Your school system is bidding out a $1.2 million school construction project. Because the total cost of the project will exceed the formal bidding threshold for construction and repair ($500,000), you’ve advertised for formal bids. The bids are due tomorrow at 2 p.m. Right before you leave the office for the day, your phone rings. […]
Counting the Days
Wednesday, February 9th, 2011Paul Purchaser is putting the final touches on his first Invitation for Bids (IFB) for Carolina City, and he’s trying to figure out when he has to place the advertisement for the IFB in the newspaper. He knows the formal bidding statute says something about 7 days between the advertisement and the bid opening, but […]
Local Preferences in Public Contracting, Part 6
Wednesday, December 8th, 2010This is the final post in a series on local preference policies. (Earlier posts can be found here, here, here, here, and here.) Once again, we find ourselves listening in on the Emerald City Council meeting where the Council is discussing local preference policies. The Council has just heard from Mr. Green Apple, a representative […]
Local Preferences in Public Contracting, Part 5
Wednesday, November 24th, 2010This is the fifth installment in a series of posts discussing the efforts of the City Council of Emerald City, North Carolina, to support its local businesses by adopting a local preference policy. (You can find the earlier installments here, here, here, and here.) In the last post, City Attorney Tin Man explained the constitutional […]
Local Preferences in Public Contracting, Part 4
Wednesday, November 10th, 2010This is the fourth installment of a series of posts discussing the efforts of the City Council of Emerald City, North Carolina, to support its local businesses by adopting a local preference policy. (You can find the earlier installments here, here, and here.) In the last post, City Attorney Tin Man gave the City Council […]
Local Preferences in Public Contracting, Part 3
Wednesday, October 20th, 2010In my last two posts (here and here), I’ve discussed the efforts of the City Council of Emerald City, North Carolina, to support its local businesses by adopting a local preference policy. Purchasing Officer Scarecrow has just finished reviewing the Council’s goals for the policy: reducing local unemployment, supporting local businesses, increasing Emerald City’s tax […]
Local Preferences in Public Contracting, Part 2
Wednesday, October 6th, 2010In my last post, I talked about the efforts of the City Council of Emerald City, North Carolina, to support its local businesses by adopting a local preference policy. We now rejoin our friends in Emerald City, where the City Council has asked Purchasing Officer Scarecrow to research what goals a preference policy might achieve. […]
Local Preferences in Public Contracting, Part 1
Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010Hard times have come to Emerald City, North Carolina. People are out of work, no one is buying or building anything, and it doesn’t look like things will get better anytime soon. The Emerald City Council has decided that they need to take action to help out their local businesses, so they decide to pass […]
The ABCs of IFBs, ITBs, RFPs, RFQs, and RFIs
Wednesday, September 1st, 2010What’s the difference between an IFB, and RFP, and an RFQ, and what are they anyway? As I’ll explain in more detail in this post, what name you give a solicitation document—the document you use to solicit bids or proposals—is not as important as the process you use to award the contract. And the North […]
2010 Local Government Purchasing and Contracting Legislative Update
Wednesday, August 18th, 2010[Updated 8/26/2010 to include link to list of approved computer equipment manufacturers and television manufacturers.] This wasn’t a big year for changes to local government purchasing and contracting in North Carolina, although there were significant changes affecting North Carolina state agency purchasing and contracting. Since this blog focuses on local governments, this post highlights those […]
Conflicts of Interest and Subcontractors
Wednesday, August 4th, 2010One of your city council members, Georgia Peach, is a plumber, and owns her own plumbing business, Peaches & Plumbs, LLP. Peaches & Plumbs often subcontracts with one of the bigger and more reputable general contractors in town, Constructive Construction, Inc. Your city is getting ready to renovate the town hall, and, as it turns […]
All For One and One For All: Competitive Bidding Group Purchasing Programs
Wednesday, July 21st, 2010Have you heard of U.S. Communities? What about National IPA? Or HGAC? WSCA? TCPN? NJPA? This alphabet soup of organizations (and others like them) can provide North Carolina local governments with purchasing flexibility and efficiency through an exception to the bidding statutes for “competitive bidding group purchasing programs.” This exception, found in G.S. 143-129(e)(3), was […]
Good Faith Efforts? Prove It!
Wednesday, July 7th, 2010Your local government has just received single-prime bids on the construction of a new civic center. After evaluating the bids you’ve received, you determine that Crafty Contractor Construction Company (“Crafty”) is the apparent lowest responsive, responsible bidder. Crafty identified four historically underutilized businesses (HUBs, that is, minority and women-owned businesses) that it will use on […]
Brand-specific specifications
Wednesday, May 19th, 2010Your public works department is planning to construct a new waste water collection system, and, in a meeting with your engineer, you learn that a piece of equipment she plans to include in the bid specifications is a proprietary piece of equipment manufactured by only one company, No-Stink, Inc. She tells you that this particular […]
Executive Order 50 and Local Governments
Wednesday, April 21st, 2010Many of you are aware that Governor Bev Purdue recently signed an executive order to give North Carolina businesses the opportunity to match the lowest bid when bidding on state contracts for the purchase of goods. You can find Executive Order 50 here. This post addresses the questions that I’ve received about this Order.
Bidding Confidential
Thursday, April 8th, 2010Your local government has just awarded a contract for digital imaging software to Super Secret Software, Inc., after considering several proposals submitted in response to your request for proposals. Sour Grapes Software, LLC, one of the vendors who submitted a proposal but was not awarded the contract, calls to ask you for a copy of […]
Low Bidder Limbo: When the Low Bid Is Too Low
Tuesday, November 10th, 2009You’ve just received bids on a construction project estimated (by your engineer) to cost about $2 million. The lowest bid is for $1.5 million, and the next highest bid is $1.9 million, with the other bids ranging from $2.1 million to $2.3 million. After reviewing the bids, you think the lowest bidder must have made […]
Federal Grants and Codes of Conduct
Wednesday, November 4th, 2009As I mentioned in my post last week, the Grants Management Common Rule (which applies to all federal grants) requires entities that receive federal grants to establish a “code of conduct.” This post will address what the Rule says about what the code of conduct must include.
Protests and ARRA and Bears, Oh My!
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009Now that local governments are digging in to the requirements that apply to American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grants, I’ve started to get questions about developing bid protest procedures. Are these procedures required? If so, what should the procedures look like? And where can I find a sample bid protest procedure?
Prequalification: Good, bad, or indifferent?
Tuesday, October 20th, 2009Your local government is planning a major construction project, and the engineering firm working with you on the project has strongly recommended prequalifying contractors before bidding. The engineer tells you that this will ensure that the bids you receive are only from serious, qualified bidders, making the bidding process more efficient. This sounds appealing to […]
Contracting Without a License? Beware.
Tuesday, October 13th, 2009You’ve just received bids on a construction project costing $50,000, and discovered that the lowest bidder is not a licensed general contractor. When you bring this to the bidder’s attention, she tells you that she will be licensed by the time the project is scheduled to start. Can you accept her bid?
Before You Start Recycling Your Bid Files, Read This!
Tuesday, October 6th, 2009Your local government has just awarded a contract. Now what are you supposed to do with all of the bids, bid tabulations, paperwork, and email generated by the bidding process? Can you throw any of it away? Do you have to keep any of it, and, if so, for how long?
Buying Without Bidding: Limits on Three Common Exceptions to the Bidding Laws
Tuesday, September 8th, 2009Your county needs to buy 5 new law enforcement vehicles costing $30,000 each, and the sheriff tells you that he prefers a specific make and model with certain options. The sheriff also tells you that he knows that a neighboring county recently bought 10 law enforcement vehicles of the same make and model, with the […]
To Bid or Not to Bid? How to Buy Hardware and Software
Tuesday, August 18th, 2009NOTE: This post has been updated to reflect changes enacted by the General Assembly in 2015. Is your local government still using 10-year-old desktop computers? Do you need to buy new anti-spyware software? Or do you need to update your phone system? If the answer to any of these questions is yes, and you decide […]