Procurement Standards

No employee, officer or agent of the grantee shall participate in the selection, or in the award or administration of a contract, if a conflict of interest, real or apparent, would be involved.  The grantee's officers, employees or agents shall neither solicit nor accept gratuities, favors or anything of monetary value from contractors, potential contractors, or parties to sub agreements.

Procurement under grants shall be made by one of the following methods:

Small Purchase Procedures

These procedures are those relatively simple and informal procurement methods that are sound and appropriate for a procurement of services (professional services such as architectural, engineering, environmental review preparation now fall within this category), supplies or other property costing in the aggregate not more than $100,000. If small purchase procedures are used for procurement under a grant, price or rate quotations must be obtained from at least two qualified sources, and appropriate documentation must be maintained.

Competitive Sealed Bids (Formal Advertising)

Sealed bids are publicly solicited and a firm-fixed contract, lump sum or unit price is awarded to the lowest responsive, responsible bidder whose bid, conforming to all the material terms and conditions of the invitation for bids. In order for formal advertising to be feasible, appropriate conditions must be present, including, at a minimum, the following:

• A complete, adequate, and realistic specification or purchase description must be available;
• Two or more responsible suppliers are willing and able to compete effectively for the grantee's business
• The procurement lends itself to a firm-fixed price contractor, and selection of the successful bidder can appropriately be made principally on the basis of price.

If formal advertising is used for procurement under a grant, the following requirements shall apply:

• A complete, adequate, and realistic specification or purchase description must be available;
• Two or more responsible suppliers are willing and able to compete effectively for the grantee's business
• The procurement lends itself to a firm-fixed price contractor, and selection of the successful bidder can appropriately be made principally on the basis of price.
• Invitation for solicitations must be publicly advertised.  Sufficient time will be allowed to receive an adequate number of bids from known suppliers, prior to the date for opening of bids.
• The invitation for bids, including specifications and pertinent attachments, shall clearly define the items or services needed in order for the bidders to properly respond to the invitation.
• All bids shall be opened publicly at the time and place stated in the invitation.
• A firm fixed-price contract award shall be made by written notice to the responsible bidder whose bid, conforming to the invitation for bids, is the lowest.  Where specified in the bidding documents, factors such as discounts, transportation costs and life cycle costs shall be considered in determining which bid is lowest.  Payment discounts may only be used to determine low bid when prior experience of the grantee indicates that such discounts are generally taken.
• Any or all bids may be rejected when there are sound documented business reasons for doing so, that are in the best interest of the program.

Competitive Negotiation

This is the method used to obtain engineering, architectural and other professional services costing in the aggregate more than $100,000.  Using this method, proposals are requested from a number of sources and the request for proposals is publicized.  Negotiations are normally conducted with more than one of the sources submitting offers; either a fixed price or cost reimbursable type contract is awarded, as appropriate.  If competitive negotiation is used for procurement under a grant, the following requirements shall apply:

• Proposals shall be solicited from an adequate number of qualified sources to permit reasonable competition consistent with the nature and requirements of the procurement.  The "Request for Proposal" shall be publicized and reasonable requests by other sources to compete shall be honored to the maximum extent practicable.
• The "Request for Proposal" shall identify all significant evaluation factors, including price or cost where required and their relative importance.
• Grantee shall provide mechanisms for technical evaluation of proposals received, determinations of responsible offerers for the purpose of written or oral discussions, and selection for contract award.
• Award may be made to the responsible offerer whose proposal will be most advantageous to the procuring party, price and other factors considered.  Unsuccessful offerers should be notified promptly.
• Grantees may utilize competitive negotiation procedures for procurement of professional services, whereby competitors' qualifications are evaluated and the most qualified competitor is selected, subject to negotiation of fair and reasonable compensation.

Noncompetitive Negotiation

This method is referred to as "sole source" procurement.  This procurement method is by solicitation of a proposal from only one source, or after solicitation of a number of sources, competition is determined inadequate.  Noncompetitive negotiation may be used when the award of a contract is infeasible under small purchase, competitive bidding (formal advertising) or competitive negotiation procedures.  Circumstances under which a contract may be awarded by noncompetitive negotiation are limited to the following upon written authorization of the state:

• The item is available only from a single source; or
• Public emergency when the urgency for the requirement will not permit a delay incident to competitive solicitation; or
• After solicitation of a number of sources, competition is determined inadequate.

Force Account Procurement Procedures

Use local procurement procedures for raw material purchases.  If grantee does not have formal procurement procedures, use the policies in this section.

It is the policy of the State of Colorado that minority business enterprises shall have the maximum practicable opportunity to participate in the performance of these contracts. The CDBG grantee is expected to carry out this policy to the fullest extent practicable, consistent with the efficient performance of its project. As used in this contract, the term "minority business enterprise" means a business, at least 51 percent of which is owned by minority group members or, in the case of publicly owned businesses, at least 51 percent of the stock of which is owned by minority group members. For purposes of this definition, minority group members are Blacks, Black Americans, Spanish-speaking Americans, Asian Americans, American Indians, American Eskimos and Aleuts.The contractor may rely on written representations by bidders, contractors, and subcontractors, regarding their status as minority business enterprises and need not conduct an independent investigation.

All contracts and loan agreements written in excess of $10,000 by grantees and their contractors or subgrantees shall contain a provision requiring compliance with Federal Executive Order 11246, entitled "Equal Employment Opportunity," as amended by Executive Order 11375, and as supplemented in Department of Labor Regulations (41 CFR, Part 60).

All contracts and subgrants for construction or repair shall include a provision for compliance with the Federal Copeland "Anti-Kickback Act" (18 USC 874) as supplemented in Department of Labor Regulations (29 CFR, Part 3).  This Act provides that each contractor or subgrantee shall be prohibited from including, by any means, any person employed in the construction, completion, or repair of public work, to give up any part of the compensation to which he/she would otherwise be entitled.  The grantee shall report all suspected or reported violations to the state.