5.2. ERMUSR 03-08-2011 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Frequently Asked Questions Q. WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES OF BEING A MEMBER OF NJPA? A. • Membership establishes a legal paper trail between NJPA and the Member, justifying contract access. • Access fo competitively bid contracts, procured by a municipal contracting agency that your agency is a part of. Because our Membership is a]aint Powers Agreement, your municipality is an owner as well as a Member o f NJPA. You actually become a represented participant in the bidding process. • Considerable time and resource savings for participating Members. • Nationally leveraged and aggregated pricing and services. • Nationally acclaimed and recognized vendors. • Broad range of high qualify products and services. • Contrails solicited, awarded and monitored by a municipol agency and governed by a publicly elected board of directors. N]PA also conducts an annual, independent audit as a municipal contracting agency. The annual audit is submitted to the State of Minnesota as required by state law. Q. AS NJPA MEMBERS, ARE WE STILL ABLE TO BUY FROM OTHER CONTRACTS? A- Yes, all NJPA contrails are non~xduslve and are contracts of choice by our Members. Q. CAN MY PUBLIC AGENCY USE NJPA CONTRACTS WITHOUT GOING OUT FOR SOLICITATION? A. Yes, in most states. All NJPA bid contracts have been competitively solicited nationally, reviewed and awarded by the NJPA Board of Directors in accordance with Minnesota public purchasing rules and regulations under the Municipal Contracting Laws, MS. 471 .345. Each solicitation and RFP contains language which ~mcludes all qualified customers in all fifty states. The RFP advises all responders that they must apply to all qualified customers In all fifty states and in some cases the provinces and terrtories of Canada- All RFP respondents understand that these contracts shall be used by member governmental, educational and non profit agences throughout the Untied States. Q. WHAT IS A JOINT EXERCISE OF POWERS OR COOPERATIVE PROCUREMENT AUTHORITY? A. State Joint Powers Statutes generally allow for one government agency to purchase using contracts competitively solicited by another government agency. This, of course, would require the consent of all parties, including the supplier- NJPA's contracts are established to meet both the competitive solicitation and consent requirements. Generally, a public or munldpa agency may participate ln, conduct or administer a cooperative procurement ogreement with one or more other governmenta! units for the purpose of meeting requirements to Increase efficiency or reduce administrative expenses. A cooperative agreement also allows for the purchase of supplies, materials, equipment or services by qualified agencies so os not to repeat or dupPicate the competitive bidding requirements necessary for a governmental agency purchase. The term "Governmental Unii" as used here usually includes every city, county, town, school district or other political subdivision of this or another stale; the state university; any agency of the state or of the United States, and any instrumentality of a governmental unit- In some states, this power is not passed onto specific municipal agencies. These agreements are known as Joint Powers Agreements, Membership Agreements, Participation Agreements and sometimes Intergovernmental or Interiocal Agreements. Q. HOW CAN I OBTAIN COPIES OF THE LEGAL DOCUMENTATION ASSOCIATED WITH EACH CONTRACT? A- As a municipal agency, NJPA Is required to provide full disclosure of all procurement documents and files. Procurement files are electronically available at www.njpacoop.org or in hard copy at our office during normal NJPA business hours. Q. WHAT ARE THE PARTS OF AN AWARDED NJPA PURCHASING CONTRACT? A. NJPA contracts are made up of the terms and conditions of the RFP, submitted and accepted pricing and discount schedule and the Acceptance Award document signed by the NJPA board and awarded vendor.