5.3. ERMUSR 06-10-2008 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Adams, Bryan rom: Johnson, Lori Sent: Tuesday, April 22, 2008 10:43 AM To: Allard, Tina; Maurer, Terry; Barnhart, Jeremy; Beahen, Jeff; West, Bruce; Adams, Bryan; Vita, Bryan Cc: Simon, Tim Subject: FW: Bidding Law Here is a copy of the bidding law change we discussed this morning. If you have any questions about whether something needs to be bid, please check with Tim before you proceed. Lori From: Johnson, Lori Sent: Monday, April 21, 2008 8:46 AM To: Simon, Tim Subject: Bidding Law Tim -FYI - in case you haven't seen this yet. Competitive bid threshold increase bill signed into law On Thursday, Governor Tim Pawlenty signed into law Chapter 207, the legislation authored by Sen. Rick Olseen (DFL-Harris) and Rep. Paul Marq_uart (DFL-Dilworth) SF 3622/HF 3646 increases the competitive bid .~reshold in Minn. Stat. § 471.345, to $100,000 from the current $50,000 level. The new law continues to allow cities to award contracts to contractors offering the "best value" under a request for proposals as described in Minn. Stat. § 16C.28. The law will be effective on August 1, 2008. The legislation was initiated by the Minnesota Association of Townships and is supported by the League of Minnesota Cities and the Minnesota Inter-County Association. Under the competitive bidding statute, a contract is defined as an agreement entered into by a municipality for the sale, purchase or rental of supplies, materials or equipment or for the construction, alteration, repair or maintenance of real or personal property. The new law also increases the contract threshold amount that triggers the competitive bidding requirement from $50,000 to $100,000. The threshold was increased to $50,000 in 2000 for cities over 2,500 population and then increased for cities under 2,500 population in 2004. If the contract is estimated to exceed $25,000, but not to exceed $100,000, the new law specifies that competitive bidding is allowed but not required. These limits are currently set at $10,000 and $50,000. For contracts in this range, the contract may be made either upon sealed bids or by direct negotiation, by obtaining two or more quotations for the purchase or sale when possible. However, if the city chooses to use the competitive-bidding process, it must follow through with the procedure even though it was not originally required. Tf a contract is estimated to be $25,000 or less, the city has the choice of making the contract upon quotation or i the open market. If the city makes the contract upon quotation, the city must obtain at least two quotations and keep them on file for at least one year after their receipt.