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Ouray County commissioners raise informal procurement threshold, add federal compliance language
Summary
The Board of County Commissioners unanimously adopted Resolution 2025-002 to update the county procurement, credit card and grants policy, raising the informal-bid floor and adding federal procurement requirements, vendor-diversity language and training for staff.
The Ouray County Board of County Commissioners on Jan. 28 adopted Resolution 2025-002, amending the county procurement, credit card and grants policy to raise the minimum threshold for informal bids from $500 to $2,500 and to incorporate federal procurement requirements and minority-/women-owned business checklists.
Why it matters: The change alters when staff must collect written or verbal informal quotes and updates language to reflect state and federally funded grants the county now manages. Commissioners said the move is meant to increase administrative efficiency while preserving accountability and due diligence for purchases.
County manager Connie Hunt, who led the proposal, told commissioners that the change raises the informal-bid cap that previously applied to smaller purchases and should allow staff to avoid developing formal RFPs for higher-value routine purchases. “We have been talking about it for a while — increasing that upper limit on the informal bids from $5,000 to $24,009.99,” Hunt said, and described the changes as intended to make routine purchasing more efficient while keeping minimal documentation and shopping requirements in place.
Hunt and county attorney Leo reviewed other revisions incorporated into the draft policy, including: - Incorporating federal grant requirements tied to programs such as VOCA, EMPG and FEMA and adding language about minority business and women business checklists that are required under those grants. - Clarifying the sole-source language to track recent state legislation and to add a paragraph addressing state and federal purchasing obligations. - A plan for county-run training in February covering procurement, credit cards and contracts.
Commissioners debated a tiered threshold structure for informal procurements. Several commissioners said the existing $500 lower tier was impractical for common purchases such as conference lodging or urgent field supplies; others said the county should retain a second set of eyes on expenditures even for low-dollar items. After discussion, the board directed two global edits that Hunt will make before the final document is posted: raising the informal-bid minimum in the policy text from $500 to $2,500, and replacing the phrase “authorized user” on county credit-card forms with “named cardholder.” Hunt said staff will update related forms and the event matrix throughout the document to match the new tiering.
Commissioner discussion emphasized that an informal bid remains required for the mid-tier purchases but that the required documentation can be either a verbal-quote form or written/email quotations; Hunt stressed the policy still asks people to “shop around.” Leo flagged recent new state laws affecting construction procurement and noted a pending ballot measure about sole-sourcing and campaign contributions.
Outcome: The board voted unanimously to adopt Resolution 2025-002 with the two edits ordered by the commissioners and with a commitment from county manager Hunt to update staff forms and schedule the staff training in February.
What’s next: Hunt will circulate a redline of the policy implementing the two board directions and schedule the planned training for staff.
