Pocatello staff propose purchasing policy updates to align with Idaho code

Christine Howe, grants manager, presented proposed changes to the city's purchasing policy to align thresholds and procedures with the Idaho state purchasing code and GFOA (Government Finance Officers Association) best practices. Howe said state code changes have increased thresholds for different procurement procedures and that aligning the city policy would reduce the need to bring routine purchases to council.

Howe gave examples: professional services above $50,000 include specific Idaho code requirements for architect and construction manager procurements, while purchases under that threshold may be handled by streamlined procedures staff proposed. She said aligning policy would make staff more nimble and reduce project delays caused by waiting multiple weeks for council approvals on already-budgeted items.

Bonnie Schroeder added that the policy update would be an umbrella to cover departments uniformly and that SOPs (standard operating procedures) would match the updated policy for finance steps by department. The changes will be brought back to council for formal adoption at a future regular meeting.