Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Procurement topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Council introduces ordinance to clarify purchasing rules, bid‑protest process
Summary
The council introduced Ordinance 1339 to amend the municipal code on purchasing and public‑project bid protests, clarifying professional services exemptions, adding RFP processes, a standardization exception, defined protest deadlines and an appeal threshold aligned with state law ($220,000); the motion passed 5‑0 on first reading.
City staff presented Ordinance 1339, a package of updates to chapters 3.28 and 3.30 of the San Dimas Municipal Code clarifying the city’s purchasing system and bid‑protest procedures.
The staff summary outlined five core changes: (1) clarify that professional services (engineers, attorneys, auditors) are exempt from lowest‑bid mandates; (2) add a request‑for‑proposal process for non‑professional services and goods so the city may weigh factors in addition to price; (3) add a standardization/sole‑source exception where uniformity of city products is required; (4) set clear deadlines for bid‑spec protests to avoid late challenges; and (5) align the appeal threshold so projects under $220,000 are final at the city manager level while projects above that may be appealed to the city council (the $220,000 figure comes from state public contracting law adopted in 2025). The council moved to introduce the ordinance for first reading and waive full reading; the motion carried 5‑0.
Why it matters: The amendments clarify procurement practice, reduce procedural uncertainty in construction bidding and bring city code into alignment with current state thresholds.
