HomeMy WebLinkAboutIR 7616 INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 7616
June 16, 1992
E!FO To the Mayor and Members of the City Council
o*
Subject:
REQUEST FOR BIDS FOR OFFICE SUPPLIES
Several months ago the City Council was asked to consider the award of an
annual contract for the furnishing of office products to the City. One of the
bidders protested the recommended bid award. The Council withdrew the M&C
and directed staff to prepare a new bid. The bases for the protest were:
1. Faulty grammar used in the RFB to indicate the City would accept
goods which were either shrink-wrapped in a tray or contained in a
box (and not shrink-wrapped), and
2. Disagreement on the size of catalog used by the bidders. The RFB
required only that "bidder must quote a firm discount on that
company's general line catalog." The protesting vendor argued that
only their large-sized catalog was appropriate to use and that a
competing vendor had been allowed to bid on a middle-sized
catalog.
Subsequently staff has attempted to redefine the type of office supplies contract
which would best meet the City's current needs. This effort included
consultation for comparative purposes with the cities of Arlington, Dallas, San
Antonio and Tarrant County plus a survey of the larger user departments at
the City of Fort Worth. The result of this effort was a consensus that the
purchase of office supplies is best controlled by obtaining a fixed bid for only
those items with the highest level of use as compared to obtaining a proposal
stated in terms of a discount from catalogue prices for thousands of items.
A review of office supply purchases for the past year as well as the experience
of the other government units seems to reflect that the availability of a multi-
item catalogue leads to an increase in the purchase of non-essential items. A
practice which, it seems, should be curtailed, especially in light of reduced
budget resources.
In concert with the larger u:.:er departments, a list of 117 of the most necessary
office supplies has been developed. With the concurrence of City Council, staff
will proceed with the distribution of the RFB for office supplies. The annual
purchase contract for these items will be awarded to the supplier submitting
the lowest responsive bid.
When purchasing office supplies not covered by the annual contract,
departments will be able to obtain the lowest price for that item at that
particular time. All supplies purchased by departments that are not on the
supply contract will be competitively purchased in one of the following
manners:
ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH,TEXAS
INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 7616
June 16, 1992
To the Mayor and Members of the City Council Page 2 of 2
Subject:
REQUEST FOR BIDS FOR OFFICE SUPPLIES
A Petty Item Purchase (P.I.P.) used for purchases that do not
exceed $50.00 per form.
B. Local Purchase Order (L.P.O.) used for purchases that do not
exceed $250.00 per line item with a total for the L.P.O. not to
exceed $1,250.00.
It has been demonstrated that, where feasible, significant savings can be
obtained by going directly to one of the discount office supply outlets. Also the
process of separately requisitioning supplies rather than buying under an
annual contract should result in department heads exercising more scrutiny
over the expenditure of budget funds for office supplies.
If the City Council should require any additional information concerning the
Request for Bids for office supplies, the staff will be pleased to provide it.
16n Robert Terrell
Acting City Manager
—ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH,TEXAS