Warren-Newport Public Library District
Lake County, Illinois
Board of Trustees
Policy 2025
Purchasing (Bids/Quotes)
Adopted:
June 13, 2006
Reviewed/Revised:
April 16, 2013; January 20, 2015; August 21, 2018; October 25, 2022
ARTICLE 1. GENERAL POLICY FOR PURCHASES
Purchases of the Warren-Newport Public Library District (WNPLD)
are governed by the
statutes
of the State of Illinois. It is the policy of the Board of Library Trustees to comply with all statutory
requirements and to use
the most responsible
business practices
in its purchases. The Executive
Director, or their designee, shall be
responsible
for the
establishment of
purchasing
guidelines
and procedures consistent with this purchasing policy and for ensuring
that all expenditures are
made in accordance with this policy.
ARTICLE 2. PURCHASES AND LEASES
Section 2.01 Authority to Purchase Items in the Budget
Unless otherwise provided for in this policy, the Executive Director, or their designee, shall have
the authority to purchase
or lease products and services
provided that the
amount expended for
any expense line of the annual budget shall not
exceed the amount budgeted without the prior
approval of the Library Board. Staff will act to procure quality products and services
at the lowest
possible
cost, consistent with the
needs of
the user
departments regarding
durability,
performance, delivery, and service.
Section 2.02 Bids
As recommended by statute and except as otherwise provided by specific direction of
the Library
Board, all purchase orders or contracts for products or services in excess of twenty-five thousand
dollars ($25,000) [65 ILCS 5/4-5-11] shall be let, by free and open competitive bidding after
advertisement and after
considering
conformity with specifications, terms of delivery, quality, and
serviceability, to the
lowest responsible bidder or to another bidder when awarding the order or
contract tothe other bidder is determined by theLibrary Boardto be inthe best interest of WNPLD.
However, bidding is not required in the following cases:
Goods or services that are economically procurable from only one source;
Services required for professional skills;
In emergencies involving public health, public safety, or where immediate expenditure is
necessary;
Contracts for the maintenance or
servicing of equipment that are
made with the
manufacturers or authorized service agents of that equipment;
Goods or services procured from another governmental agency;
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Purchases of data processing equipment or software and contracts for the use or
installation of data processing equipment or software;
Contracts which by their
nature are not adapted to award by competitive bidding, such as
contracts for
printing; tax
anticipation warrants, and other evidences of indebtedness; and
contracts for
utility services such as
water, electricity, gas, or telephone;
Contracts for the purchase of magazines, books, periodicals, electronic databases,
and
similar articles of an educational or instructional nature; and
Purchases of less than twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000).
Section 2.03 Soliciting Bids
The staff, as required by Board directive, shall seek bids (or quotes if bids are not specifically
required) from the widest possible array of contractors, suppliers, and material laborers that time
permits. This practice will produce the most competitive offersand terms available fromthe widest
number of interested firms or individuals.
WNPLD will utilize
a system of solicitation lists
of the names,
addresses, phone numbers, and
other contact information of the firms or individuals who have expressed an interest in being
notified as to particular types of contracts, equipment, supplies, or materials which the District
seeks to purchase. The
staff will add to each list of those
expressing
an interest
any firm or
individual doing business that the
staff determines should
be added to
such list. The staff may
remove a
firm or individual from a list for cause,
with Board approval, or the firm or individual may
request its removal.
The firms or individuals on any such
lists will be solicited directly by the staff to bid or quote on
appropriate purchases,
in addition
to
the requirements of advertising
or other public notification
mandated. WNPLD shall publicize its system of lists no less than once
per calendar
year so that
any interested person or firm can ask to be added to the appropriate listing.
The inclusion of a
firm or individual on a solicitation list shall not constitute
any prequalification for
bidding and
shall not
release the firm or individual from meeting all requirements set out in a
particular contract, bid, quote, or proposal. This system of solicitation lists is solely for purposes
of supplementing the advertisement or notification requirements
otherwise used, to avoid even
the appearance of favoritism or lack of fair competition in the purchases of WNPLD.
Section 2.04 Joint Purchases with Other Governmental Agencies
The Executive Director, or their designee, is authorized to let
joint purchasing contracts where the
funds for such contracts have been previously budgeted
and appropriated by the Board of
Trustees, according to the
provisions of the "Governmental Joint Purchasing Act" [30 ILCS 525].
However, whenever such a contract is equal to or more than twenty-five thousand dollars
($25,000), the contract
shall be presented to the Board of Trustees with
a request for permission
to waive bids and approval to enter into a formal joint contract.
Section 2.05 Quotes
When securing price quotes, department heads shall preferentially solicit quotes from qualified
vendors located in
WNPLD. If the price and
terms of two or more
qualified vendors are equal,
vendors located in WNPLD shall be given preference.
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Section 2.06 Commitment of WNPLD Monies
No commitment for expenditures of WNPLD monies, except from the petty cash fund, shall be
made without a purchase order issued according to the following conditions:
$25,000 or more: Any expenditure
or sequence of related expenditures
in a fiscal
year of
twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) or more shall be made
only with prior Board approval in
the manner prescribed byState Law and Board policy. Advertisements for sealed bids or requests
for proposals will be properly disseminated through the public media.
Sealed bids
based
on
authorized specifications or requests for proposals shall be received at a
public bid opening and
include all costs for labor and materials, bid bond, performance bond, and certificate of insurance.
Bids will thenbe verified, tabulated, and submitted to the Board along withstaff's recommendation
for action. Formal contracts with appropriate signatures of both Board and contractor arerequired.
$25,000 or more, with bidding not required:In all cases where bidding is not required and the cost
of the chosen product or service equals or exceeds twenty-five thousand
dollars ($25,000), the
Executive Director will report to the Library Board when
purchase
orders or contracts are
executed. The report will include the reasons the provider was chosen. If multiple quotes were
used in determination of the product
or service chosen and the lowest quote was not accepted,
the report will also include the reason(s) why all quotes lower
than the accepted quote were
declined and the reason(s) the higher quote was accepted.
Between $5,000 and less than $25,000: Purchases of products and/or services less than
twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) but more than five thousand dollars ($5,000) or a
sequence of
related purchases in a
fiscal year totaling $5,000 to <
$25,000 may be made in the
open market, without newspaper advertisement and without following the procedure
for formal
contracts. Such purchases shall, whenever possible, be based on
at least three (3) competitive
proposals from vendors by direct mail, by email, or ascertained
from vendors' price lists or other
quote information.
Equal to or less than $5,000: Purchases equal to
or less than
five thousand dollars ($5,000) may
be made without three (3) competitive proposals but shall be
made with attention to
the lowest
possiblecost consistentwith the needs of the userdepartmentsregardingdurability,performance,
delivery, and service.
Section 2.07 Emergency Expenditures
An emergency expenditure is defined
as an expenditure which would be
impossible to
identify in
advance due to its immediate and unexpected nature and for which a delay in payment would
cause damage to or a significant loss of WNPLD property, e.g., the necessity to
hire a contractor
to board up windows damaged by an auto collision.
Emergency expenditures over five thousand dollars ($5,000) can be
made only with
the written
approval of the Executive Director and the Board President, or in the
absence of
the Board
President, the written approval of the Executive Director and the Board Vice President or Board
Treasurer and with the approval of three-fourths (3/4) of the Board members. The initial Board
inquiry may be by telephone, text or by email; the purchase shall then be
included on
the agenda
to be ratified at the next Board meeting.
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Emergency expenditures under five thousand dollars ($5,000) can
be made only with the written
approval of the Executive Director and the Board President, or in the
absence of
the Board
President, the written approval of the Executive Director and the Board Vice President or the
Board Treasurer. A poll ofthe Boardis notrequired, but theemergency purchase shall bereported
at the next Board meeting.
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